Simone Biles Dominates the Game of Mental Gymnastics
This all-around contest was supposed to be something of a formality, the final hoop for Simone Biles, the 19-year-old three-time world champion from Texas, to jump through before she could officially be called the "greatest of all time." And yet, despite how predictable her victory was, it was also quite moving.
Biles, having been seeded in the top group (of course!), started her day on vault with a powerful Amanar and a large hop forward on landing. From there it was over to bars, her weakest and lowest scoring event, at least relative to the rest of her routines. She hit one of her best routines of the week, but was passed by Russia's Aliya Mustafina, who moved into first place after her routine on the uneven bars where she's the defending Olympic champion.
Biles didn't stay in second place for long though, nor did anyone expect she would. She was just a hair behind Mustafina, after all, and was headed into two events where she is the defending world champion, beam and floor. Mustafina, by contrast, is weak on those pieces.
Biles was first up on beam and nailed her set, all except a wobble on her barani flip. When she landed her full twisting double back dismount, it almost felt like the deed was done. Mustafina, who would soon be up, turned and walked away. She knew that any infinitesimal shot at the title was over. Biles had overcome the hurdle that is the balance beam and now all she had left was the floor exercise...and it wasn't like she was going to fall off the floor. Now Biles just had to wait through seven more competitors on beam and then seven on floor before she'd have the chance to finish what she had started three years ago when she won her first world title at 16.
So much has been made of Biles' physical prowess, of her muscular physique, and her short stature, but not enough has been said about Biles' mental stamina. She's not the first prodigy the sport has ever seen. There have been others before her, mega talents who didn't quite live up to their physical potential for various reasons: maybe they got injured, maybe they stopped loving the sport, or maybe they just couldn't figure out how to compete.
It's one thing to have the ability to perform mind-blowing acrobatics; it's quite another to deliver when everyone expects you to, with millions of people watching. That's not a physical feat; it's a mental one. In an essay on tennis, David Foster Wallace once speculated on the strength of mind it takes to compete in front of a lot of people. "Ever try to concentrate on something difficult with a crowd of people watching?" This is precisely what Biles had to do- the hardest skills in front of millions of people (if you include streaming and TV audiences). At these Games, Biles, who has so far gone error-free, has pulled off some of the most remarkable mental gymnastics.
So much has been made of Biles' physical prowess, of her muscular physique, and her short stature, but not enough has been said about Biles' mental stamina.
When I interviewed Nellie Biles, Simone's mother, at the start of this Olympic year, she spoke of the pressure that her daughter was under. ""If- not if, when she pulls it off, I'm going to absolutely break down and cry. It's just going to be a meltdown for me. I know what she goes through. It's just so much," she said. I'm sure that Nellie was in the stands bawling happy tears as her daughter won the title that everyone had been expecting her to.
After teammate Aly Raisman nailed her tumbling passes, it was finally Biles' turn on the mat. She did "Simone things" as many on the Internet say about her predictably spectacular lines. But watching her go through her passes- first the full twisting double layout, then her eponymous skill, the Biles, to her double twisiting double somersault--didn't feel the same as it usually did. The tension mounted with each stuck landing. And finally, she powered through her last pass, the full twisting double back. When she nailed that pass, it was all but done.
Now all Biles had to do was wait for the judges' score to make it official. When her 15.933 flashed, Raisman hugged and Biles broke down in tears, I'm sure mirroring her mother in the stands. This was not typical for her. Usually, her reaction to victory- and we've got to see her react to winning a lot over the years- has been smiles and laughter. But her crying, even just briefly today, was probably a mixture of joy and relief she must've felt at having done what she set out to do, what everyone expected her to. Her longtime coach, Aimee Boorman, was also wiping away tears.
Biles got back up on the podium to wave to the Rio audience and beckoned Raisman, the silver medalist, to join her. Biles may now have the Olympic gold medal that officially makes her the greatest gymnast of all time, but even in that moment of solo glory, she wanted to share it with a teammate.
