American gymnast Simone Biles has admitted she “should have quit” long before the Tokyo Olympics.
Biles explained that the trauma of being sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and then watching his trial play out in media was “‘too much”.
The 24-year-old superstar made the revelations in an article with the New York magazine on the back of a troubled experience at the Games in Japan.
“If you looked at everything I’ve gone through for the past seven years, I should have never made another Olympic team,” Biles told the New York magazine.
“I should have quit way before Tokyo, when Larry Nassar was in the media for two years. It was too much.
“But I was not going to let him take something I’ve worked for since I was six years old. I wasn’t going to let him take that joy away from me. So I pushed past that for as long as my mind and my body would let me.”
Biles was the only Nassar survivor to represent Team USA at the postponed Tokyo Olympics.
She was expected to take home five gold medals, but ended up withdrawing from four of five event finals as she experienced a confidence crisis, suffering from “the twisties”, a phenomenon that can cause gymnasts to lose their bearings.
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“It’s so dangerous, it’s basically life or death,” she explained.
“It’s a miracle I landed on my feet. If that was any other person, they would have gone out on a stretcher. As soon as I landed that vault, I went and told my coach: ‘I cannot continue.”‘
Biles gave no indication to the New York magazine whether she would contest the next Olympics at Paris 2024.
This article was originally published by Stuff.co.nz and was republished with permission.