- Title: Biles trusts her own voice, says former Olympian Dominique Dawes
- Date: 28th July 2021
- Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, CANADA (JULY 27, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER OLYMPIC GYMNAST DOMINIQUE DAWES SAYING: "Well she's naturally feeling a great deal of pressure. She is the GOAT. She is the greatest of all time. She wore a leotard that had a goat. She's done an interview with a goat. So that's a great deal of pressure and the fans and the media and even people such as myself saying that she's the greatest of all time definitely contributes to that pressure. Everyone knew that Team USA would only be capable of winning a gold medal, I truly believe, with Simone on the floor. They did the best job they could and they ended up winning a silver medal. I love in the press conference, I see that all of those young ladies are laughing, are smiling, and they're feeling great about themselves. So for them, I love that it's not the color of the medal that will determine if they're feeling good about themselves or their self-esteem is healthy, they feel great that they gave it 110 percent. And to see Simone there, on the floor, cheering for them, being the biggest cheerleader, was something that was very warm to my heart. She's friends to all of those young girls and you can see it."
- Embargoed: 11th August 2021 01:26
- Keywords: Dominique Dawes Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles Tokyo Olympic Games women's gymnastics
- Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, CANADA / TOKYO, JAPAN / BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES
- City: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, CANADA / TOKYO, JAPAN / BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Olympics,Sport,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA006ENMB9S7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Former U.S. Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes expressed her support for Olympic gymnast Simone Biles who dropped out of the women's team final at the Tokyo Summer Games, saying she had to focus on her mental health.
Biles, who has racked up multiple world and Olympic medals in a spectacular career, said Tuesday (July 27) that the pressure of living up to expectations had left her no other choice but to drop out of the team final.
Dawes, the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics, said Biles is under tremendous pressure and it is important for the 24-year-old to trust herself in order to prevent injuries.
"She made that decision for herself and I think she recognized that there was a possibility of her creating a very serious error that could lead to a very serious injury. What she does out there is very difficult maneuvers. She makes it look very easy - that's the problem - people think that what she does is very easy and maybe even easy for her but it takes a lot physical toughness, mental toughness, psychological toughness and she felt off of her game and recognized that she didn't want to put herself in jeopardy so she made the decision," said Dawes.
"The best thing she can do is shut off all this outside chatter. Anything that's not coming from her own head or her support system need not, need not be heard," she added.
Dawes also said that without an audience or family members in the audience, athletes at this year's Olympics are missing the reassurance that she found so critical when she competed.
The U.S. team went on to win silver in the event.
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