メンタルヘルスに苦しんだバイルス、８月に大会復帰へ

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米国体操女子のシモーネ・バイルスが、メンタルヘルスと安全性の問題で途中棄権や欠場があった東京五輪以来となる大会に出場すると、２８日に米国体操連盟が発表した。（写真は米国体操女子のシモーネ・バイルス）
　連盟によると、五輪で通算４個の金メダルを獲得しているバイルスは、８月４日と５日に米シカゴで行われる大会にエントリーした。連盟は発表文の中で、「選手登録は参加を保証するものではない」とくぎを刺している。
　バイルスは２０１６年のリオデジャネイロ五輪で団体総合、個人総合、跳馬、ゆかの金メダルを獲得し、平均台でも銅メダルを獲得。２０２１年に延期された東京大会でも最多で五つの金メダル獲得が有力視されていた。
　しかし、空中で平衡感覚を失うメンタルブロック状態「ツイスティーズ」に悩まされ、東京では団体の銀メダルと平均台での銅メダル獲得にとどまった。
　バイルスは今後の計画について概要を明らかにしていないが、シカゴ大会の１年後にはパリ五輪が控えている。リオ五輪後の休養明けには、２０１８年の同大会で復帰を果たしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/06/29-16:49）

Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles is poised to compete in August for the first time since mental health and safety concerns cut short her Tokyo Olympics campaign, entering the August US Classic near Chicago.
USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday that the four-time Olympic gold medallist was entered in the August 4-5 event, which would be her first since she withdrew from most of her events in Tokyo in 2021.
Registration...does not guarantee participation, USA Gymnastics warned in the statement.
Every athlete is at a different place in their season and career, and we will support each of them, wherever they are in their journey, said USA Gymnastics chief programs officer Stefanie Korepin.
Biles electrified the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where she won gold in team, all-around, vault and floor exercise as well as a balance beam bronze.
She entered the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as a heavy favorite to win as many as five gold medals.
She hadn't lost an all-around competition since 2013 and her build up to the Games included mastery of a daring Yurchenko double pike vault that had never before been seen in women's competition.
However, she would depart Tokyo with only team silver and a balance beam bronze, however, her campaign cut short after she experienced the twisties -- the phenomenon in which gymnasts lose the ability to orientate themselves in mid-air.
Biles withdrew from the team event after performing on one apparatus and later withdrew from the all-around competition and the finals for vault, uneven bars and floor exercise, saying at the time she needed to prioritze her mental health.
Biles said in a video released after Tokyo that her problems had been building for a while.
I wouldn't even say it started in Tokyo. I feel like it was probably a little bit deeper-rooted than that, Biles said.
I think it was just the stress factor. It kind of built up over time, and my body and my mind just said no. But even I didn't know I was going through it until it just happened.
It just sucks, Biles said in the video. But I know that I helped a lot of people and athletes speak out about mental health and saying no. Because I knew I couldn't go out there and compete. I knew I was going to get hurt.
After the Tokyo Games, in September 2021, Biles testified before a U.S. Senate committee looking into FBI failures in investigating sexual abuse by former gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
Nassar received a life sentence after pleading guilty in late 2017 and early 2018 to sexually assaulting women and girls while working as a sports medicine doctor at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.
- Another Olympics? -
In recent months Biles's popular social media feeds have featured not gymnastics but news of her personal life, including her marriage to NFL Safety Jonathan Owens, then with the Houston Texans, in April.
When Owens signed with the Green Bay Packers in May she endeared herself to Green Bay fans by soliciting suggestions on what to see and do in the couple's new town.
Biles has won 25 world championships medals, 19 of them gold, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden in 2022.
Although she hasn't outlined her plans, the US Classic is roughly a year out from the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Biles has used the event to launch a comeback before.
She returned to competition at the meeting in 2018, having taken a break after her stunning Rio Games campaign.