I couldn’t resist combining two of my favorite things in this post–gymnastics and The Lord of the Rings.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must know that Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast of all time. The title is bestowed upon her for her unprecedented athletic prowess, but what she has done to change the culture of a sport that has been historically toxic at best and abusive at worst deserves more than a gold medal.
Simone Biles essentially burned down the institution of USA Gymnastics and re-built it.
Just like Frodo, she needed to destroy the “one ring that ruled them all” before the world could be re-built into a culture of peace and collaboration.
And just like the famous hobbit, the manifestation of this new world for gymnasts was accomplished by the smallest of brave souls…
“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” (Galadriel, LOTR film version)
The original quote from Tolkien emphasizes why this big change could only be made by the tiny powerhouse athletes of USA Gymnastics:
“Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”
It was the “small hands” of a critical mass of the athletes that bore the burden of a long-time toxic culture that finally turned things around for this sport.
It was the brave women who came forward to condemn and hold accountable the actions of an abusive monster, reliving their horrific experiences to ensure that no other gymnasts would suffer the unthinkable crimes they survived.
But even then, the “eyes of the great,” the “adults” who ran USA Gymnastics remained in power for far too long. As we often see in big businesses, government, corporations, those at the top are protected even when their actions have created a culture of fear, disrespect, psychological and sometimes even physical abuse.
In the corporate world we have all seen “bad leaders” persist when the “small hands” working to keep the company going are put under intense pressure and unrealistic expectations that end up impacting productivity, creativity, efficiency and consistency.
The supposition of this kind of culture is that the only way to “win” is to have culture where a workforce is given high standards, tight deadlines, impossible goals and no time to do anything other than work to make the leaders look good.
The employees mental and physical health are the lowest priority and most often not even acknowledged by the corporation.
USA Gymnastics was no different. The people who were in charge were not former gymnasts for the most part, and they turned a blind eye to inhumane working conditions that people like the famous Karoylis created so that champions could be born.
And the US did create a lot of champions. But the cost to those young women was far greater than the worth of any gold medal.
Even in the lower echelons of the sport where I competed, the pressure to push through pain, to look a certain way, to listen to authority figures without question even when our guts told us there was something wrong with what they were doing or saying to us, was standard.
Our coach would grab us by the wrist and twist as hard as he could until we dropped to our knees, yelling “what do you say??” To which we were supposed to respond, “I feel no pain! Nothing bothers me!”
And so we learned to feel no pain. And to let “nothing” bother us. Including the violations of our bodies.
We had an epidemic of eating disorders in our gym. We had a towel hanging on the door to the bathroom with a picture of a girl sitting on the floor with her head in her hands–the towel said “gymnastics crying towel.” And if you cried, you were sent to go sit in the corner by the towel and the coach would ignore you for the rest of the workout.
Did we become “tough” as a result of this environment? Sure. I still hide pain when I have it. I don’t complain. I “push through it” a lot of the time. I’ve gotten a little better as I’m older to listen to my body and also to listen to my gut about what others say I should and shouldn’t do–but it took a lot of time to retrain myself to reconnect with my own instincts.
When Simone Biles took herself out of the competition in Tokyo because she was mentally incapable of finding her bearings while doing death-defying flips in the air, she was lauded by many who felt that it was long overdue for the gymnasts to be able to say when they felt something was wrong within themselves.
But she was also shamed and called a “quitter.”
I’m not sure anyone could have rebounded from that situation other than the true G.O.A.T. of gymnastics. She may be the only one who could have stepped away and turned into a champion for mental health and therapy. Would people have listened if it was someone with less notoriety in the sport?
I think it really had to be her. Just like it had to be Frodo who destroyed the One Ring.
Simone’s comeback this year went beyond demonstrating the importance of taking care of ourselves–she showed that you can still achieve great things. The GREATEST of things, in fact, while taking a step back, regrouping, reassessing, addressing what’s not working, finding balance with work and play, eating croissants while still training hard, laughing, making Tik Tok videos, standing up for yourself and forcing the people in “power” to realize that the persistence of champions requires that those champions have the trust and autonomy to train, compete and rest according to what their own intuition tells them is right.
If you’ve followed some of the controversy or wondered why Simone’s Gold Medal victory at this year’s Olympics was followed by a tweet that referred to the US team as having a “lack of talent” and “lazy,” this was a direct clap-back to another former Olympian who was lauding the “old guard” like the Karolylis who instilled more discipline (aka ABUSE) in the athletes.
In those days you could literally get points deducted from your routine if you had a hair out of place or paint on your fingernails or if your underwear was peeking out from under your leotard. And you certainly couldn’t say anything to the press other than what was scripted for you.
At this Olympics we watched Simone do a video on how it’s possible to train hard and still eat “junk” food, and then we watched her on national television tell the press that the team name was “F*** around and find out.”
This was the final scene in the Lord of the Rings where the One Ring is tossed into the fire and the dark world of Mordor blows up around them.
The athletes own the sport again. They are having fun. They are competing in their sport longer than they ever have before because they have BALANCE in their lives.
They have finally put leadership of the sport in the rightful hands of the former athletes.
Oh, and if you’re wondering whether all of this change and focus on mental health and listening to your body has made the athletes “soft” or less resilient, look closely at the amount of tape holding their joints together next time you watch them compete.
To be at the top of your game you still have to make sacrifices. In 2021 Simone stepped out of competition when she knew that her mental state could put her in a situation to be seriously injured or worse. In 2024, she felt a tweak in her left calf during warmups in the qualification round. She assessed the situation for herself, consulted with her medical team and made the decision to get it taped up and move on.
Being aware of your limitations, both mentally and physically, doesn’t mean you always need to step back. Sometimes you have to push through. When you’re trying to achieve more than you have ever achieved before, when you have made hard choices and sacrifices because you have a goal or dream that makes it all worth it to you, there will be times when you decide to push forward no matter what.
Any institution, organization, or leadership team that is not in tune with the people working for them should not be making decisions for individuals who are ultimately the ones performing the work and who are at risk for being mistreated or used for “evil” instead of for “good.”
USA Gymnastics needed to be burned down, along with all of the dirty secrets and files on coaches whose behavior they hid and who they protected for decades to the detriment of children and young adults.
I think Simone had it just right when she cheekily named her Gold Medal-winning team. USA Gymnastics effed around and now they’ve found out.
There is no more “One Ring” to rule them all. Simone and the other gymnasts own the Olympic Rings and any other ring they want to hold from this point forward.
I finally feel proud of my sport again. Thank you to the G.O.A.T and to all of those brave gymnasts who decided to stand up for themselves. We are with you.