JD Vance’s video calling out Simone Biles for ‘quitting’ Tokyo Olympics withdrawal goes viral after Paris heroics

Simone Biles began her golden day with therapy and recovery, with Team USA snagging gold in team final.

JD Vance’s video calling out Simone Biles for ‘quitting’ Tokyo Olympics withdrawal goes viral after Paris heroics

JD Vance: No leniency on Simone Biles after she quit 2021 Olympics (Source: IMAGO/X)

A champion is as a champion does; Simone Biles is a people’s champ and G.O.A.T elite gymnast with her champion composure. But even the best can have the worst days. After Team USA gymnastics won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics team final, a clip from 2021 has resurfaced. It’s one where eventual Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) was critiquing Biles for her Tokyo pullout.

Democratic-aligned research group American Bridge posted the ill-willed snippet on JD Vance. It’s from a Fox News (@FoxNews/ X) panel moderated by host Harris Faulkner. This was right after Simone Biles chose to announce that she won’t be joining her team for the all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics. The Spring, TX native gymnast was suffering a block at the time.

YouTube video
What I find so weird about this, and it reflects more on the media than it does on Simone Biles, is that we've tried to turn a very tragic moment — Simone Biles quitting the Olympic team – into this act of heroism.
JD Vance during the Fox News (@FoxNews/ X) moderated media panel; July 28, 202; H/T: alternet.org

Going into it, Biles was a six-time World all-around champ, two-time World Vault, and U.S. Nationals, champ. But one is only as good as their worst day. The artistic gymnast from Bannon’s Gymnastix Inc. suffered a grave case of “the twisties”, at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed and praised Biles’ withdrawal, Vance said it was a byproduct of the lenient mainstreaming of therapy.

FS Video
And I think it reflects poorly on our sort of therapeutic society...we try praise people not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments...
JD Vance continued, on mainstreaming of therapy, via the Fox News (@FoxNews/ X) panel

There was extreme pressure on the senior international elite thereafter. U.S. Women’s Team’s technical leader Chellsie Memmel has kept the safety net open for her to opt out of the 2024 Summer games, or any other. Everyone, even Biles knew any subsequent appearances would be a redeeming performance. But Vance just prompted her to toughen up.

Being an athlete is incredibly tough...A normal response would be, 'it's such a shame... that she quit.' But instead, what our press has done, I think, has turned this into a weird therapeutic moment.
JD Vance further said

With Biles deciding to put her mental health first, Vance promoted that one shouldn’t turn this into a consolation, praising her act of heroism. The statements drew much flak back then, as it does now. All in all, it has gone quite viral again.

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Netizens react to JD Vance’s assessment of Simone Biles pulling out

Biles has come a long way from the Tokyo pullout. After a two-year break, she made a triumphant return in 2023. Simone Biles went even a step further this year and outshone her previous stats. The women’s all-around Team final began at 12:15 p.m. ET/9:15 a.m. PT, yesterday.

Fans react in support of Simone Biles after Paris 2024 Olympics win
Fans react in support of Simone Biles after Paris 2024 Olympics win (Source: usagym.org)

Despite the uneven bars not being her strongest apparatus, she closed the team finals with a whopping 14.666 score on the floor routine, 14.400 on the bars, and scaled a 3.6-point lead over Italy. She now has the most Olympic golds in American gymnastics history.

The Paris 2024 Olympics women’s gymnastics team final performance showcased why she is still an elite. In light of her recent feats at the Paris Olympics, JD Vance and his take on alleged “therapeutic leniency” becomes as moot as ever. Here are some responses to it:

https://twitter.com/pettet50/status/1818639686732013731

Many unanimously, once again, commended Simone Biles for putting health first when need be. Some said they had supported her pulling out even back then.

In the clip, Faulkner began the interview by asking Vance if, perhaps, Biles “let down the country.” Many fans have naturally retorted against it. The gymnast shouldering the burden of her fame and return, it was already quite the matter. Faulkner playing instigator did not sit well; consequently, neither did Vance.

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