A former Illinois State University gymnast's message of support for Olympian Simone Biles got a lot of attention, including from Biles herself.
Biles shared a lengthy defense that Andrea Orris posted on social media.
Orris pushed back against criticism Biles has faced for withdrawing from the team competition and individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health.
“If she was the type of person that takes the easy way out, she would not be the greatest gymnast of all time,” Orris declared. “She would not be the Olympic all-around champion. She would not have stuck around and put her body through this an extra year and made it this far and made it to the Olympics if she wasn’t tough.”
Orris, who competed for ISU gymnastics from 2008-2010, said Biles has won championships while competing with broken bones and in one case while passing a kidney stone. Orris noted Biles also was the last remaining Olympic survivor of former team doctor Larry Nassar's sexual abuse.
Twisties
Orris explained Biles' mental health was creating an injury risk because it was affecting her ability to land safely. Gymnasts call it the "twisties."
Orris described it as a mental block that causes gymnasts to lose their aerial awareness.
“You literally lose where you are at. You lose track of how many twists you have done or sometimes you turn when you are not supposed to and you can’t stop it and you can’t control it,” said Orris, adding it’s common among gymnasts and difficult to overcome.
She said it often takes months of retraining and many gymnasts never come back from it. Orris commended Biles for allowing a teammate to take her place.
“I think that was a very selfless act. I don’t think that was an example of her being spoiled or not being able to tough it out. That was her saying, ‘I want you to take the glory. I don’t think I can do it. You are better than me.’”
Biles and several media outlets shared Orris' message of support. It got well over 200,000 likes.
“The fact that my post was able to articulate what was going on with her, I was happy I was able to provide that for her because she has provided so much for our sport. I hope it just made her feel valued and respected and supported and loved by Team USA and the gymnastics community,” Orris said.
Starting the conversation
Meanwhile, a sport psychologist at ISU said she hopes Biles' decision to withdraw will help more athletes feel comfortable talking about their mental health.
Dr. Sam Kurkjian said some athletes wait too long to get help because of the sports culture that tells athletes to push through adversity at all costs.
“Athletes are watching us and how we handle these conversations and trying to determine by how their coaches are reacting, administrators, people in their lives to see is it safe to ask for help or utilize the resources,” Kurkjian said.
Kurkjian said the coronavirus pandemic has had a “tremendous” negative impact on student athletes’ mental health.
“What we have seen is a re-occurrence of trauma symptoms. Eating concerns are on the rise, substance use has increased as people are trying to manage all of the additional factors and stressors, in addition to their sport and academics,” she said.
Kurkjian added the last year has been especially tough on athletes of color because they also dealt with emotional trauma following the series of police-related killings of Black people across the country.
“Last summer, we saw hundreds of images of Black bodies being treated differently and being abused and people being killed,” Kurkjian said. “Those images were front and center for these athletes and for people of color in general. That contributes to feeling a lack of safety.”
Kurkjian noted much of her counseling involves helping student-athletes' performance, but said athletes struggling through the pandemic may need more holistic treatment.
