Quebec Athletes Reacted To Simone Biles' Withdrawal From The Olympics Due To Mental Health
Reigning United States gymnastics champ Simone Biles announced earlier this week that she would pull out of the all-around Olympic gymnastics competition of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to focus on her mental health — and Quebec athletes have shown her an outpouring of love and support since.
Biles, 24, said in a July 27 press conference that she didn't want to "risk the team a medal" due to her mental health.
Oliver Bone, a Montreal-based sailor competing at the Tokyo Games, crowned Biles "a legend" in a July 29 Instagram story, using the hashtag #mentalhealthmatters.
Avant, quand on parlait de sant\u00e9, \u00e7a incluait seulement la sant\u00e9 physique. Quand j\u2019\u00e9tais olympienne, \u00e7a aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 impensable de se retirer d\u2019une comp\u00e9tition pour une blessure mentale. La culture du sport change pour le mieux ! Mon entrevue sur le sujet : https://bit.ly/3l86xtH— Isabelle Charest (@Isabelle Charest) 1627562135
Quebec's Minister of Education and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Isabelle Charest tweeted, "When I was an Olympian, it would have been unthinkable to withdraw from a competition for a mental injury. The culture of sport is changing for the better!"
Charest was an Olympic speedskater before becoming a member of the national assembly.
Two Team Canada weightlifters — Rimouski's very own Olympic gold medalist Maude Charron and Montreal's Kristel Ngarlem — supported Biles by reposting a photo of her with the text "Athletes are humans first" as Instagram stories.
Biles responded to the world's support in an Instagram post on July 28.