tokyo isolation and the absence of family and friends have taken a toll on athletes mental health at the tokyo olympics with some struggling to cope with the challenges posed by the pandemic while carrying their countrys hopes on the global sports stageafter her stunning exit from the womens gymnastics team event on tuesday simone biles said she felt she had been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders that burden seems to have been exacerbated by a year a grief loss and restrictions tied to the covid19 pandemicusually you hang out in the village all that stuff biles said it does suck when you feel the weight of the world there are no outlets with the amount of training that we doathletes have seen their preolympic training disrupted by lockdowns and restricted access to athletic facilities and the postponement of the games fuelled concern about qualification schedules and the ability to travel internationally without contracting the virustheir families and friends cant cheer for them in the stands in tokyo and their movements are heavily restrictedthe pandemic prompted the us womens gymnastics team to steer clear of the bustle of the athletes village and stay at a nearby hotel for security reasons something that takes the shine off an olympic experiencenot saying that we dont have a great set up biles said we chose that to be covid safe the protocols and everythingbiles said she had been able to keep in touch with family by facetime and text messages giving her all the support that i absolutely neededwe have tons of resources available to us biles added but i wanted to tough it out to the last minute but obviously it didnt work that wayus swimmer katie ledecky who also came into the games with high expectations said she understood the pressure biles felt as an olympian of her stature she said their compatriots should be more concerned about what is happening in the world than whether she wins an olympic titlebeing olympians its something that we all have to watch out for each other and help each other through and in times of need ledecky said after winning gold in the first 1500 metres swimming event for women ever staged at the olympicsa difficult roadeven prior to arriving in tokyo athletes were facing new and unfamiliar pressures linked to the pandemic they had to find ways to train during lockdowns and qualify for the worlds biggest sporting event without compromising their health or that of their families and communitiesit has been a difficult road since 2019 said gymnast angelina melnikova of the russian olympic committee who beat the united states to win gold in the womens team eventwhen we found out that the games had been postponed because of the pandemic our training base was closed we were in quarantine for a year and a half and trained all that timeother athletes contracted covid19 on their way to tokyo at the games themselves or in the early