(Reuters) – Four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles earned Time journal’s “Athlete of the Year” honour, the publication mentioned on Thursday.
The 24-year-old gymnast traveled to the Tokyo Games this 12 months with the intent of rewriting the recordbooks however as a substitute led to a groundbreaking, world dialog round athletes’ psychological well-being.
She dropped out of the opening occasion in Tokyo, citing issues for her psychological well being and a case of the “twisties,” a daunting and harmful type of psychological disorientation whereas finishing one of her gravity-defying feats.
She later returned to the competitors, profitable a bronze medal on the stability beam after incomes the help of her fellow athletes in gymnastics and past.
“It confirmed us that we’re greater than the sport, that we’re human beings who can also have days which can be arduous,” her teammate, Sunisa Lee, advised Time. “It actually humanized us.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
