<center>https://www.adnkronos.com/resources/0256-1114f42d8e4f-786dcd7f1047-1000/simone_biles_medagli_afp.jpg</center>
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## <center>Simone Biles, the great American gymnastics champion, has retired from several competitions at the Olympics. Maybe she will give up in the end, we'll see.</center>
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**The reason: her mental health.** Too much pressure from the press and the public, too high expectations, too much criticism of any mistake. **All can lead to panic attacks, anxiety, depression. She didn't want to go down a path that hurt her.**
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>*Whenever you get in a high stress situation, you kind of freak out. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being.*

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I'm glad she's retiring and openly saying why. I mean I'm sorry for her, **I'm sorry she doesn't have the opportunity to write additional history in this field** (she already has 4 Olympic gold medals and 19 world champion titles), **but I'm glad she, Naomi Osaka and others are signaling alarm in this area of mental problems that may arise.**

I don't know what it was like in the US before the Olympics. **Maybe she wrote in the press every day how Biles would fill them with gold and glory, and it's not fair to put such pressure on a 24-year-old girl.** And of course it's her choice whether or not to join the choir; behold, she chose not to enter.

<center>http://i.imgur.com/Xs4cJOi.png</center>

I was saying that the alarm signal is welcome. **Too often in this area there is talk of problems long after they occur.** Usually after the competition, maybe even after the athlete withdraws from the activity, she talks through interviews about daily stress, abuse, pressure from others,** criticism from all Facebook specialists and so on. **And in such a post-factum moment, it is too late. People shrug, say a "shit, but it's good that you took those medals, we were great with your success" and move on.** Nothing changes.

**Gymnastics, at least, is one of the most problematic sports in this regard.** You take some 16-year-old girls (you were mentally mature at that age) and take them to a competition. If they have talent, **they suddenly explode in popularity and wake up like great stars, watched non-stop and with every detail of their evolution studied.** And there is no analogy with the actors. 

**If Beyonce sings worse in a year or if Scarlett Johansson plays poorer in a movie, no one tells them “you were wrong** and because of you the Russians or the Chinese took the medal from us, you made the country laugh, you're a fool "... **they even goes home with the same money!**

As people live better, they begin to pay more attention not only to physical but also mental illness. I**'m glad this, it takes a lot of attention. They are still considered a stigma, and people who go to a therapist are still afraid to admit it.**
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<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_FBdDwpfH4I" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
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And I say that as someone who, when Naomi Osaka refused to come to the press conference, said it was not right. **If you agree to play and go home with the prizes that are given in tennis, then you must also present yourself at the press conferences, regardless of whether or not you like the questions asked by journalists.** If you go to the ball, go all the way, you don't just choose what suits you. **The sport is actually entertainment offered to the spectators and this entertainment also includes conferences, photos, pictures on the panel.**
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## <center>Even so, however, this does not mean that athletes should not push back against the press and the expectations and pressure that is put on them. It may be entertainment, but the limit must be set by mutual agreement on both sides, otherwise you are eaten alive there.</center>

<center>http://i.imgur.com/Xs4cJOi.png</center>

<center>*Image Sources:*

[***Image***](https://pixabay.com/en/dollar-finance-race-banker-653250/)

*YouTube*

[***Simone Biles***](https://youtu.be/_FBdDwpfH4I)</center>
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