Olympics 2021

[MuggsyB]

Biles withdraws from individual all around.  Disappointed for her, she's a great role model for little gymnasts (like my 6 year old.)

Extremely disappointing.  Shocking really, she was the face for the entire USA Olympicc team. 

[tower912]

I applaud her being open and honest about her mental and emotional struggles.

[ATL MU Warrior]

What happened during her vault was very scary.  It was like she was sleepwalking and suddenly woke up in the middle of the air and had no idea where she was.

[4everwarriors]

Gonna cost her millions, aina?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Gonna cost her millions, aina?

Nah, she's going on tour with a gymnastics crew this fall charging minimum of $60 per ticket at the fiserv.  She'll be fine.

(Anyone have any sidework for this guy to cover this ish, hey)

[jesmu84]

The backlash to Biles online - and the snark in here - sure is something

[MuggsyB]

I applaud her being open and honest about her mental and emotional struggles.

I don't think we know all the facts surrounding this situation.  She certainly has every right to focus on her mental health and I'm not accusing her of quitting like some.  At the same time the timing does bother me a bit as it was during the team competition. 

It sounds to me that she was concerned about getting a physical injury although she was apparently okay.  We're also talking about a 24 yr old woman who has a "goat" sewn on her leotard and has profited tremendously from her talent and sport.  Deservedly so, I might add.  The point is the stress and pressures are there with all athletes at the top of their sport and she has dealt with this for some time.

Again, something very specific and very bad may have happened when she got to Tokyo or right before the Olympics.  Or possibly not, there's no way to know at this juncture.  I have a hard time believing she just bailed because she didn't have her best stuff as some are suggesting.  Anyway, it's very unfortunate.  She's an incredible athlete.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I don't think we know all the facts surrounding this situation.  She certainly has every right to focus on her mental health and I'm not accusing her of quitting like some.  At the same time the timing does bother me a bit as it was during the team competition. 

It sounds to me that she was concerned about getting a physical injury although she was apparently okay.  We're also talking about a 24 yr old woman who has a "goat" sewn on her leotard and has profited tremendously from her talent and sport.  Deservedly so, I might add.  The point is the stress and pressures are there with all athletes at the top of their sport and she has dealt with this for some time.

Again, something very specific and very bad may have happened when she got to Tokyo or right before the Olympics.  Or possibly not, there's no way to know at this juncture.  I have a hard time believing she just bailed because she didn't have her best stuff as some are suggesting.  Anyway, it's very unfortunate.  She's an incredible athlete.

Muggsy - people are losing their crap at restaurants because something didnt go their way after living through the last year.   

Does an athlete that is under a constant microscope really need 'something specific'? 

[shoothoops]

What happened during her vault was very scary.  It was like she was sleepwalking and suddenly woke up in the middle of the air and had no idea where she was.

And, it wasn't just that one event. And, it wasn't just one day.

She had similar challenges her previous day of competition at the Olympics, as well as while she competed at the Trials last month.

It's been going on a while.

It's already very physically dangerous to do what they do, speed, degree of difficulty, body positioning, etc..let alone if someone is not mentally, emotionally, physically 100%. Biles has several elements names after her because she invented so many things others can't do.

She has won 25 medals. 23 Gold. Incredible.

(That doesn't mean bad people, self serving economic grifters, etc won't say and do bad things.) Some decent but ignorant media people keep saying it isn't a medical issue. It's 2021 people, mental health is a medical issue no different than a physical injury.

[4everwarriors]

Too bad she didn't act on her mental health prior to taking up a spot on the team. Deprived another gymnast from competing, hey?

[rocket surgeon]

Too bad she didn't act on her mental health prior to taking up a spot on the team. Deprived another gymnast from competing, hey?

  gotta be sleep deprived those cardboard beds that were "eco-friendly" and discouraged "extra curricular night time "sporting" events even though they handed out 160,000 ram skins

[JWags85]

???

Ledecky's 400 time was the 3rd fastest in history. It's the 2nd fastest she has ever done it. (She also holds the World Record for it)

She just crushed the 1500 for Gold. (Great job by UT's Erica Sullivan for Silver) She is expected to win 800 Gold. And she has another chance in the relay.

