Simone Biles of Team USA competes on the uneven bars during the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Qualification at Bercy Arena on July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. Credit – Dan Mullan—Getty Images
With the Paris Olympics in full swing, all eyes are on gymnastics—one of the most anticipated events of the Summer Games. Team USA is vying for gold in the team event after winning silver at the Tokyo Olympics. The U.S. women have advanced to the 2024 team final.
One of the worst things that could happen to a gymnast in high-level competition—and something that led gymnastics legend Simone Biles to withdraw from the Tokyo games—is a phenomenon known as “the twisties.”
Here’s all you need to know about the condition, which has become a conversation point once more now that the 2024 Olympics have commenced.
What are the twisties?
The Cleveland Clinic describes the twisties as “a mental block that creates a dangerous disconnect between mind and body while gymnasts are airborne.”
“All of a sudden, there’s a disconnect in the feedback loop,” Matthew Sacco, a sports psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, explained. “The brain and body are no longer communicating efficiently, and that causes a gymnast to lose sense of where their body is in space while they’re in the air.”
There are varying levels of the twisties. A gymnast could shake them after one turn or practice, or they can escalate, lasting for days, weeks, and even months, as the anxiety associated with the condition compounds the problem.
The cause “can be a little bit of everything and anything,” Sacco noted, including doubt, stress, and the quest for perfection—especially when athletes are competing at high levels.
Though the twisties are most often connected to gymnastics, they can affect any competitor who requires a grasp on their proprioception sense—your body’s ability to sense its position and movement even without visual cues. Other sports that require this include diving, martial arts, and various forms of jumping.
In gymnastics, there’s a particular kind of proprioception called air sense, or air awareness, that’s needed for gymnasts to orient themselves when they are airborne, to ensure a safe landing. Without air sense, an athlete is in danger of harming themselves.
What activities can help address the twisties?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, there are multiple avenues for gymnasts to pursue if they are experiencing the twisties.
Getting back to the more basic building blocks of gymnastics—the components that eventually will be put together to do more complicated skills again, is something Sacco recommended. Or, athletes can focus on a skill they are confident with—something they know they will nail.
Athletes can also utilize a foam pit, which would offer a softer landing to gymnasts as they practice routines. Without the fear of getting hurt, some anxiety may dissipate.
There are more mental tools athletes can utilize to help, which includes relaxation techniques to mitigate stress, breathing techniques, routine changes, taking breaks, seeking the help of a mental health professional, and visualization. Ultimately, gymnasts say, it just takes time for the twisties to resolve.
Mental health is widely regarded as an important aspect of athletic performance, especially as striving for perfectionism and the general pressure of sports can cause stress. According to Montana State University Athletics, in order to ensure athletes’ mental well being, we should be “promoting wellness and preventing mental illness, not only responding to mental illness after it happens.”
How did the twisties impact Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics?
When Biles—winner of seven Olympic medals—competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she ended up withdrawing from most of her events, citing the twisties, which were likely the result of a combination of mental stress and pressure leading up to the event. She talked about how the twisties—something she had experienced in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and prior to the 2019 season—kept her from competing safely.
Biles was interviewed on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast in April, and went into detail about what happened at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The 27-year-old said she was “fighting [her] body and [her mind]” while trying to show up for her team. She said that everyone in the room could likely tell that she had the twisties, since her skills looked completely different than they usually did.
“The best way I can describe it is everyday you drive a car—if one day you woke up and you had no idea how to drive a car, your legs are going crazy, you have no control of your body,” Biles told host Alex Cooper. “You’ve been doing something for so long, and you now no longer have control. It’s terrifying.”
Read More: Simone Biles and Why We All Get the ‘Twisties’ (Even If We Can’t Fly)
What other athletes have admitted to experiencing the twisties or something akin to them?
Biles largely popularized the term among non-athletes during the Tokyo Olympics, but many other gymnasts have come out and explained their own experiences with the condition. Biles’ training mate Joscelyn Roberson, who is an alternate on the women’s team in Paris, has experienced this multiple times.
2016 Olympian and teammate of Biles, Laurie Hernandez, explained to the Olympics blog how terrifying the twisties are, and how the phenomenon can make an athlete doubt their talent, proving to be a difficult cycle.
“The rhythm is off, and your brain will, like, stutter-step for half a second and that’s enough to throw off the whole skill,” said Hernandez. “And, so, it happens, and it takes a second to get over that.”
Former U.S. national team member Aleah Finnegan—who is now representing the Philippines at the Paris 2024 Olympics—has also opened up about her own experience. Speaking out in 2021, via a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Finnegan said: “I’ve had the twisties since I was 11. I cannot imagine the fear of having it happen to you during competition. The more you psych yourself about it, the worse it becomes.”
At the Beaumont Gymnastics Academy in Texas, KFDM reported in July that several young gymnasts are currently struggling with the twisties.
One young girl said of her back walkover on the balance beam: “I lost it and it’s like I have a mental block about it.” She goes on to say she is “scared” to mess up. The gymnastics academy told reporters that they are implementing multiple activities to build back the gymnasts’ confidence.
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