*Simone Biles made her Olympic return Tuesday and bagged a bronze medal in the balance beam event.
Biles has been catching heat for nearly a week after withdrawing from the team competition late last month. She subsequently pulled out of most individual events, citing a case of “the Twisties,” common among gymnasts in which “you literally cannot tell up from down.” She noted in an Instagram post that they “randomly started happening” the morning after the preliminary competition and that it was “the strangest, weirdest feeling.”
She also stepped back from the Olympic events last week to focus on her mental health.
OTHER NEWS: She’s Back! Simone Biles Returning to Compete in Beam Final At Olympics | VIDEO
ESPN personality and former NBA star Jalen Rose appeared on The Breakfast Club radio show Monday morning and addressed the Biles critics.
“So a lot of those people and about 75 percent of those people think January 6th at the capital was a picnic,” Rose told hosts DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and Charlamagne tha God. “A lot of those people there’s nothing I can say into this mic for 450 years that’s gonna even compute to them that we’re more than athletes, we’re more than jocks, we’re not going to shut up and dribble.”
He continued, “For the people who feel like you practiced your entire life and now this is the major moment, this is what I want them to understand,” Rose said. “Michael Jordan won three championships and lost his father. And took two years of a mental health break, he was an adult playing in the NBA. The GOAT already.”
“She’s 24 years old!” Rose said of Biles. “It’s way different when you’re a kid, she actually showed maturity to me by saying ‘this isn’t about me, I don’t feel my best. I will take a step back and allow you guys to flourish because this isn’t all about me.’”
Do you agree? Sound off in the comments, and watch Jalen’s interview below.
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