Tokyo Olympics: The Thread (OPEN SPOILERS, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!)
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Rather clear at this stage it was mental / emotional.
Biles told Hoda Kotb "Physically I feel good; I'm in shape. Emotionally that kind of varies from the time and the moment. Coming here to the Olympics and being the head star of the Olympics is not an easy feat, so we're just trying to take it one day at a time."
CNN reported her saying "Whenever you get in a high stress situation, you kind of freak out. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being ... it just sucks when you're fighting with your own head,"
That of course comes on the heels of Biles posting on Instagram Monday after Qualifiers feeling "the weight of the world" on her shoulders.
I mean, the woman finished with the highest all-around score in Qualifiers and earned a spot to compete in every event - the first time an American gymnast had done that since Shannon Miller in 1992. But all anyone could talk about was how Biles had performed below her level, and she was the reason Team USA finished a point behind Russia in the round that ultimately doesn't matter.
Regardless, given all that went down, I'm incredibly proud of Team USA.
Chiles really stepped up, posting solid scores on vault, bars, and beam after her debut in Qualifiers was so disastrous, she was initially pulled from competing in bars and beam entirely. McCallum was her usual strong and steady self on all four apparatus. And Lee, in addition to being brilliant on bars, dramatically improved her floor performance from Qualifiers - a skill she only just started competing in fully last week.
And there was Biles cheering them on the entire time. Right now I'm hoping she can find her zen in time to still compete in the all-around and event competitions.
Biles told Hoda Kotb "Physically I feel good; I'm in shape. Emotionally that kind of varies from the time and the moment. Coming here to the Olympics and being the head star of the Olympics is not an easy feat, so we're just trying to take it one day at a time."
CNN reported her saying "Whenever you get in a high stress situation, you kind of freak out. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being ... it just sucks when you're fighting with your own head,"
That of course comes on the heels of Biles posting on Instagram Monday after Qualifiers feeling "the weight of the world" on her shoulders.
I mean, the woman finished with the highest all-around score in Qualifiers and earned a spot to compete in every event - the first time an American gymnast had done that since Shannon Miller in 1992. But all anyone could talk about was how Biles had performed below her level, and she was the reason Team USA finished a point behind Russia in the round that ultimately doesn't matter.
Regardless, given all that went down, I'm incredibly proud of Team USA.
Chiles really stepped up, posting solid scores on vault, bars, and beam after her debut in Qualifiers was so disastrous, she was initially pulled from competing in bars and beam entirely. McCallum was her usual strong and steady self on all four apparatus. And Lee, in addition to being brilliant on bars, dramatically improved her floor performance from Qualifiers - a skill she only just started competing in fully last week.
And there was Biles cheering them on the entire time. Right now I'm hoping she can find her zen in time to still compete in the all-around and event competitions.
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Not only that, but she pretty much said flat out that she decided to compete in Tokyo because she was the last survivor of Nassar's abuse still competing, and she was afraid that, if she didn't compete, it would be easier for USAG to sweep it under the rug, and try to move past it. That's got to put a ton of stress on somebody.
EDIT - I think this is it:
EDIT - I think this is it:
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Tough situation, to be sure. I read somewhere that she was feeling "lost in the air", which as has been alluded to can lead to serious injury. It sucks all around because it's an unfortunate situation, but the two takeaways to me have to be:
1. Thank God she decided not to put herself at risk if, regardless of the cause, she felt she could not safely complete the competition
2. Those girls did an an incredible job grabbing the silver. So much resilience and grace in their performance. Congratulations to them!
1. Thank God she decided not to put herself at risk if, regardless of the cause, she felt she could not safely complete the competition
2. Those girls did an an incredible job grabbing the silver. So much resilience and grace in their performance. Congratulations to them!
Call me insensitive if you like, I don’t really care. I’m not insensitive to mental health, but…… I guess what Doesn’t make sense to me is that why wouldn’t she just bow out early as in before the Olympics. It’s not like it’s not a known pressure cooker leading up to this and you saw it in the competition to make the team. And then she is day to day when the reality is the pressure is still going to be there, that parts not going to change. I mean she just stepped down because of the pressure, why would she attempt to try this again?
Why can't more just be said about this. Gold was far from guaranteed and yet they were in it until the last rotation and still got silver without their superstar.
I feel bad for Biles because she was given an impossible burden going into these games, having been built up into the greatest athlete ever hype, by people who I am sure had some agenda of their own, without asking for it and she is only human. I sincerely hope that she rebounds and gets to compete in these games however she feels she can contribute.
