Simone Biles rallied around her family and husband to bounce back from her mental health battles at the 2020 Olympic Games but there is one unsung hero through her renaissance so who is Beacon, the mental health dog for Team USA?
Dogs, known for their friendly personas and willingness to accept any person, have been deployed for emotional support and for treating neurodivergents, who struggle to socialize on a typical level.
“I feel like in a way, it blocks out reality,” gymnast Shilese Jones told The Times of Beacon. “And sometimes that’s good for us, so we don’t overthink things. It distracts me from the reality of pain.”
So with their ability to give people an important and instant emotional boost as they come bounding over excitedly, it’s no surprise that professional sporting organizations employ their services too and Team USA is no different.
The program kicked off the use of dogs in their therapy sessions in February 2023, with the idea first emerging in Indianapolis after being conceived by Caroline Hunt, vice-president of USA Gymnastics’ rhythmic gymnastics.
Beacon, unfortunately, could not head to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France due to logistical reasons but the impact he left on the team will not be forgotten as they claimed multiple golds.
Who is Beacon?
Step forwards Beacon, a golden retriever working for the United States as a crucial component of athlete therapy sessions who is regularly snapped online running to the artistic gymnasts team as they try to train.
The four-year-old youngster played his part in helping Biles recover from her loss of air awareness and confidence suffered in Japan in 2021 as she claims two gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
He was born in 2020 in Michigan and was adopted by Tracey Callahan Molnar, a 65-year-old former rhythmic gymnastics coach who previously worked with a golden retriever therapy dog named Tulsa, who died in 2019.
It was this history that inspired Molnar to train Beacon to help Team USA and he appears to be by far the most popular canine inside and outside of the team with some 20,000 followers on Instagram.
“Beacon isn’t the only dog,” Jill Geer, director of communications and marketing for USA Gymnasts told USA Today. “There are several other dogs, but Beacon is 100% the star of the show.”