On Sunday night, Simone Biles made history again when she defied physics, gravity and precedent to become the oldest female gymnast in 72 years to make the Olympic team. On her first tumbling on the floor, the 27-year-old Biles leapt 12 feet into the air, a superhuman spectacle that sent fans and commentators into a frenzy, with NBC Olympics reporters shouting “X!” at Biles. “We're literally launching it into space.”
With its unique blend of high-stakes drama, gravity-defying physical feats and dream-chasing storylines, it's no wonder women's rhythmic gymnastics is one of the most-watched Olympic sports. Spectators are gripped with two distinct emotions: the breathless suspense of waiting for the gymnast to land the move, and amazement at the gymnast's superhuman abilities when the move is completed.
Today, there isn't a single aspect of gymnastics that she hasn't influenced in some way.
Biles' stunning performances and illustrious career are a reminder that a sport wrestles with the dark side of ambition and the determination to constantly push one's limits.
One historic moment in particular symbolized the sport's high stakes and even higher expectations: gymnast Kelly Strug's second victory on the vault at the 1996 Olympics.
As legend has it, the hard-fought team final was nearing its end with one event remaining, with Russia trailing close behind Team USA. Having injured her ankle on her first vault, the 19-year-old Strug limped off in pain and fear. The stadium gasped with anticipation and preemptive grief. Then, in one of the most TV-friendly scenes in Olympic history, she returned to the mat, attempted her second vault, and landed on one foot. Her face crumpled in pain, she was carried away by her coach, Bela Karolyi, as the crowd went wild. That courageous vault not only earned Team USA its first gold medal, but also earned Strug a talk show appearance, a Sports Illustrated cover, a meeting with President Bill Clinton, and, inevitably, a feature on a Wheaties cereal box.
Less than a year after Strug's vault victory, Biles was born, and today there isn't a single discipline in gymnastics that she hasn't influenced in some way. The all-time winningest gymnast has won 30 World Championship medals and there are currently five moves named after her on the gymnastics points code.
After Biles decided to withdraw from competing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, citing mental health, some members of the gymnastics community revisited Strug's legendary vault, and the verdict was nearly unanimous: it was old fashioned.
Biles' decision has sparked an ongoing debate about athlete safety and health in a sport where pushing the body to the limits of human capability is the norm rather than the exception.
“We have already seen comments and posts saying Biles 'let her country down,' 'let us down,' and 'if she can't handle the pressure she'll never be the best,'” wrote one Facebook post that went viral at the time. “These comments are no different to coach Karolyi telling a scared, injured teenager, 'You've got to try again, get stronger,' and the message is, 'Our gold medal is more important than your health.'”
The rekindled debate suggests that the culture of women's gymnastics has changed dramatically over the past 27 years. First, there is the unprecedented dominance of the U.S. women's team, which has won seven consecutive Olympic team medals and an astounding nine gold medals at world championships since 1996. The sport has also been hit by major scandals, including the conviction of disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nasser and the subsequent major shakeup of the sport's leadership.
The revelations about a toxic culture in gymnastics and the decision by the most powerful athlete in USA gymnastics history to retire to prioritize her mental health at the very least seem to suggest a more positive and safer environment for athletes.
But watching this year's U.S. Olympic team trials, shadows of Strug's pained grimacing face seemed omnipresent. On the first day, dozens of gymnasts stumbled, fell, or were injured. Not because they were bad gymnasts, but because they were arguably the best. Because gymnastics is a mental battlefield, and every gymnast is a target for attack. Commentators often describe this phenomenon as the “curse” of the sport. When one gymnast falls, the curse is contagious.
Biles is no exception. Although she is almost certain to make the U.S. team, the 27-year-old four-time world champion in the event nearly fell off the balance beam early in her performance on the first day, and she made no secret of how she felt about it.
Luckily, Biles was so far ahead of her peers that she was able to make the national team even after falling completely off the balance beam (and she did in Sunday's final). Some of her fellow Olympic hopefuls were not so lucky. Thirty minutes into NBC's broadcast, Kayla DiCello was wheeled away in a wheelchair, crying. Another fan-favorite, Leslie Jones, withdrew from the heats entirely after struggling on the bars. A look of excruciating pain was written on her face, and the camera cut to her mother sitting in the stands, weeping.
The emotional intensity underscores the players' youth, many of whom have not yet graduated from high school.
The athletes' emotional expressions underscore how young they are; many haven't even graduated from high school yet. For most of them, competing in the Olympics has been a dream they've dreamed of since they could walk. Nearly all of their families have sacrificed so they could be here. And the pressure they feel goes beyond just Instagram followers and sponsorship deals.
With the help of role models like Biles, today's Olympic gymnasts are given more space to resist the unrealistic pressures of a toxic culture that prioritizes team success over individual well-being.
These young athletes are trying to make their dreams more their own, and they're doing it for themselves, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when we witness them fall, misstep, or suffer painful injuries.
Ironically, it's this pressure that each gymnast puts on themselves that makes women's gymnastics so compelling to watch. The heartbreaking suffering of the falls, slips and injuries reflect a crucial contradiction in the sport: It's simultaneously patently unbearable to watch and impossible to look away from.
While some injuries and hardships are to be expected in any sport, it's never easy to watch the grimaces of athletes enduring the pain of pushing their bodies to the limits of human capability. But 27 years after Strug's heroic vault transformed a harmful precedent into an enduring legacy, hopefully Biles' unparalleled impact on the sports world will help send the message that health is far more valuable than gold medals or a face on a Wheateese box.
