Simone Biles deserved to quit a long time ago. In a cover story for The Cut published Monday, Biles opened up about her decision to pull out of competition at the Olympics, an unexpected move that caused shockwaves throughout the sports world. Most notably, the story traces a clear line between her stepping away from the sport and the trauma of sexual abuse she experienced from former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
“If you looked at everything I’ve gone through for the past seven years, I should have never made another Olympic team," Biles told the magazine. "I should have quit way before Tokyo, when Larry Nassar was in the media for two years. It was too much. But I was not going to let him take something I’ve worked for since I was 6 years old. I wasn’t going to let him take that joy away from me. So I pushed past that for as long as my mind and my body would let me."
