Simone Biles’ withdrawal from the team event for USA has been dominating headlines for the past week. Gymnast fans have recognised similarities between Biles’ mental block and that of Elena Mukhina’s Thomas salto incident.
The Thomas salto is now a banned move for both men and women in international competition.
- TRENDING: What is the viral TikTok dispenser hack?
What happened to Elena Mukhina during a Thomas salto?
Just a month prior to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, 20-year-old Elena Mukhina under-rotated the Thomas salto, landing on her chin. As a result, the gymnast broke her neck and, sadly, became permanently paralyzed.
Reportedly, Elena had advised her coach that she didn’t feel safe performing the move, but the coach had dismissed Mukhina’s comment.
The gymnast didn’t want to refuse the Thomas salto, despite her doubts. She later spoke: “I really wanted to justify the trust put in me and be a heroine.”
“The fans had been trained to believe in athletes’ heroism — athletes with fractures return to the soccer field and those with concussions return to the ice rink. Why?”
Mukhina died back in 2006, just 46-years-old, from complications of quadriplegia.
Simone Biles’ mental block
Fans of the Olympics are almost using Mukhina’s saddening story as a warning sign for Biles, who withdrew from the team event due to mental health reasons.
As Biles remains in headlines, audiences are coming to terms with just how much a mental health lapse can impact on performances.
Speaking out, gymnast Simon Biles said: “You have to be there 100 percent, or 120 percent, because if you’re not the slightest bit, you can get hurt. Even on my vault … I had no idea where I was in the air. I could have hurt myself and it’s very uncharacteristic so why push it.”
She further commented: “It’s not worth getting hurt over something so silly, even though it’s so big. It’s the Olympic Games. But at the end of the day, it’s like we want to walk out of here, not be dragged out here on the stretcher or anything. So I’ve got to do what’s best for me.”
Reports state that Biles experienced the ‘twisties’, a case in which the gymnast loses track of where they are in the air and, thus, stop twisting.
- LOOK! Nick Gage just used a pizza cutter as a weapon
The importance of mental health in sports
As Biles continues to speak out on the importance of mental health in the industry, other gymnasts are also coming forward.
Former gymnast Jacoby Miles was paralyzed from the chest down when she was 15. She took to Instagram to write: “I experienced those mental blocks throughout my career as a gymnast, and to be quite blunt, it only took one bad time of getting lost — or what they called the ‘twisties’ — in the air in a big flip to break my neck and leave me paralyzed. I’m SO SO glad she decided to not continue until she’s mentally recovered.”
In other news, Who is YBN Cordae? Naomi Osaka’s relationship explored