Simone Biles is a winner, period. As the most skilled and daring gymnast of our time, she has garnered a total of 31 Olympic and World Championship medals. More importantly, she is a strong and resilient advocate of her own health and wellness. This makes her in our 40fyd + opinion the GOAT. At 24 years old, this young woman is extremely in tune with her emotions and how they impact her athletics as well as her quality of life. While she has shown an extra ordinary passion and commitment in her athletic career, she has not sacrificed the most important part of herself-her mental health and the fine line of balance needed to preserve it. The strength this young woman has shown competing when injured, excelling while victim to sexual assault and continuing to defy gravity while being denied her brilliance, is proof she is simply phenomenal. However, her most impressive event to date was removing herself from the 2021 Olympics when she realized it could be detrimental to her physical and mental health. Being able to prioritize herself in that complicated arena of prefixed commitments and expectations is an extraordinary lesson in self-love. Something so many of us, 40 and up have a hard time mastering due to fear, our need to please and our sometimes complete disconnect from our own emotions. Simone has taught us all that no matter what your arena looks like, no matter how large and no matter how prominent, it should never be second to your mental health and your ability to have peace of mind. We applaud our young sister and thank her immensely for reminding us what winning looks like.
