Simone Biles feared she would be "cancelled" after she sensationally withdrew from the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
The gold medal-winning gymnast, 28, was in Japan competing for Team USA when she decided to walk away in the middle of an event because she needed to prioritise her mental and physical health - and Simone has now admitted she feared her career would be over because of her decision.
She told Stylist magazine: "Everyone assumed I would do what I’d always done: push through and bring home gold. But something inside me knew this was different. Very different.
"My body was there, but it wasn’t in sync with my mind. I wasn’t right. And in gymnastics, that’s extremely dangerous. I had to trust myself. Trust the intuition I’d spent my entire life building. Trust the voice telling me that no medal or accolade was worth my health and safety ...
"So, I took a step back. I told my coaches and teammates I couldn’t continue."
She went on to add: "I was very aware that not only was I letting them down, but also my entire country. I knew the backlash I would face. I worried about being cancelled – the headlines, the comments, the judgment.
"But I also knew one thing: I wasn’t letting myself down. Later, I came to realise that this was the most important thing of all. Even though it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, it was the most courageous I’ve ever been."
Simone went to therapy after returning form Tokyo and went on to return to competing, and she's adamant she's got no regrets over her decision to step back.
She said: "I won’t pretend it was easy. That I didn’t doubt myself. That I didn’t sit in bed and eat ice-cream all day, doomscroll and question who I was. I didn’t have a plan for this. I felt like I had ‘loser’ tattooed across my forehead. It was overwhelming.
"But here’s what I wish I’d been taught sooner: pushing through isn’t always a sign of strength. Taking a step back isn’t weakness ...
"It took therapy and a lot of work for me to understand that. And it took time."
The gymnast previously revealed her experience in Tokyo was a turning point for her because it opened up a wider discussion about mental health in sport.
Simone told Harper's Bazaar Spain: "It completely transformed me. Before, people only talked about my medals; now they also talk about the mental aspect.
"That makes me happy; it shows that something has changed, because before, unfortunately, my career wasn't very relatable to most people, except for other elite athletes ... "I learned that success means nothing if you can't enjoy it peacefully."
