Jason Whitlock: “Simone Biles took second in the floor exercise, some woman from Brazil took first, and some woman from America took third, so everybody is celebrating this ‘all-Black’ picture of Simone Biles bowing in front of this Brazilian woman and saying ‘THIS IS AN ICONIC PHOTO! AN ALL-BLACK PODIUM!’… This is somehow celebrated as some great thing. It’s just a reminder to me of why I’m not watching the Olympics and why I’m not on-board with Simone Biles. I’m not a Simone Biles fan. She’s divisive, she’s a race-idolator, and she’s a race-bait victim. I’m just tired of everything being labeled as ‘historic’. How can an ‘all-Black’ podium [be historic?]. Have you seen the 100-meter and 200-meter dash photos for the last 100 years?? Have you seen the podiums for these boxing events?? ‘BUT IT’S GYMNASTICS!!!’… It’s not history, and it’s not unifying to be discussing sports in this way constantly. It was a turn-off to me. We’re provoking this type of mentality.  

Put up the picture of Simone Biles getting interviewed [on the Call Her Daddy podcast]. Simone Biles’ feet don’t touch the floor. That’s a borderline midget. And we’re doing all this ‘OH, MY GOD, SHE’S THE GREATEST ATHLETE OF ALL TIME!’… Most of us don’t even understand gymnastics, we don’t know how it’s scored, we don’t know what’s good or bad, but we all pretend every four years like ‘OH, MY GOD! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE ATHLETE! SHE’S THE GREATEST! SHE’S JESSE OWENS! SHE’S SERENA WILLIAMS! SHE’S MICHAEL JORDAN!’… I just don’t like the little victimhood gimmick and I don’t like her persona.  

Did you see the photo of the 800-meter dash of one White woman blowing past seven Black women? It’s quite a picture and people have been celebrating this, and it’s been ‘OH MY GOD, THEY’RE RACIST!’… If this was reversed – if there was one Black woman and seven White women were chasing her, everybody would be sending out ‘THIS IS HISTORIC! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! OH, MY GOD, A BLACK WOMAN HAS BEATEN SEVEN WHITE WOMEN!’… You’re inviting White people to do the same. You’re being played. You’re being pitted against people on racial lines.”

Watch Jason Whitlock of Blaze TV’s Fearless take exception to the Simone Biles hyperbole that’s been pumped out during the 2024 Paris Olympics, as Whitlock says social media race baiters need to stop ‘pretending’ that the decorated American gymnast is the ‘greatest athlete of all time.’

Check out the segment above as Whitlock details the off-putting racial divisiveness of the Olympic coverage, and how he’s turned off by Biles’ ‘victimhood gimmick.’

Colin Cowherd: Steph Curry Single-Handedly Won the Gold Medal for Team USA

How Joel Embiid Betrayed France and President Macron to Play For Team USA 

Doug Gottlieb: The Real Reason Jayson Tatum is an Olympic Benchwarmer

Plane Carrying Carolina Panthers Ran Off Taxiway

Luana Alonso Breaks Her Silence on ‘Inappropriate’ Allegations at Olympics

Colin Jost Exits Olympics Correspondent Gig Amid These Injuries

Boxer Imane Khelif ‘Greatly Affected’ By Olympics Gender Controversy

Charles Barkley Proclaims He’s Not Retiring, ‘Inside the NBA’ Will Continue

Doug Gottlieb Says ‘Entitled’ Jalen Hurts is ‘Not Easy to Deal With’

Colin Cowherd Laughs at NCAA After ‘Nonsensical Witch Hunt’ of Jim Harbaugh

During the 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony, Simone Biles helped Paris hand over the games to Los Angeles for 2028 alongside Tom Cruise and L.A. mayor Karen Bass.

Simone Biles wasn’t among the Team USA members who walked in the Closing Ceremony procession.

That’s because the gymnastics star had a different role to play as the 2024 Paris Olympics came to a close on Aug. 11: helping Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass kick off the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. During the event, which saw France pay tribute to Olympics history and the top women’s marathon runners become the final 2024 Paris athletes to be awarded their medals, Simone and Karen took the stage alongside Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and President of the Paris Organising Committee Tony Estanguet to receive the Olympic flag.

However, Simone’s role was just the beginning of the LA28 kickoff as H.E.R.’s National Anthem performance ended with Tom Cruise leap into the Stade de France, where the ceremony was taking place, and take the flag and chaperone it to its new home in Los Angeles. the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre further welcomed the Olympics to L.A. before an emotional finale in Paris.

