Britain's Dujardin Sympathises With Biles: 'Success Is 'hard'

Tokyo, Aug 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Aug, 2021 ) :Britain's most-decorated female Olympian Charlotte Dujardin has spoken of her sympathy for struggling US gymnast Simone Biles following her own battle with mental health problems earlier in her career.

The 36-year-old dressage rider took her Olympic medals tally to six in three Games with two bronze medals in Tokyo.

That moved her one ahead of retired British rower Katherine Grainger -- though track cyclist Laura Kenny could equal or even surpass Dujardin in Japan.

Dujardin felt immense pressure after securing double gold at the 2012 London Olympics, laying bare her struggles in her 2018 autobiography "The Girl on the Dancing Horse".

"Depression was not something I'd ever really understood," she wrote, saying she wanted to "hurt herself because she felt such pain".

She said she punished herself by not eating, losing nearly two stone (13 kilograms) in weight.

Dujardin suffered her traumatic episodes after the London Games but Biles's struggles were evident to the watching world during the gymnastics competition in Tokyo.

She stood down during the women's team final last week, struggling with the "twisties", a potentially dangerous condition meaning gymnasts lose the ability to orientate themselves in mid-air.

The US star, 24, subsequently pulled out of a series of individual events, only returning for the beam final on Tuesday, in which she took bronze.