BREAKING NEWS: Simone Biles had an injury and she announced retirement to the…

Biles’s reply is simple on the surface, but it teaches a major lesson in emotional intelligence–namely, how you can avoid dangerous comparisons, with others, or even with yourself. To understand why, we have to remember what happened to Biles three years ago at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Let’s recap, and see how you can apply Biles’s lesson to your own life. (If you find value in this column, you might be interested in my free course, which teaches you how to build emotional intelligence in yourself and your team.)

To help us understand why Biles’s reply is so emotionally intelligent, remember what happened at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan (which actually took place in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic).

It was at those Olympics that Biles withdrew from most of the competition, citing a mental block known as the twisties, also commonly known as the yips. This is a condition in which an athlete suddenly cannot perform certain actions they typically do with ease.

Biles told reporters in 2021 that she took a step back because she had been “struggling with some things,” and she wanted to avoid serious injury. Media critics and others pounced on Biles, calling her a quitter and implying she was weak.

In contrast, I defended Biles’s decision as emotionally intelligent. And although her response to reporters yesterday was extremely brief, I think it was emotionally intelligent, too.

Look, no athlete wants to compete with an injury, and there’s no telling how Biles’s injury will shape her performance over the rest of the competition. But by focusing on the best she can be, in both cases, Biles was able to make decisions that she likely believes are best for her physical and mental health, especially for the long term.

In 2021, Biles was fighting with a major mental block, one that could have caused her serious injury if it caused her to miss on an especially dangerous maneuver. In contrast, by continuing with her performance yesterday, Biles showed she’s willing and able to push herself through a certain degree of pain or discomfort, focus on being the best she can despite that, and perform at an extremely high level at the same time.

Not that she needed to prove anything. Biles is one of the most decorated gymnasts in history.