Simone Biles Is the GOAT Just For Standing Up to Keyboard Warriors

An unforgettable weekend for Simone Biles and the U.S. gymnasts at the 2024 #CoreClassic. 🤸‍♀️💗 pic.twitter.com/KMCExpjkkf

— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) May 25, 2024

Biles Versus All the Haters: 2021 and On

What are “twisties”? This is terminology mainly used in sports, namely in gymnastics, to signify a “mental block”. In short, the athletes can’t perform due to a mental health struggle. Of course, most folks online especially the *bleep* talkers only heard about it when it came up with Biles.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist withdrew from the 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021 due to the pandemic) and cited this as a result. She received significant backlash with Piers Morgan (of course) leading the charge.

“Are ‘mental health issues’ now the go-to excuse for any poor performance in elite sport?” Morgan asked on Twitter (now known as ‘X’). “What a joke. Just admit you did badly, made mistakes, and will strive to do better next time. Kids need strong role models, not this nonsense.”

Fortunately, many other more relevant figures like Michael Phelps and Michelle Obama stepped in to defend Biles. And fans online also took to social media to criticize the often tone-deaf media personality.

“As somebody who’s struggled with depression and anxiety,” Phelps told PEOPLE. “Biles opening up and talking about mental health is a big, powerful step forward toward blowing the stigma out of the water. It’s more powerful than we can imagine”

Indeed, Biles will be a central figure to Team USA not just for her gymnastic talents. And while folks like Morgan are sick of us talking about athlete mental health, only athletes in Biles’s stratosphere can relate to the struggles.

Biles Defends Her Beau

While we’re stoked to see Biles return to competing in the Olympics, we’re giddier about seeing her engage online trolls. Her most recent spat had her lighting up trash-talkers online who went after her husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens.

“I’m going to quickly address this, the joke was never a joke! Y’all are blatantly being disrespectful to my relationship & my husband,” she said in a since-expired Instagram story post. “So I’m gonna go ahead and say this one time. Respectfully,*bleep* off. & if you keep commenting or tweeting at me I’m just going to block you. Simple as that. And no, I don’t need to touch grass or whatever tf y’all suggest. @ everyone else that supports us, we love y’all so much.”

Owens, who went undrafted in 2018 and now plays for the Bears, inadvertently drew ire when he said he did not know who Biles was. He claimed he was “the catch” in the relationship. Since then, online trolls have targeted Owens to the point that Biles had to speak up.

Biles’s proclivity for engaging with fans online, whether it’s to defend against troll attacks or show gratitude to her die-hards, consistently puts her in the spotlight. This could all come to a head once the 2024 Summer Olympics begins later in July.

Team USA Collecting Gold

To nobody’s surprise, the USA is heavily favored to win the most gold medals for the 2024 Summer Olympics. And we can thank Biles and the gymnastics teams as a big reason why. Sunisa Lee and Jade Carey captured a pair of gold medals in 2021 while Biles won all four of USA’s golds in 2016.

Still, this was eight years ago and that may as well be a lifetime. Biles will need to continue overcoming mental hurdles and deflecting online hate to return to the top of the podium. She should have short betting odds to do so. And if she does, she won’t even need to type a single character on X to rub it in the haters’ faces.

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