Simone Biles wins gold in life’s balancing act

Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."

The closing ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will take place this Sunday, Aug. 11. Officially called the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, they have provided a thrilling spectacle, a glimpse of the world together and on its best behavior.

Team USA’s Simone Biles will leave the City of Lights with an additional four Olympic medals, three gold (the team event, all around and vault) plus a silver in floor exercise, bringing her Olympic treasure trove to 11. Added to her 30 world championship medals, Biles is the most decorated gymnast ever. With five awe-inspiring skills named for her, she dominates the sport — truly the Greatest of All Time.

But Biles did not medal in the balance beam in Paris. She fell during her routine; Team USA was not even on the podium. The irony of this is infused with meaning. Because if there is any skill Biles can, and did, show the entire world, it is her ability to strive for balance.

During the delayed 2021 summer games in Tokyo, Biles withdrew from the gymnastics competition. In front of a stunned world and her equally stunned team, she walked off the floor. Despite a barrage of criticism, she stayed in Tokyo, supporting her teammates (to four more medals) and returning briefly after her doctors’ assessment to take bronze in the balance beam.

Before the drama of her withdrawal in Tokyo, Biles had been making uncharacteristic mistakes during the qualifying rounds. The gymnastics term for her issue is the “twisties.” This condition causes a gymnast to lose her sense of space and direction while performing, potentially a deadly malady for a young woman who flies through the air in her routines.

Yet, who walks away from the Olympics, with the entire world watching?

Simone Biles did.

All that glitters is not gold.

Amidst harsh, and often brutal, criticism Biles found the wherewithal to value herself more than her accomplishments, unblinded by Olympic dazzle or her impending downfall.

The “twisties” is a term we can apply to our individual lives, as well as to our society. Off-kilter, out of whack, erratic, misaligned. It happens in every arena, big and small: individual health, societal health, politics and personal issues, physical and mental. And when it happens, we have to work hard to regain our balance or we face potentially deadly consequences.

Most of us have experienced this misalignment in one area or another: working too much, partying too much, too many meetings, too much pressure, etc. Eating too much candy results in cavities; conversely, eating too many carrots causes carotene toxicity. Good and bad are relative terms. Too much is by definition “too much.”

But isn’t the way to fully live to throw ourselves into our work and into our passions? And is that not essentially what the Olympics are about, showcasing those who have pursued their athletic dreams and devoted tens of thousands of hours to practice their skills, in fact dedicated their lives to it?

Is this not the “American” way? The path to success, admired and rewarded by a world that measures value by economic accomplishment and fame? Besides, isn’t living a life of “balance” boring, devoid of adventure and excitement?

Nothing could be further from the truth. In the big picture, the most successful people strive for life/work balance, the most successful countries pursue balance politically.

“I truly feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times,” Biles said in Tokyo. Without her parents there to cheer her on, with the pressure of others’ expectations, plus the fear and isolation of the pandemic, she taught us all a lesson: We were out of balance, and we needed each other to regain it.

The ancient yin and the yang compose the taijitu, the whole. Balance is the single most difficult thing to attain; in any arena, it’s a worthy goal in every aspect.

To find a way out of political quagmire requires adjustment, a willingness to listen, acknowledgment that opposing arguments may have some merit. Extremism is good for no person or country. In terms of the security of our country and our entire planet, the balance of power is essential.

Biles is back, Paris billed as the “Redemption Tour” by the women’s gymnastics team. But as stunning as her gymnastic accomplishments are, her courage to do what is best for herself and her team by seeking balance earns her the highest, most soaring accolades.

Simone Biles wins gold in the most difficult and important challenge she, and we, face: attaining balance.