Simone Biles and Brody Malone are both cut from the same cloth. Their accolades and struggles echo what it takes to be a champion in the cutthroat gymnastics world. Interestingly, this is not the only area of similarity between the two gymnastics icon. A much unfortunate incident links them together- twisties. Yes, the same twisties that compelled Biles to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics back in 2020. These chinks in their armor didn’t slow them down though. Touted as the favorite to win the all around title, Biles’ decision came as a stinging shock for the fans. And quite expectedly, they were not happy. 

Biles was subjected to significant criticisms. Surely, her coming back to competitive gymnastics was not laden with rose petals. However, ahead of the Paris Olympics, Biles got an unexpected ally in Brody Malone. He not only resonated with Biles’ struggles, but also revealed his own twisties’ story. 

Simone Biles is not the last of the twisties ilk

Brody Malone, the 2022 World Champion is trying to ascend great heights at the moment. In the most recent instance of his triumph, Malone is leading the men’s division at the ongoing US Gymnastics Championships. Sadly, amidst all the glitz and glamor, lay a dark reality. Brody Malone recently sat down on an episode of Apple podcast to discuss his struggles. In the most surprising revelation, Malone stated that he is not alien to ‘twisties’. 

Speaking on the topic, Malone stated, “Well, for starters, I’ve had the twisties before.” He then went on to elaborate about how difficult it was to propel through the situation with all the hate comments coming in. Reflecting on the same, Malone said, “Yeah. Well there’s a lot of, I mean, people that just don’t, they just don’t know, know what they don’t know. And so automatically people get really judgemental and I just, I mean, your heart breaks, right?” 

He also opined on the fact that such an incident takes a huge toll on oneself. To practice for a tournament for so long and train so hard, and not being able to materialize the same feels heartbreaking for an athlete. Well, it is probably because Malone went through the struggles, he could totally understand Biles’ situation. 

Brody Malone supports Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw

Speaking about Simone Biles’ struggles, Malone came out as an able ally of compassion. Malone stated that such a situation mid air can be “really dangerous” for an athlete. To further justify his stance, Malone stated that he was present during Biles’ warm up ahead of the finals. And what he saw was not at all pleasant. 

Malone said, “And she does a one and a half bails out, it was kind of obvious that she was getting lost in the air.” He further said that it was a brave and a correct decision to pull out of the games. Infact, Malone wondered why Biles competed in the team finals and not withdraw before. With all this active discourse taking centre stage now, will Biles and Malone let go of their past demons and give it their all for the behemoth games? Time will tell.