American Athletes Much More Fortunate Than Asian Ones in Receiving Public Support for Mental Health Issues

For some people, the legendary American gymnast Simone Biles is currently in the news for all the wrong reasons. Before the Tokyo Olympics started, the news was all about her dominance in her sport, revolutionizing the field of women's gymnastics like no one before she has ever done. Given those news articles, people rightly expected her to win gold medal after gold medal in Tokyo. Yet, instead of winning gold medals, she has recently been in the news for suddenly dropping out of the team and individual all-around competitions, citing issues with her mental health.

Biles is by no means the only athlete at the Olympics that allowed the pressure of competing at such a big stage to get the best of them. Several other gold medal contenders have faced shocking defeats, probably owing to pressure, at this Olympics worthy of news coverage. None is more so than that of Naomi Osaka, who not only lighted the cauldron of Olympic fire at the opening ceremony of these Games but have been tapped as a great hope for Japan to win a gold medal in women's tennis, where she ranks world number one. Her crashing out of the competition with a large number of self-made errors quickly became global and Japanese news.

The public reaction to Biles' failure at the Olympics versus that of Osaka could not have been more different. For Biles, despite some detracting voices, the English-language press has largely been supportive. Her sponsors decided to continue taking her side rather than end their partnerships with her. The general public and other famous athletes have come out in support as well, with renewed conversations on the importance of prioritizing one's mental health and doing things at one's own pace, no matter what other people's expectations might be.

In contrast, the news of Osaka losing has seen news of her detractors drown out her supporters, even as she was only in the news not long ago for refusing to entertain pointed questions at news conferences for the sake of her mental health. While at the time she also received plenty of support from sponsors, other athletes, and the general public, this time around, the narrative has not been one of her mental vulnerability, but her loss being a dashed hope for Japan as well as the subsequent online abuses she faced from the Japanese general public.

The contrast between the public reactions to the failures of Biles and Osaka can be extended to contrasts in general between media treatment of American and Asian athletes. When American star athletes failed to medal as expected, the English-language media has not dwelled on their failures, instead glorifying the achievements of their opponents for their unexpected victories while portraying the losers as humans with emotions and future possibilities. But when Asian athletes lose, the English-language media cited local language news outlets and social media, with comments that questioned the dedication of the athletes.

Such a contrast between Asian and American sporting cultures extends to the different ideas of the symbolism of Olympics in the two regions. While both celebrate star athletes as an embodiment of national prowess, Asian countries much more directly connect success at the Olympics with collective national pride. The Asian athletes are not just fighting for personal glory but a national one, and thus their failures are not just a matter of personal issue, but the failure of the entire country. Such a mentality almost perversely justifies random citizens criticizing top athletes for not doing as well as they should.

And the same mentality of collective pride prevents Asian athletes to speak about their vulnerabilities as much as Americans can. While Biles can come out and say "I have hit a limit" and expect understanding from her sponsors and audience back home, Asian athletes, after their losses, can only speak about "I will try harder next time and do better," without touching upon any issues that are holding them back aside from a lack of practice, diligence, and technical skills. The Asian athletes' quiet acquiescence to a culture of "I represent the country and I must do better" only entrenches a norm that they cannot show vulnerability in public and certainly cannot quit in public like Biles did.

Thought this way, American athletes are much luckier than their Asian counterparts. The public sees them as human, public figures that can comment and embody social issues, and not just near-machines who are powerful enough, fast enough, and persistent enough to beat their global counterparts in the sports that they partake in. Asian athletes, as a result, are likely under even more mental distress than American ones, but they cannot publicly speak out without facing serious consequences to their public images and future as athletes and members of the national sports community. It is a situation that must be changed.