What Nigerian youths can learn from Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history
Simone Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus. When she was three years old, she was adopted by her grandparents, Ron and Nellie Biles, and then raised in Spring, Texas. At the age of six, Biles began gymnastics.
Fast forward to 2013, she became the first African-American woman to win the all-around title at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She went on to win three more world all-around titles, in 2014, 2015, and 2018.
She also won four gold medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro: team, all-around, vault, and floor exercise, becoming the first woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympic gymnastics event.
In 2021, however, Biles withdrew from the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to mental health concerns. The break lasted two years. Subsequently, she returned to compete in the elite competition in August 2023, winning the all-around title with a 59.100 score, and dominating the competition by a five-point lead.
So how does this affect youths in Nigeria?
While she is in a totally different environment from ours and her experiences and achievements are specific to her field, there are several lessons from her life and career that can be universally applicable. Nigerian youths, like any other youth from another country, can thrive in any field if we stay dedicated and true to ourselves while working to improve our skills and values.
Surely there are a lot of things to learn from Biles; from choosing to pursue your passion and being the best at what you love to do, to not letting setbacks get in the way of your growth and innovation. And also, prioritising your mental health as well as celebrating your own success and failures more than the crippling expectations of the crowd surrounding you. Nonetheless, I’d like to hold to Simone Biles’s 2019 words to Priyanka Chopra.
“…I took a lot of risks and I did things that terrified me. It made me realize who I was as a person,” she said. That for me is a take-home for Nigerian youths. At 26, Biles not only became the oldest gymnast to achieve the US World Championship but shattered a 90-year record by becoming the first American gymnast to secure eight national all-around titles. This feat surely took a lot of nerves as it had throughout her career.
In Nigeria, with the economy and everything else, there are already a lot of odds against us. With everything – and in some cases, everyone against us, we cannot afford to be against ourselves as young people. There is a pressing risk for us as Nigerian youths to do the things that terrify us, which makes for our growth. It may be risky, but it could be successful. It may be costly, but we have ourselves and our faith. With those things, we won’t only survive but thrive.
To break the odds in our paths requires a level of terrification!
Simone Biles broke racial barriers in a sport that historically lacked diversity. Although she possesses a more muscular and powerful physique compared to the traditional image of a gymnast, Biles challenged the stereotype that gymnasts need to be a certain way and showed that strength and power can be just as valuable in the sport. She’s a testament that your background and mental health struggles do not determine your success.
It is important that we accept every single aspect of ourselves, paying attention to our self-care and mental well-being. We can be a symbol of resilience, determination, and empowerment for people from all walks of life, if we dare to do the things that terrify us, pushing barriers and breaking the status quo.
