In midair, soaring over a vault, Simone Biles realized she had lost her way.
She came into the Olympics as the United States¡¯ star, expected to bring home gold medals and to fulfill the obligations of a global celebrity. The weight of her past success loomed over her. Fans expected her to be spectacular and perfect, even here at the Tokyo Games in a pandemic and without spectators.
And she was feeling far from perfect. On Tuesday, she said she began ¡°fighting all of those demons¡± and couldn¡¯t hold them back. In this, perhaps her final Olympics after having won four golds at the 2016 Games, she wondered why she was even here.
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