Peter Jones

Simone Biles, Plutarch and an Olympic trial

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issue 07 August 2021

The outstanding gymnast Simone Biles has pulled out of several Olympic events, saying: ‘I just don’t trust myself as much any more.’ Many took the view that this was a fashionable ‘mental health’ issue. Ancient Greeks might have come up with a rather different analysis.

Plutarch (c. ad 100) is said to have been the author of a letter of condolence to one Apollonius whose son had just died.

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