Of course, Simone’s special appearance at the 2024 Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony comes amid controversy in Olympic gymnastics.

On Aug. 10, the Court of Arbitration for Sport reversed the inquiry that led to Simone’s teammate Jordan Chiles earning the bronze medal in the floor routine, saying Jordan’s coach Cecile Landi didn’t submit her appeal withing the one minute parameter—instead lodging it at one minute and four seconds—leading to the International Gymnastics Federation restoring the original ranking from the Aug. 5 competition.

(ICYMI: Romania’s Ana Barbosu had been in the third position before Cecile submitted a successful appeal over the Jordan’s routine difficulty that boosted the 27-year-old’s score from 13.666, to 13.766—just over Ana’s 13.700.)

The decision, which caused the International Olympic Committee to announce that Jordan’s bronze medal would be rescinded and awarded to Ana, 18, has been met by a lot of outcry—including from Jordan’s fellow Team USA gymnasts Simone, Suni Lee, Hezly Rivera and Jade Carey as well as Aly Raisman. Ana herself weighed in on the situation.

Still, the matter isn’t over yet as USA Gymnastics has since appealed the ruling and submitted evidence suggesting Cecile had spoken to Olympic officials within the one minute margin and did not violate the rules.

But while one aspect of the 2024 Paris Olympics hasn’t come to an end just yet, keep reading to see all the highlights from the Closing Ceremony.

PARIS (AP) — Simone Biles stole the show at the Paris Olympics with a captivating comeback that had everyone watching everything she did both in and out of the gymnasium.

All eyes were on Biles as she won four medals, but the spotlight was bright enough to highlight new names, new faces and some unlikely new stars. The Paris Games will be remembered for breathtaking venues, unprecedented accessibility and Snoop Dogg taking a starring role in NBC’s record-smashing coverage.

Paris introduced the world to “The Pommel Horse Guy” and “The Real John Wick” and a meme-making performance by an Australian professor in the Olympic debut of breaking.

French swimmer Léon Marchand delivered in his home Olympics with a Michael Phelps-like performance, winning five medals, four of them gold. Ilona Maher angled for a shot on reality TV show “Love Island” after leading the United States to a heart-stopping late victory that gave the U.S. its first ever a medal, a bronze, in rugby sevens.

Noah Lyles was crowned the fastest man in the world for winning the 100 meters, but after he finished third in the 200 — his first loss in his favorite event since the Tokyo Olympics three years ago — he revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19. Sha’Carri Richardson chased down two competitors in the rain to end her first Olympics with a relay gold after settling for silver in the 100.

The United States won the medal count — 126 in total and the women’s basketball team closed the Games by winning gold to tie China with an Olympic-best 40. The Americans again prevailed in both men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s soccer, too.

Biles soared to gold

Biles returned to the Olympics three years after she pulled out of multiple events at the Tokyo Games for mental health reasons and won four medals, three of them gold.

She was the most popular attraction in Paris and competed in front of celebrity-packed crowds. Those who couldn’t sit in the stands with Tom Cruise, Spike Lee, Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga tuned in from afar as NBC said 34.7 million viewers across its platforms watched Biles lead the United States to team gold.

Next up for the greatest gymnast in Olympic history is a 30-stop “Gold Over America Tour” for the GOAT.

Swimming struggles

Nine days of competition wrapped up with the Americans barely pulling off the lead in the gold-medal standings in swimming, needing a victory in the last race of the Olympics to do so.

The U.S. finished with just eight golds, its fewest since the 1988 Seoul Games and one ahead of its biggest rival, Australia.

“It’s one of the worst performances in history as a U.S. team,” said Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever.

The rest of the world totaled more victories (20) than the United States and Australia combined, the first time that’s happened since the 1996 Atlanta Games.

The 34 medals and 14 golds for the Americans were their best showing in track and field in a non-boycotted Games since the early 20th century, when there were more events and fewer countries.

Simone Biles’ father, Ronald Biles, got the most amazing gift from Snoop Dogg at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The elder Biles, who is celebrating his 75th birthday with his family in Paris, was given a Death Row Records chain by the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper, which he proudly displayed around his neck.

Snoop has memorably been living his best life at the Olympics for NBC as a special correspondent and has been spotted dancing in the crowd at competitions and acting as a play-by-play announcer alongside his BFF Martha Stewart.

He also watched track alongside Biles and posted a video to X showing them taking in the competition together.

