♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, bold move. the world's most famous gymnast, simone biles, reimagining success. >> it's okay to sometimes sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself. >> changing the conversation to mental health. >> she was brave enough to stand up and say, i'm not safe, i'm not in a good space. >> inspiring those who worship her athletic brilliance. >> what she did pulling out of that competition, it took a lot of courage. plus floor activism. the black college athletes pushing back against old norms. >> having the courage to express their true selves and choose music that they grew up with is a huge step. >> changing the culture. and gold first.

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[goat does a sick vibrato] ♪ ♪ thanks for joining us. the superlatives around sin mown

biles, argue debris the greatest gymnast of all-time, they seem never ending. so was the pressure. while her withdrawal from the olympics this week may have shocked the world, it also drew attention to the mental health aspects of performing at the highest levels of sport. >> reporter: karina munoz lives and breathes gymnastics. >> like, 95% of my life is gymnastics. i wouldn't trade it for the world. it's taught me so many things. discipline, time management. i think i'm going to carry that over to college and it's going to help me in my future. >> reporter: the 17-year-old has been training at head over heels gymnastics in new jersey since she was 2. she has dreams to be among the greatest in one of the most physically and mentally demanding sports in the world. you would consider yourself mentally tough? >> yeah, you kind of have to be if you're a gymnast. everything is all mental. you have to make sure you're in

the right mindset because you don't want to get hurt. >> reporter: the emotional and physical sacrifice young gymnasts make to be the best now laid bare after simone biles, the greatest gymnast in the world, pulled out of this week's competitions at the olympic games in tokyo. >> i say put mental health first, because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport, and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. so it's okay sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are. >> it is brave. it's courageous. beyond brave and courageous, it was epic. >> reporter: robert andrews is a mental training expert who worked with simone biles leading up to the 2016 rio olympics, now trains athletes currently competing in the tokyo games. and what is the lasting message of that epic move that she just made? >> that the well-being of the athlete is more important than a gold medal. >> reporter: biles' withdrawal trusting athletes' mental health once again into the headlines.

coming on the heels of star athletes like basketball player kevin love, tennis champion naomi osaka, opening up about their struggles. >> so the bell's been ringing louder and louder and louder. then simone just cracked the bell. >> what kind of message do you think this sends to little ones across the room? >> i think they should look up to simone and see what she did, pulling out of that competition. it took a lot of courage. >> reporter: the young gymnasts here still in awe of their idol. >> i think it was smart. because i think she needs to focus on her mental health more than the sport. >> it's not about the medal, it's all about the process and the journey. >> it's more important to feel safe and be safe. >> reporter: biles had hinted she was struggling days before the team finals after an uneven performance at the qualifiers. she wrote on instagram, i truly do feel like i have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. >> the pressure on simone biles,

it's extraordinary. the most-watched athlete here. the best-known athlete here. the expectations are so high. >> reporter: biles says she knew she couldn't go on after getting lost in midair on her vault. gymnasts like karina, a high schooler who's committed to the d-1 university of iowa, calls it the twisties. >> getting lost in the air is so scary, it feels like your mind is separate from your body. like your body is twisting in the air but you mind couldn'tdo know where you are. you could land on your head, you could get concussion. >> reporter: jason bauer is the director of head over heels and has been in gymnastics nearly three decades. he says watching biles, he knew something was wrong. >> when they came off the vault table, every gymnast in the world who's done that vault knows she was love. >> how dangerous is it for a gymnast to be lost in midair? >> incredibly. they're defying physics. you're going sometimes upwards of 15 feet in the air, moving at

high milledge per hour. twisting, flipping, rotating, all happens in a split-second. >> reporter: after that moment in the air, the superstar confided in her coach. >> i don't want to do something stupid. >> reporter: after stepping off the floor, her teammates stepped up, winning the silver team medal. >> let's also high lie how mentally tough the other girls to do rally and be like, we got this. you know? we're a team, we supported each other. >> reporter: a seismic shift, perhaps, away from the win at all costs culture. in 1996, u.s. olympic champion carrie strug famously vaulting with a badly injured ankle, clinching gold for the women's gymnastics team. bauer was there in atlanta. >> if we could go back and change things, maybe that vault never would have happened. you know, was it the right thing to do? you know, i thin in today's culture and world, no. but back in '96?

