I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Thursday, July 29th.

It's been an unusual Olympics so far, to say the least, delayed a year by the pandemic. Remember, this is supposed to be

the 2020 Summer Olympics, not the 2021. So very much ongoing in Tokyo is the pandemic and the rest

of the world with no fans or families in the stands and teammates going into isolation for

testing positive for COVID-19.

The athletes are aiming for perfection under extraordinary pressure.

And for American gymnast extraordinaire, Simone Biles, it was too much, as you've no doubt heard. And even if you don't know a balance beam from uneven bars, you probably heard the news that she withdrew in the

midst of the team all-around competition earlier this week and subsequently from today's

individual all-around events, as she herself put it. It's been really stressful this Olympic

Games. I think just as a whole, not having an audience.

There are a lot of different variables going into it. It's been a long week. It's been a long

Olympic process. It's been a long year. So just a lot of different variables. And I think

we're just a little bit too stressed out. And that was Simone Biles to reporters after leaving the team competition. And yes, all the athletes are out. And that was Simone Biles, two reporters after leaving the team competition.

And yes, all the athletes are stressed and more open about mental health challenges and seeking

help than previous generations. But for Biles, she's not only the gymnast. She's a young

black woman in a sport that had mostly white participants and coaches and judges

for so long.

There's a lot to say about Biles' decision and what it says about sports, but let's spend a

moment talking about why, as my next guest put it, for dope black women like her, breaking

records is never enough.

Candice Buckner is a Washington Post sports reporter

focusing on the intersection of race, gender, and diversity issues in the world of sports,

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