On her Instagram story, Biles’ younger sister, Adria, shared a picture of their dad rocking the chain while sitting in the stands at the Olympics. Over the snap, she wrote, “snoop gave him a chain now he don’t know how to act 🤣.”

She added, “75 looks great on you! happy birthday i love you 🤍.”

Biles also took to Instagram to give their dad a shoutout. On her story, she shared a picture of her father preparing to blow out the candles on his birthday cake.

At the Olympics, Biles became the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history, when she won four more medals — three gold and one silver — to add to her stunning collection at home.

While speaking with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb after her performance at the Games, the 27-year-old explained that she wouldn’t be where she is today without the support of her father and mother, Nellie Biles.

When Biles was 6 years old, she and Adria were adopted by Ronald Biles, who is their biological grandfather, and his wife, Nellie Biles.

At the time, the girls were living in foster care because their biological mother struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and was in and out of jail.

However, under the couple’s care, Biles found gymnastics and was greatly supported by them to pursue it.

That’s why when Hoda asked Biles what helped her get to where she is today, she thought of her parents, who have been by her side every step of the way.

“If not for my parents and adoption, I wouldn’t be here today,” she said on TODAY Aug. 6.

New seasons of documentaries about running, gymnastics and basketball are being filmed this summer as part of a partnership with the International Olympic Committee.

Not many people knew what “twisties” were prior to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, but they quickly learned when women’s gymnastics phenom Simone Biles withdrew from several events because of it, making the star’s mental health a pivotal part of the Olympics commentary this time around.

Biles has been open about going to therapy, and this summer in Paris, the GOAT (if we’re using formal titles), won gold medals in the team final, all-around final and vault final. She also won silver on floor.

And it isn’t just Biles. Several other moments at the Paris Olympics this summer have put a positive spotlight on mental health:

Stephen Nedoroscik, “the pommel horse guy,” had a viral moment when he was seen meditating before his event. Plus, high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine sought out a different sort of rest. Mahuchikh was seen climbing into a sleeping bag during her event, taking a nap between jumps. And sprinter Noah Lyles, the newly crowned fastest man in the world, said in a social media post: “I have asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety and depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become.”

All those athletes took home coveted metals for their countries.

Yet, athletes haven’t always spoken very openly about their mental health or how it’s impacting their performance. It has been a refreshing change to see that shift, shaking off the apparent stigma around it.

And this openness can be important, experts say, not just for athletes, but for fans, too.

Why elite sports are also a mind game

Mindfulness – the cognitive ability to be fully present and being aware of one’s thoughts and feelings – is helpful in combating stress, but honing the skill could be what separates a great athlete from an even better one.

Gretchen Schmelzer, a licensed psychologist who was a U.S. national champion in rowing and trained for the U.S. women’s rowing team alongside those who would go on to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, says often, training harder than competition is “a mind game, not a physical game.”

“At the level of elite athletics, it is your mind that distinguishes you from the person sitting next to you,” says Schmelzer, who is also an author and co-founder of the Center for Trauma and Leadership.

And developing and maintaining mental capacity could be key in competition.

“Being able to regulate your physiological response to stress is how we perform at the highest level,” says Peter Economou, assistant professor of applied psychology at Rutgers University and director of behavioral health and wellness for Rutgers University Athletics.

When the conversation about mental health shifted

In the years since Biles withdrew in Tokyo, athletes are more publicly open about their mental health, but something that happened before that may have spurred the shift, Schmelzer says.

The Larry Nassar sex abuse case may actually have been the “defining moment about mental health and sports,” Schmelzer says, with so many gymnasts coming forward, testifying and being open about getting help for the trauma.

Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor and Michigan State University doctor, was arrested in 2016 and found to have sexually assaulted hundreds of women and girls, including Olympic champions, under the guise of providing medical treatment.

‘A person can only take so much’

Other factors could also have influenced athletes’ attitudes to encourage more openness about mental health.

Athletes are sharing more with the public in general, like on social media, about many aspects of their life, such as training, diet or sleep habits. On TikTok, it’s easy to find athletes giving tours of the Olympic Village and showing off their pre-competition preparations.

This cultural shift has helped more people, like Lyles, feel comfortable posting about their personal struggles.

Aside from that, not only has stigma about mental health lessened in the U.S., but the world has gotten more stressful over time, too, and “a person can only take so much before they need support,” Schmelzer says.

So how can we take the lessons from this Olympics and apply it to our own lives? For starters, we can follow these athletes’ lead and speak openly with those around us about what we’re feeling.