>> i think we can look at it now through a totally different lens. >> yes. i mean, that -- don't get me wrong what she did, that was grit. that was mental toughness. but that was also a generation of, you're going to do it because i told you to do it. >> what does that tell you, though? because i've heard friends of mine saying, well, some version of, shouldn't we teach young people about grit? about suck it up, buttercup? >> grit and abuse are two completely different things. grit is what those other girls did when simone had to make a decision for herself. >> reporter: because of the global pandemic, this year's olympics are unlike any other. no fans, no families in the stands to cheer on the athletes. for biles, that's just the beginning. >> she's a high-profile, black, female athlete in a very volatile time racially in our country. and she's been remarkable at the amount of stress that she's been able to handle. but when you throw on the larry nassar issues, the catastrophe

with that, usag's disastrous handling of that, she's been so vocal against them. >> reporter: biles is the only one of larry nassar's known survivors that is still competing in the olympics. the trauma and the fallout from the scandal still lingering. >> she is a survivor among hundreds of athletes who were abused by larry nassar. and here she is. the face of the sport. also the conscience of the sport. >> reporter: the former usa gymnastics national team doctor was sentenced to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing hundreds of women and girls. >> i just think sometimes people forget that olympic athletes are human. and, you know, the mental health of athletes, it really matters. >> reporter: two-time olympic gymnast aly raisman, a fellow nassar survivor, understands the burden that comes with being on team usa. >> there's this pressure this expectation that we have to win. that's why people are watching us, winning is the only option. there's so much to be proud of

and there is so much more to life than winning gold medals. >> reporter: the former captain competing and winning alongside biles during the 2016 olympic games in rio. >> i felt like i had a tremendous amount of pressure. but it's not anywhere close to the pressure that simone has had on her the last couple of months, the last few years leading up to the games. it's so much. it's the most pressure i've ever seen on a gymnast. >> reporter: since biles announced her decision, athletes standing in solidarity with her. like six-time gold medal swimmer katie ledecky. >> we're at the highest level. we have the most eyes on us of anyone in the world right now. >> reporter: the international olympic committee also announcing that they'll offer a mental health hotline for athletes who may need it. >> the situation with simone biles, obviously one of the greatest athletes in the world, she had a difficult moment herself. and what she elected to do was stay there. >> reporter: biles writing on instagram today, the outpouring,

love, and support i've received has made me realize i'm more than my accomplishments and gymnastics, which i never truly believed before. the gymnast known as the g.o.a.t., the greatest of all-time, redefining what a true winner looks like. what do you defines a champion? >> most people, those who win medals. champions are people who can go to bed at night and know that they gave everything they had, regardless of the outcome. simone's a champion because she was brave enough to stand up and say, i'm not safe. i'm not in a good space. >> reporter: and with that simple yet bold declaration, biles is teaching this generation of athletes new skills. >> i think she's taught people that they need to use their voice when it's needed and not to be scared of your voice, because your voice is the most powerful thing you can use. it's a tool. you can use it whenever you need to. i think that's one of her big strengths that she taught the world.

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♪ while they're not on the olympic team, some young black female college athletes are changing the face of elite gymnastics in a way that embraces their culture. there's abc's kenneth moton. >> the sport of gymnastics is very much seen as a very rigid sport. for generations it promoted a

russian balletic, classical body type. that too was dominated the sport of gymnastics. >> reporter: three-time olympian dominique daws broke barriers, becoming the first blackymnast to win a gold medal. >> if you came in in the '80s, bow legs, muscular physique, you were penalized for something you were born with. if you were going to try to express yourself, trust me, you were going to get deducted for that. it's a subjective sport, a political sport. >> you'll see dominique daws lock in her floor routine. >> reporter: 1996, dominique daws stepped on the floor of the usa gymnastics national championships. >> that was a little bit more of a classical routine, which is not my strong suit. we chose that because that was playing to the judges. it's not playing to my fans. >> reporter: daws, who won a bronze medal at the olympics for the same routine. > never in my wildest dreams

would i ever see hip-hop, pop, or soul losic used at an olympic games. however, i truly believe that's something that could be on the horizon. ♪ >> before i go on, i shut everything off. except for which of my 18 personalities do i want to be today? >> marcella frasier! >> and i present, and i step onto the floor. ♪ >> it's the floor exercise. but it's a stage, to me. i'm reaching potentially millions of people. >> reporter: more than 15 million, to be exact. ucla gymnast marsetta frasier going viral with her floor exercises celebrating black culture. she's joining gym-rhythmics

