This is the Morning Win. For the next couple of weeks, we’ll be writing each weekday morning about the Tokyo Olympics. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.
Everyone should strive to be like Simone Biles.
Just last week the GOAT of women’s gymnastics angered a bunch of grifters who like to get upset over stuff they don’t really care about when she opted to take care of both her mental and physical health by pulling herself out of the team competition and then later the all-around competition.
She handled the whole situation with a level of class and dignity that should be taught in school to young kids everywhere. She cheered on her teammates during the team competition and then later spoke with the media, explaining in such a calm way about why it was important for her to take care of herself.
Biles hid from absolutely nothing and stood for absolutely everything that’s important to so many people who have been watching the Olympics each night from their couches.
It was all so beautiful and powerful and was a great example for everyone who is battling through their own things to learn from.
Then on Tuesday she made her return to competition and won bronze in the balance beam, giving her a seventh Olympic medal and tying her with Shannon Miller for the most medals by a U.S. gymnast.
Shortly after the event she said:
“It wasn’t easy pulling out of all those competitions, People just thought it was easy, but I physically and mentally was not in the right head space, and I didn’t want to jeopardize my health and my safety because at the end of the day, it’s not worth it.
“My mental and physical health is above all medals that I could ever win. So to be clear, to do beam, which I didn’t think I was going to be, just meant the world to be back out there. And I wasn’t expecting to walk away with the medal. I was just going out there doing this for me.”
Biles, who was battling a case of the “twisties” last week (which is something that sounds frightening and dangerous) deserves all the cheers and love that she received after her finish on the balance beam, which is an event where things can go really wrong.
She never backed down from any of the idiotic criticism she received last week. She was open about her mental health. She was so strong when many people who don’t know anything thought she was weak.
Biles added so many levels to her GOAT status in Tokyo and now she gets to take home another medal, too.
Which is awesome.
And historic.
Quick hits: Possible Wentz replacements… Aaron Rodgers’ awesome new ride… Cat invades Yankee Stadium… And more.
– Henry McKenna looks at eight quarterbacks who could fill in for an injured Carson Wentz in Indianapolis.
– Aaron Rodgers casually driving around Green Bay in a golf cart is pretty awesome.
– A cat ran around Yankee Stadium last night and the grounds crew hilariously failed to catch it.
– Carli Lloyd was seen doing sprints alone on the field after USWNT’s semifinal loss to Canada and it was pretty awesome.
– The Nationals’ Victor Robles played an inning with a huge praying mantis chilling on his hat and it was pretty wild.
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