And as for our own mindfulness? Schmelzer says, try “taking 10 minutes in the morning, sitting outside and just looking at a tree, or going for a walk or talking to a therapist.” It can be as simple as that.

Backflips off the bed. Front tucks onto the couch. Handsprings in the hallway. My 7-year-old daughter’s life has been thoroughly overtaken by gymnastics and her hero, Simone Biles.

“I want to be just like her and go to the Olympics when I grow up,” she told me Monday, her hands emulating Biles’s gestures. “She does cool flips and dance moves. But she works hard.”

With Biles, now the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast, clinching a gold medal Tuesday in Paris in the women’s team final, her performances this week have been, by far, the most important ones to watch in our household. Her every move has a profound impact on my daughter’s own journey into the sport, as if she might be one of her coaches. As I watch her fingers slide back and forth on her iPad to get the slow-mo of Biles executing moves that have upended the norms of women’s gymnastics on a global scale, many named after her, I am in awe of her commitment to be like Biles, who was introduced to gymnastics at the age of 6.

But on Sunday, when Biles injured her left calf muscle while warming up for a floor exercise routine, I winced along with most of America, fearful that her historic run might be over in an instant. My daughter, however, was much calmer.

“I love hard days,” she said, having little doubt that Biles would go on to notch the day’s highest scores. I’d gotten used to such confidence, having watched my daughter cry through warm-ups on the vault, her “worst event,” only to go on to win gold in regional and national competitions.

Her confidence does still give me some pause, however, if only because it developed so fast.

Three years ago, I first realized that my daughter had potential as a gymnast. After spending most of her ballet classes doing cartwheels, we traded in her tutu for a gymnastic leotard, and during her first formal class, the coach asked me if she’d be interested in moving up to a more advanced level. Before I knew it, we’d joined a gymnastics club in Atlanta and I was promptly informed by the coach that her skills were “exceptional.”

Soon, my friends had a nickname for her, “Baby Biles,” and she ended her first season winning first place in vault and floor exercise at a national competition.

She now calls gymnastics her “gift,” and I have to keep reminding myself that she’s just 7. The truth is I’ve been nervous about my child’s physical abilities since she climbed out of her crib at 9 months. At the age of 2, she jumped off a bed to try to land in an open drawer, hitting her head on a metal knob and requiring three stitches. At 3, a scared teacher had to explain to me how she jumped out of her playpen and broke her elbow, an injury that required surgery.

The work ethic required to get good at a gravity-defying sport is no small thing — for both the young athlete and their parents. There are the daily practices, the drives to and from the gym, the daily emails from her gymnastics club, the travel to meets across the country.

The financial costs involved have been significant enough to make me reconsider whether it’s worth it. There are endless fees: monthly tuition, thousands to cover the costs incurred at meets, organizational dues, coaches salaries and more. In just one year of competing, we’ve dipped into our savings more times than I care to admit.

Our whole family — including our daughter’s two siblings — has made sacrifices, including fewer shared meals. When my daughter gets home from a three-and-a-half-hour practice at 8:30 p.m., she heads straight to the shower then to bed.

As a mother, it’s especially hard. I can’t interrupt practice to kiss her bloody calluses because she’s now a competitive athlete who is being trained to endure that pain. I’m filled with anxiety when I think that my little baby could one day leave me to live in another state to train with a renowned coach or at a famous gym, as is so common for top gymnastic prospects. Normal educational routines are already disrupted because of the demands of practice, and her new coach has mentioned bringing in a tutor to maximize the time that she can spend in the gym.

When the demands of training grew, Simone Biles was homeschooled during her high school years, as I learned while assisting my daughter on her Black history project in first grade. The poster she made that accompanied her report read, “Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time.” We also learned that Biles was diagnosed at an early age with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and used gymnastics as a way to help steady her.

“I get really distracted easily, but gymnastics helps me focus,” my daughter told me when I asked her about the similar attention challenges she and Biles may face. “Whenever I do my dance-throughs or my tumbling, my mind is thinking of how tight I should be. I also have to listen to my coaches. But when I don’t go to gymnastics, I’m all over the place.”

It’s statements like that that help me allay my own fears, but it’s also seeing the pride she has for the 30-plus medals that are displayed on the walls of her room, and the smile on her face when I pick her up from practice.

So, as we watched Simone Biles’s performances this week, we viewed them not just as fans, but as fellow competitors, and maybe someday, fellow Olympians.