Simone Biles spent years working on her mental health after Tokyo. It’s made her an unstoppable force in Paris.
Paris CNN —
The last few years of therapy and mental health work have turned Simone Biles into one of the most unstoppable forces in Paris during these Summer Olympics.
With an absolute blow-away performance in the vault, Biles now has three gold medals to take home to Texas – and she still has a chance for two more. With an average score of 15.300, Biles took home the gold easily over silver medalist Rebeca Andrade – the defending Olympic champion in the event. The bronze medal went to American Jade Carey, who completed her own comeback story from a disappointing showing in the vault in Tokyo.
Biles, who has talked about the importance of taking care of her mental health during these Games after each of her golden performances, has said she’s speaking with her therapist every morning before competition and religiously every Thursday.
“After all these years of putting in the mental work in, it’s paid off. So I’m super excited to be on this stage again,” Biles said Saturday after winning her latest gold.
A huge roar went up for Biles as her name was introduced at the beginning of the competition, as the pressure was heaped on her shoulders once again.
But unlike three years ago, when she suffered a case of the “twisties” and realized that her mind was not in the right place to carry the expectations thrust upon her, she met the moment with aplomb.
She took off toward the vault like a shot and absolutely nailed an extremely difficult Yurchenko double pike, also known as Biles II. She bounced on the landing and stayed standing tall.
The score was huge: 15.700. A 9.400 score on execution and a 6.400 on difficulty, but a 0.1 point penalty because her foot hit the line on the vault’s landing mat.
Biles’ twisting,