Following her withdrawal from the competition, Vance appeared on Fox News’ Outnumbered in July 2021, where he called out the media for supporting Biles during her “weakest moment.”
“It’s understandable that she was going through an incredible amount of pressure,” the Ohio senator said at the time. “What I find so weird about this – and it reflects on the media more than it does on Simone Biles – is that we’ve tried to turn a very tragic moment, Simone Biles quitting the Olympic team, into this act of heroism
“And I think it reflects pretty poorly on our sort of therapeutic society that we try to praise people not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments.”
Vance continued: “Being an athlete at that level is incredibly tough. A normal response in this moment would be to say: ‘It’s just a shame that she’s going through this. It’s a shame that she quit.’ But instead, what our press has done, I think, is turn this into this weird therapeutic moment. ‘Let’s praise her for doing this.’ And I think that’s really where the problem herein lies.”
In 2021, Biles pulled out of the women’s all-around gymnastics competition to focus on her mental health, after suffering from a condition known as the “twisties”. The phenomenon, typically experienced by gymnasts, involves losing control mid-air and feeling unable to land the move, creating a high-risk and dangerous situation. Biles has previously described the twisties as being “lost in the air,” likening the uncomfortable experience to being unable to drive while at the wheel in a car.
However, that all went away during Tuesday’s all-around team final, when Biles scored her eighth Olympic medal – becoming the most decorated gymnast in the US and the fifth-most decorated female Olympic gymnast in the world.
This isn’t the first time that past comments made by Vance have resurfaced since he was selected as former president Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. The 39-year-old Republican politician sparked outrage after he described vice president Kamala Harris as a “childless cat lady” during a 2021 interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
