Super and human: What is the mental toll of being an elite athlete?
For athletes, mental health is just as important as physical health - Simone Biles is proof of that.
Article by:
Elaine Obran
ANU Reporter Senior Writer
When Simone Biles withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics, a new term was added to our vocabulary: ‘the twisties’.
Notorious in the gymnastics world, the twisties describes the mental block that causes athletes to become momentarily disorientated or – as Biles describes it in her recent Netflix documentary – “lost in the air.”
The cause of the sensation is unknown, but some experts believe it is a manifestation of an athlete’s mental health, which affects the rest of the body.
Dubbed the ‘GOAT’ (the greatest of all time), with 30 World Championship medals and multiple Olympic medals under her belt, Biles’ success in her field has been nothing short of remarkable.
But when her warmup in Tokyo didn’t feel quite right and she made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Olympics, Biles became known for shining the spotlight on athlete mental health.
Madeleine Dove, a PhD scholar at the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at The Australian National (ANU), says athletes like Biles have a heightened connection to their bodies. When that connection is lost, the consequences can be devasting.
“When you’re sitting back and enjoying the Olympics as a spectator, you forget that there are such small margins between success and failure,” says Dove.
“That looks different in every sport, but elite athletes have this really deep understanding and awareness of their body and mind, to a point that seems like over-analysis for anyone else.
“They’ll be able to feel and know how they’re going to perform things before it happens.
“I believe in the documentary, Simone says: ‘Every time I do the vault, I hope I don’t die’. I think that that speaks to the consequences. These things are very dangerous, and the athletes make it look easy. But once that trust between the athletes and their body their bodies is questioned, that activity no longer is safe.”
Following her 2020 withdrawal, Biles held back tears when talking to the press, giving a refreshing and deeply human take on the pressure that comes with being an athlete.
“I need to focus on my mental health,” Biles said at the time.
“After the performance I did, I just didn’t want to go on. I do not trust myself anymore.”
But these mental challenges aren’t exclusive to gymnasts.
“There’s so much social pressure for a really decorated athlete with a huge public persona, like Simone or the Matildas— they’ve not trained to be a celebrity; they’re trained to be an athlete,” explains Dove.
“Because our culture puts sporting idols on a pedestal, that public presence is an added challenge to actually doing the work of being an athlete. That becomes multiplied when you think about elements like gender and race.
“Navigating that nuance means the pressures get conflated with an individual’s [struggle with] mental health. But there’s a huge element of broader socio-cultural pressures that also exist.”
While overcoming a mental block like the twisties does not have an easy fix or a one-size-fits-all approach, taking a break from the sport can help prevent literal breaks in the future.
Michelle Heyman, a Canberran and Matildas player, is an example of this.
Following her retirement from international football in 2019, Heyman took an extended break. She traded in the pitch for the pilates studio, which allowed her to reconnect with her body and fall in love with football again.
“Taking that time away helps you re-establish a connection with yourself, which is beyond just your athletic performance. It’s a reminder that you are a person first and you’re an athlete second,” says Dove.
“I think people can underappreciate how much of their lives athletes give up. It’s so consuming that it’s easy to see how you might lose sight of yourself outside of your sport. But an extended break helps athletes reconnect with themselves.”
Reflecting on Biles’ success in the 2024 Paris Olympics, it’s undeniable that her reign as GOAT is one for the history books. She has overcome the twisties to redefine the sport in more ways than one.
“Where there’s public interest, it opens the door for more detailed conversations and greater learning about things like the twisties and the importance of mental health,” says Dove.
“Simone recovered from the 2020 Olympics to come back this year and put on even greater performances. She’s had more skills named after her, and she’s just kept growing in her athletic ability beyond the age that we often see athletes competing in gymnastics.
“She has shown through her resilience what’s possible.”
Top image: Simone Biles Rising. Photo: Production Still Image/Netflix.com
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