nation. ♪ >> reporter: mia throwing up a fist to kendrick. >> we started with kendrick lamar because he's a huge activist in his music, and i wanted to try to bring the same message through dance, through gymnastics. >> your routines are really born out of what was happening in society? >> i actually just had shoulder surgery back in june. that's around the time when all the protests were happening. so i definitely wanted to create a floor routine that was a reflection of what was going on and how i was impacted. the title of this routine, i wanted to call it "the culture." how do i bring so much of the black culture in a minute and 30 seconds? >> when people see your routines, i think there's a surprise element about it. because they're like, oh my god, they did that. and the word audacity comes up. like, who gave you permission? did you give it to yourself? >> i definitely have given

myself the audacity to do these floor routines that best suit me. but i would say ucla gymnastics gave me the opening. >> reporter: for years the ucla gymnastics program has championed and embraced each athlete's personality. in 2019, kaylin yohashi's routine broke the internet. >> the gymnasts having the courage to express their true selves and choose music they grew up with is a huge step, when gymnastics is such a cutthroat, very strict sport. >> i've been doing gymnastics since i was 4 years old. it has its highs, definitely has its lows. it's taught me so many life lessons that made me stronger as a black woman. for me, the biggest thing was hair. my hair was always natural for most of my career. and my hair was always sticking up or it was always poofy. and my teammates always wanted to touch it, like why is it

sticking up? >> you're in a white-dominated sport, you're a couple of black girls who said, i'm going to come here and change the game. was it tough? >> being a black woman in general, you always know that you have to raise the bar for yourself higher than most to get half as far as your white counterparts. >> i've been called ghetto, ratchet, like, this is not gymnastics. and of course, why is this black excellence, and why does it have to be black excellence? why does it have to be a color? to say, you don't see color, is to say, you don't see me, you don't see who i am fully. >> how do you shake it off? >> oh, shake it off, you have to let it get on you first. growing up, it was brought to my attention the style of my gymnastics, it was always very, very strong. and then the other girls would get elegant, poised, artistic. >> graceful. >> graceful, yeah. >> is there a little sadness to it? >> it stings a little.

but what's most important is that i know that i'm graceful and beautiful. and those are just other people's opinions. and it is a subjective sport that i did sign up for. >> reporter: while they rock the world of collegiate gymnastics, many others have started speaking up on a range of social issues. simone biles, the most-decorated gymnast in history, using her platform to push for equality. >> young athletes need to see people that are not going to be controlled by the system. we do need to break the rigidity of the sport of gymnastics. we need to learn to embrace people's differences, embrace the messages that they want to put out. also embracing different body types. i cannot wait for a day in the sport of gymnastics where you're not deducted for something that you have absolutely no control over. >> reporter: the two college students are taking their activism further than their floor routines. >> black excellence is

confidence. >> empowerment. >> reporter: they upgrade a black excellence meet hosted by ucla. >> to be competing and feeling supported and feeling loved for a matter that is serious to us and to the rest of society, you know, it means everything. >> my message is to be your most authentic self. this was my most authentic self this floor routine, a little hip-hop routine. i definitely want everybody to be inspired to go out there and be their most authentic self. >> gymnastics is such a small, minuscule part of what we're doing. that is simply the plate. and the meal that's on top is the activism, it's the way we dance, it's the smiles we bring people. >> our thanks to kenneth. up next, a first for olympic gold. my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching ...the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful.

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the first asian-american to win gold in the women's all-around competition. >> there was a point in time where i wanted to quit, and i just didn't think i would ever get here, including injuries and stuff. >> to celebrate, the mayor of st. paul declaring tomorrow suni lee day. that's "nightline." watch your full episodes on hulu. we'll see you back here same time tomorrow. good night, america. i'm so glad you're ok, sgt. houston. this is sam with usaa. do you see the tow truck? yes, thank you, that was fast. sgt. houston never expected this to happen. or that her grandpa's dog tags would be left behind. but that one call got her a tow and rental... ...paid her claim... ...and we even pulled a few strings. making it easy to make things right: that's what we're made for.