78 Time December 27, 2021/January 3, 2022
who became the most decorated female track-
and-field athlete of all time in Tokyo. “When
thinking about role models for Cammy, wow,
here is someone showing you can choose your
mental health over what the world says is the
most important thing.”The message is already being put into prac-
tice. As head coach for women’s gymnastics at
the University of Arkansas, Olympian Jordyn
Wieber, another Nassar survivor, sees Biles’ deci-
sion as an opportunity for her team to “take those
lessons she’s displaying on a worldwide level and
apply them to their daily lives as student ath-
letes.” During the Olympics, Ty-La Morris, 14, an
aspiring gymnast from the Bronx, stayed up past
her bedtime to watch coverage of the gymnas-
tics events. When she heard people questioning
Biles’ fortitude, she defended her. “Everybodyhave always been under scrutiny,” says Plummer.
“Oftentimes, Black women are not given the free-
dom to be able to just be authentic. Oftentimes,
they have to be what somebody asked them or
designed for them to be.”
So when a Black female athlete like Biles takes
visible steps to safeguard her own mental and
physical health, to indicate that it’s worth pro-
tecting, that action carries a special power. Plum-
mer has noticed that since Tokyo, more personal
and professional contacts have initiated conver-
sations about their mental health. This is sig-
nificant, as research has found that many Black
women feel they must project an image of invul-
nerability and the stigma around mental health
deters them from seeking help. And although
Black adults are more likely than white ones to
report symptoms of emotional distress, only
1 in 3 Black adults who needs mental-health care
receives it. “It is a privilege of people who have
money to see a therapist,” says Reuben Buford
May, a professor of sociology at the University of
Illinois Urbana- Champaign who studies race and
culture. “Intertwined with that is that African
Americans have disproportionately been among
the poor and have not been able to have health
care to pay for mental-health services.”
Biles alone won’t change mental-health in-
equities or force a society that has long paid lip
service to the importance of mental health to
do more. But she made it that much harder to
look away. And, according to school psychologist
Shawna Kelly, a member of the National Associa-
tion of School Psychologists’ board of directors,
Biles’ actions will help accelerate a trend that was
already under way. Recently, Kelly has seen more
kids asking for help, as well as expressing concern
for their friends. “Often that’s before a real crisis,
which is where I feel there is more opportunity
to work with kids preventively and proactively.”
In June, before she had any idea of the ex-
periences to come, Biles had Maya Angelou’s
And sTill i rise tattooed on her collarbone.
“It’s a reminder and a tribute to everything
I had been through, and that I always come out
on top,” she says. The Olympics did not go the
way she or anyone else expected, but she’s not
wallowing in what-ifs. She’s back in therapy,
just finished headlining a U.S. tour and is feel-
ing confident about the decision she made in
Tokyo. “I was torn because things weren’t going
the way I wanted,” she says. “But looking back,
I wouldn’t change it for anything.” —With report-
ing by nik PoPli and simmone shAh ‘It often takes oneperson to changethe trajectory ofa whole system.’
—KEVIN LOVE, FIVE-TIME NBA ALL-STARkept coming after her, and nobody was in her
shoes,” she says. Witnessing a Black woman
thrive in a traditionally white sport gives Morris
the confidence that she too can make the Olym-
pics, but in addition, she’s now more likely to
tell her coach if she’s having difculty, which she
wouldn’t have been comfortable doing before.
Experts agree that especially for young Black
women, Biles’ actions were a signal that it’s ac-
ceptable to claim agency over both their minds
and their bodies. Since the days of slavery, says
LaNail Plummer, a therapist who specializes in
providing mental-health services to Black and
LGBTQ communities in the D.C. area, the bodies
of Black women have been subject to fetishiza-
tion: for purposes of labor, reproduction or ath-
letic entertainment. Throughout their careers, for
example, tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams
have been the targets of racist and sexist com-
ments because of their appearances. “Our bodies