The whole world looks at athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka at the Olympics. Both seem to suffer from expectations. And many athletes from smaller sports are also under enormous mental pressure at the games.
If you had asked before the start of the Olympic Games in Tokyo who would be the big defining figures of this event, most of them would have named two names: Simone Biles, exceptional gymnast from the USA, and Naomi Osaka, tennis ace from the host country Japan. Both started with huge expectations, not only as outstanding athletes, but also as idols of a whole generation and symbolic figures who should stand for much more than results and medals.
But both Biles and Osaka quickly landed on hard ground. At Biles, this is to be taken literally: she covered her foot on landing after her jump in the team final and had to drop out of the competition. Osaka received the greatest honor in the host country: she was allowed to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony – a moment in which she embodied all of Japan. Of course, their home country expected a medal in return, but Osaka was eliminated in the second round of the Olympic tennis tournament.
Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka under enormous pressure
Both women seem to be unable to withstand the immense pressure that weighs on them. They are still very young, even if they have been on the big sporting stage for a long time: Simone Biles is 24 years old, Naomi Osaka 23. And both are open about how much the public’s expectations affect them.
Biles had complained about the pressure in an Instagram post after qualifying: “It wasn’t an easy day or my best, but I got through it. I truly feel like I have the burden of the world on my shoulders right now. I know , I brush it off and make it look like the pressure isn’t affecting me, but damn it, it’s tough sometimes hahaha. Olympia is no joke. ” Already in the qualification, Biles had not achieved her usual outstanding performance, she apparently did not dare to perform the newly created Yurchenko with a double backward somersault.
Her exit in the team competition then caused a lot of guesswork, US media first reported “mental problems”, the gymnastics association later stated a “medical problem” as the reason. Biles later denied that she was injured: “I have to focus on my mental health now.” She didn’t feel 100 percent safe: “At the end of the day we’re only human. I didn’t want to go out and do something stupid and hurt myself. It’s the Olympics, but we don’t want to be carried out here on a stretcher.”
Olympia 2021: All of Japan looked at Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka’s mental health has been a media issue for a long time. It was she herself who made her depressive phases public a good six weeks before the games and therefore canceled the French Open. Osaka also did not take part in the tournament in Wimbledon. The Japanese had a lot of support for her openness, but not only received sympathetic reactions.
At the Olympics, a whole country put its hopes on the 23-year-old, who then surprisingly failed in two sets against the Czech Marketa Vondrousova in the second round. “I definitely have the feeling that there was a lot of pressure,” said the visibly disappointed tennis player after her defeat – possibly too much pressure for her first Olympic participation.
Especially in small sports, the Olympics mean everything
But it’s not just the stars who have to work like hell at the Olympics. Especially in smaller sports, the entire training program, actually life, revolves around the one moment when it comes to Olympic precious metal. Canoeists, marksmen or rowers usually do their sport unnoticed by the public, they only step onto the big stalls once every four years at the Olympics. Then the one performance that you have been working towards has to be right. For many, sponsorship money and further funding depend on it.
For many, however, their nerves fail at the decisive moment – quite apart from the fact that there can only be one winner anyway and the other medal ranks are also limited. These are heartbreaking scenes that unfold when four years of training and hardship vanish into thin air. Like in the women’s canoe slalom: There the German canoeist Ricarda Funk rewarded herself for her hard work and would have loved to hug the whole world after her gold medal. Her rival, however, missed a goal at the crucial moment and burst into bitter tears after her mistake.
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I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
