Simone Biles is TIME’s 2021 Athlete of the Year, the magazine announced Thursday, for being a pillar of courage when she prioritized her mental health during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and taking a stand to testify against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar weeks later.
Biles, a 4-time Olympic gold medalist, is the most decorated athlete in gymnastics history. Biles pulled out of several events at the Tokyo Games, citing her mental wellness and experiencing “the twisties.” She did return for the final event, but the overall reaction was sharply divided, with some applauding her and others labeling her a quitter.
Here is an excerpt from Time magazine naming Biles as Athlete of the Year:
While supporters lauded Biles, critics lambasted her for “quitting.” But what Biles did transcended the chatter: she fought the stigma that has long silenced athletes, and shrugged off the naysayers who belittled her decision. “If I were going to quit, I had other opportunities to quit,” she says. “There is so much I’ve gone through in this sport, and I should have quit over all that—not at the Olympics. It makes no sense.”
A month after the Games, Biles put her vulnerability on display once again. Along with three other of the hundreds of other athletes who had been sexually abused by former team doctor Larry Nassar, Biles gave emotional testimony before the Senate about the failures of institutions like the FBI, USA Gymnastics (USAG) and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to stop him.
Colin Kaepernick, no stranger to criticism for taking a stand, praises Biles’ “grace, eloquence and courage.” “Simone Biles has used her remarkable position as the world’s greatest gymnast ever to inspire a long overdue global conversation on mental health,” he tells TIME. “Her influence extends far beyond the realm of sports and shows us that another world—a better world—is possible when we speak our truths with integrity and authenticity.”
At a time when anxiety and depression rates are skyrocketing—the CDC reports a 50% rise in suicide attempts by teenage girls during the pandemic—and many people are struggling with what they owe themselves vs. what others demand of them, Biles made clear the importance of prioritizing oneself and refusing to succumb to external expectations. With the eyes of the world upon her, she took the extraordinary step of saying, That’s enough. I’m enough.
