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Simone Biles' withdrawal reminds us that she's human -- and still very much the GOAT

Simone Biles' withdrawal reminds us that she's human -- and still very much the GOAT

Simone Biles' withdrawal reminds us that she's human -- and still very much the GOAT
Jul 27, 2021 2 mins, 22 secs

On Tuesday, though, Biles "looked like she got lost" somewhere in the air, CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan said.

After her less-than-perfect performance in the preliminary round Sunday, she said she feels like she has "the weight of the world on [her] shoulders at times."

"I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn't affect me but damn sometimes it's hard hahaha!" she wrote on Instagram.

(Ever heard of the Yurchenko double pike? Not until Simone Biles, you didn't, because she was the first to ever execute it.) Dozens of articles have said as much in the weeks leading up to her return to the Olympics.

But Biles returned to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with something more to prove.

Like fellow Olympian Naomi Osaka, whose own surprising loss occurred hours before Biles' withdrawal, Biles has spoken about the mental toll competing at the highest level has taken on her, and how she is ready to retire.

"There's never been a moment in the history of athletics where we know so much about the athletes," said Cheryl Thompson, an assistant professor at Ryerson University who studies celebrity culture.

She regularly trained at Karolyi Ranch in Texas, where elite young gymnasts like Biles, Raisman and many more encountered Nassar regularly.

"I think that's at the core of the Olympic spirit."

And when we see someone at the pinnacle of athletic achievement, someone we think we know because she's shared so much of herself with us, fall and make a mistake, we feel some of that pain, too, Thompson said.

Biles knows this, telling the "Today" show's Hoda Kotb that she and her team hoped "America still loves us."

A few hours after the competition ended, Biles told reporters she felt like she "didn't do [her] job" and let her team down.

The 2020 Olympics are more intense than usual, but Biles' time isn't over yet

She told reporters she withdrew not due to an injury, but to "work on [her] mindfulness." She talked about how stressful the day leading up to the event was, how she was "just shaking" and could barely nap after her workout.

The Olympics, in the span of two weeks, are a microcosm of the human experience -- the euphoric highs, the extreme lows -- "the joys of victory and the agony of defeat," Thompson said.

The intensity is part of the draw for viewers, she said, but Biles' performance on Tuesday was more shocking than viewers had expected.

"The Olympic Games reflect so much of our times," Thompson said.

She's taking it a day at a time, she said, and will continue to be evaluated ahead of individual competitive events she was scheduled to participate in.

So few people can say they know what it feels like to be Biles, to continuously prove you're the greatest at something while the world watches.

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