I feel bad for Biles because she was given an impossible burden going into these games, having been built up into the greatest athlete ever hype, by people who I am sure had some agenda of their own, without asking for it and she is only human. I sincerely hope that she rebounds and gets to compete in these games however she feels she can contribute.
She stepped down because during her first couple of runs, she didn’t really feel like she had it in her to compete safely and sensibly. It’s the same concept as a dude thinking his injured ankle is good to go then playing for a few minutes and realizing that he is in fact still injured.
would you rather she had competed anyways, miss something, and wind up shattering her spine on a botched landing?
would you rather she had competed anyways, miss something, and wind up shattering her spine on a botched landing?
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She couldn't go on one day. Like, you know the girl who smoked the pot and got DQ'd, maybe she had some other stuff she takes to deal with being abused in the past that she can't use in this competition (I don't know!), maybe that pressure is what got her when she was on the grandest stage. Realistically nobody pays attention to gymnastics outside the olympics except a handful of die hard gymnastics fans and gymnasts themselves. She's human.
But why? She qualified for them in earlier competition. She can withdraw but it's a different contest?
If a track star sprained their ankle and withdrew from the long jump Wednesday but can go for the triple jump Friday, why not go for it if they had qualified both events and felt better?
I'm sure it's not your intent but it's coming off like you want her punished or something?
If a track star sprained their ankle and withdrew from the long jump Wednesday but can go for the triple jump Friday, why not go for it if they had qualified both events and felt better?
I'm sure it's not your intent but it's coming off like you want her punished or something?
I wouldn't say that it's coming off like @dude12 wants Simone Biles to be punished. I would say that the posts read like they were made by someone who has a very superficial, surface-level understanding of mental health. @dude12 is free to speak for themselves, but their posts read to me like someone who thinks that, if an athlete cites mental health issues as a reason to withdraw from a competition, that either those mental health issues ought to be so severe that they incapacitate the athlete for weeks to months at a time, or the athlete may be faking. The old, "If your mental health issues kept you from competing on Tuesday, but they don't keep you from competing on Thursday, did you really have mental health issues?"
Think of it in the same way we would a physical injury. She’s been muscling through this since at least Trials, maybe longer. But the pain’s been getting worse and worse, until Team Finals when she realized if she kept trying to play through it, she’d be a detriment to her team, and maybe do some serious damage.
So she consulted with medical staff, she’s going to rest it, and evaluate it for the next few days to see if she’s improved enough to compete again.
So she consulted with medical staff, she’s going to rest it, and evaluate it for the next few days to see if she’s improved enough to compete again.
I don't disagree with your read, other than to say I imagine if it was a funny hip or something and it felt better the next day nobody would remotely begrudge an athlete for withdrawing and competing later. So that's why it read to me like that. Besides on another forum I saw today there are people being far worse.
Watching the actual video of the event, it’s clear that she isn’t right and making uncharacteristically un-Biles mistakes. It’s crazy that people would have accepted her withdrawing if it had been some strained knee or something but are adamantly refusing to acknowledge that any similar mental “strain” could exist.
I know that she has even far more going on but if I had seen one more "she's super human and the olympics are unfairly holding her back" article I was going to lose it because my god, let the person compete and then write that stuff. It's totally unfair to do that to someone because then even the slightest dent in their armor is going to cause this inverse reaction. If it was any other gymnast it would be a footnote.
So, let me see if I have this right: they've already announced that they're not going to have Baseball or Softball in Paris, basically because the French said, "**** baseball; we don't play that bull**** sport, over here, and we're not building a whole ass baseball stadium, for something that will never be used again."
Meanwhile, Mike Tirico just announced that the surfing events in 2024 will take place in... Tahiti? According to Doctor Internet, Tahiti is 9,777 miles away from Paris. That's almost literally as far away as you can get from Paris, without leaving the atmosphere... But, they can't figure out a way to make baseball and softball happen?
Meanwhile, Mike Tirico just announced that the surfing events in 2024 will take place in... Tahiti? According to Doctor Internet, Tahiti is 9,777 miles away from Paris. That's almost literally as far away as you can get from Paris, without leaving the atmosphere... But, they can't figure out a way to make baseball and softball happen?
Weren't baseball and softball cancelled in 2008 and only brought back because Japan loves them more than America? At one point only Cuba, USA and Japan took it seriously although I am pretty sure that's far from the case today. Softball was even more America-centric. I don't know but the Olympics as a whole really seems to hate baseball and softball as they only appeared in the 80s IIRC. Maybe it's a European thing? Do any European countries take either sport seriously? Despite being an international body the IOC has had a very Euro flavor coupled with a love/hate thing with the Americas.