Simone Biles turned the Tokyo Olympics upside down. His resignation from participating in artistic gymnastics teams and individual events aimed at maintaining his mental health has brought the debate to the table over one of the main pillars of preparing an athlete. And still taboo. Few cases saw the light. The pressure to get results or the constant drop of news on social networks they create a dangerous climate in which there are athletes who cannot escape these clutches. It’s Biles and his circumstances, which in his case weren’t the best, that rest on his shoulders.
Sports psychology is looking at the Biles case with interest. The presence of psychologists in the high-performance centers or in the technical bodies of the national teams is no longer suspect, since the training of the mental and emotional aspects is part of the preparation of an athlete. A celebrity in this area is Pep Font, who has been looking after the athletes in the Sant Cugat CAR since 1988: “The next thing I saw Biles was Sergei Bubka in Barcelona 92. I was in the stands. Bubka was the gold favorite, the best, but he had a mental block like I’ve never seen before. He failed all three pole vaults and even one was almost disqualified for time. It was shocking, ”he recalls.
Bubka was “disoriented” and was not on the podium in the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium due to a “mental” aspect. “He was the best. He had the technique, the experience, he had jumped great heights before … But his mind blocked him. “ The psychologist points out that the first symptoms of unusual anxiety cases make you lose attention, have discomfort, go to the toilet frequently … until an anxiety crisis occurs. In Biles’ case, the gymnast takes a drug called Ritalin to help her focus more because of her hyperactivity problems.
But the resignation at Ariake was more extreme than Bubka’s failed engagement. Such an episode of a great athlete is not remembered in the recent history of Olympism. “The proportion of extreme situations is very low, and when it happens, it is because a climate has been created that the athlete could not endure. It is likely that no prevention work has been done, ”explains Toñi Martos, a psychologist for countless athletes and who also has 25 years of experience.
An unusual situation with stars
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Pablo del Río, psychologist for the Spanish team, goes into this. “This type of situation can arise, but it is surprising that it occurs in athletes at the bile level who are overwhelmed by the situation. The games are a mental challenge, especially for conditioned athleteswhen external expectations (media, public opinion, environment …) have a greater influence than our own. There the athlete competes out of control. The competition has to be internal and the evaluation itself. Enter variables in which you direct your attention and thoughts to aspects and variables that you cannot control. There are stressful and anxious situations. That’s when the athlete doesn’t control ”.
“The athlete has to include psychological training in their overall preparation, this type of situation is complex. Not everyone has the same ability to respond to certain aspects. In the case of Biles, who is a superstar who has been through all sorts of situations, this is very noticeable, ”analyzes del Río.
“We put passion, talent and simplicity aside”
Font and Martos approach the episode Biles from different cameras. Martos first refers to the context of the Olympic Games, which was overdimensioned by the media presence of the event and by social networks. “I was in Athens in 2004 and the games are now taking on a different dimension. I try to tell my clients to control social media. The messages we see and receive are about being number one, the best, pressure and expectations are generated from the outside, ”he explains. Biles, after giving up participation in the team and individual finals, highlighted on his social networks all the “tokens of love” he has received, a token of the attention he shows on these channels under all circumstances.
“Maybe I’m very romantic,” says Martos, “But I think we’re leaving aside the importance of sport, which is passion, talent, simplicity … It shouldn’t all be summed up in profits, because only one does it, ”he synthesizes as a message in the midst of reflections and an episode that is talked about at all times.
Aside from that media growth that puts her in the spotlight with the feeling that “the world is on my shoulders,” as Biles said, Font introduces another theme, and it’s each athlete’s personal situation that ultimately shapes the work mentally to which he is exposed. ”First of all, you have to make it clear that it is good to be afraid of a competition. When you compete, there is uncertainty and it is normal for these emotions to appear. The key is how you manage them, and that depends on each person, their characteristics, and their personality. It’s not about calm, it’s about dealing with those doubts. And that should be part of the training, “says Font, who makes it clear that” we cannot assess this specific case because we do not have all the information. We don’t know anything ”.
“The athlete has to enter the game”
The CAR psychologist adds a new variable that may receive little comment in this case, and it is the athlete’s will to face this mental work. “I am convinced that Biles worked with the many psychologists on the US team. how to deal with these emotions in high competition, or in this case in Tokyo, ”he warns. “A lot of psychologists can’t do anything if the athlete doesn’t get into the game. They are usually excellent at doing things that only they can do, but they don’t care about things like meditation because anyone can do it. And that should be part of the training, ”he says.
Apart from the media growth of the games and the particularities of the athlete with intellectual work, Martos speaks of a working atmosphere. This is what Biles has suffered from in the past (aside from his complicated childhood life). with the recognized abuses of ex-selection doctor Larry Nassar. In this Olympic cycle, apart from the pandemic, this famous abuse case exploded and Biles has recognized that he was one of the victims.
“It is important that there is a suitable emotional climate in your team and that everyone speaks the same language,” explains Martos. “You have to be three or four years old to prepare for any difficulty like pressure or injury. You have to plan that well ”.
Goodbye to the taboo of the spirit
The mind is no longer such a taboo subject in sport, but its use is. There are prejudices. Martos reflects: “Mental health is always related to failure, it is always a posteriori. Which comes first Failure Or Mental Health? Nobody talks about this prior preparation ”.
Biles left the team competition and said, “I decided to step aside and let them do their job.” “His answer was Megacrack,” says Del Río.
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