Mental health among athletes spotlighted in tumultuous 2021

Simone Biles understands now that she was struggling long before she arrived at the Tokyo Olympics, where the unofficial face of the Games and one of the greatest gymnasts of all time was unable to force a smile and push her way through on the world’s biggest stage. Michael Phelps, retired swimmer and winner of a record 23 gold medals, said the day after Biles walked off the floor in Tokyo that the gymnast had shown “it is OK not to be OK.” Phelps has long been public about his own mental health struggles — including acknowledging he contemplated suicide after the 2012 Olympics — but Biles blew the discussion wide open. It’s easy to avoid the situations that you don’t want to go through.” — Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, said she would take a mental break from tennis and sit out the start of next season to “re-set, recover, and grow” after a challenging two years that included contracting COVID-19. Until that happens, male athletes — and men as a whole — will continue to experience difficulty discussing mental health challenges.” The NBA has a “Mind Health” program and the NFL and NFL Players Association in 2019 formed a mental health and wellness committee. Nearly six months removed from her own public dealings with mental health struggles, Biles said “I’m honestly kind of OK that it happened” because it led to her receiving the help she didn’t recognize she needed.