Only Michael Phelps (13) has won more individual swimming Olympic Gold Medals than Ledecky's 5. (tied with Krisztina Egerszegi.)

Thanks for the final point ignoring the beginning of my statement.

I complimented her cause she performed just fine and she has nothing to prove even if she never swam again.  NBC spent the beginning of the Olympic coverage earlier in the week talking about 5 golds and making runs at Phelps.  Even though she wasn't the favorite in the 400 and the 200 has never been her best event.  My beef is more the overblown coverage and story pounding of NBC I suppose.  Its not like Ledecky came in hyping herself.  Even the commentators had to pivot multiple times into saying that Titmus was actually the favorite compared to everything pre-prepared about Ledecky that made it seem like she was the odds on fav in every event she was swimming.

[CTWarrior]

Biles withdraws from individual all around.  Disappointed for her, she's a great role model for little gymnasts (like my 6 year old.)

I think she had to withdraw.  You can't choose not to compete with your teammates and then to compete for yourself a day later without facing some backlash.  I don't want to imply anything negative about her, but even if she got over whatever it was that caused her to stop in the team event, it would tarnish her reputation if she competed in the individual events.

[21Jumpstreet]

What happened during her vault was very scary.  It was like she was sleepwalking and suddenly woke up in the middle of the air and had no idea where she was.

Very. My wife was like, did you see her face/eyes, that was scary. She didn't trust herself which could have caused grave injury and cost the team a chance at success. While her withdrawal might seem selfish, it might be the complete opposite.

[Uncle Rico]

  gotta be sleep deprived those cardboard beds that were "eco-friendly" and discouraged "extra curricular night time "sporting" events even though they handed out 160,000 ram skins

I'd have thought you had embarrassed yourself enough

[wadesworld]

I'd have thought you had embarrassed yourself enough

If he hasn't by this point, it's never happening.

[shoothoops]

Thanks for the final point ignoring the beginning of my statement.

I complimented her cause she performed just fine and she has nothing to prove even if she never swam again.  NBC spent the beginning of the Olympic coverage earlier in the week talking about 5 golds and making runs at Phelps.  Even though she wasn't the favorite in the 400 and the 200 has never been her best event.  My beef is more the overblown coverage and story pounding of NBC I suppose.  Its not like Ledecky came in hyping herself.  Even the commentators had to pivot multiple times into saying that Titmus was actually the favorite compared to everything pre-prepared about Ledecky that made it seem like she was the odds on fav in every event she was swimming.

You said she was one of the biggest hyped disappointments of the Olympics.

If winning the 1500 Gold, 400 Silver (3rd fastest time ever), 5th in 200 is a disappointment, everyone would love to be disappointed daily. (She hasn't even yet raced the 800, or the relay yet.) You made your comments before Ledecky was even half way through her Olympic events.

(Titmus won the 400 at the 2019 World Championships. And it was well known she was favored in both the 400, and heavily favored in the 200, including from NBC.) Ledecky was very happy with her 400 after the race.

Swimming the 200, 400, 800, 1500, and relay all in one Olympics?

Winning Gold in the 1500 an hour after your previous race? Swim 5000M then do 200 and 1500 in an hour. Wow.

[The Sultan]

A really good take from the National Review.

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-cdcs-unforced-error/

"That sounds like the phenomenon at work in Biles's recent decisions: Physically she was fine, but emotionally and psychologically, she just wasn't where she needed to be. And a gymnast who can't concentrate properly is a gymnast at a much higher level of serious injury. If she didn't think she would be at her best, or even close to her best, then withdrawing was the right decision. And this year's Olympic games are just different — all of the athletes have lived through an extra year of training, waiting, and hype, all of the virus protocols and social distancing, no fans in the stands. I think Dominic Pino made some strong points about the value of coaching in keeping a top-tier athlete mentally prepared and emotionally durable. And for at least 14 years, the team doctor for USA Gymnastics was basically Hannibal Lecter. As the Wall Street Journal reported, "An examination of USA Gymnastics' response to the allegations shows the federation ignored the possibility that its brightest star had been sexually abused while in its care, walled her off from investigations, and she didn't know it for years."

With that said, it's really hard to overstate what a shock it is, and how legitimately disappointing it is, to watch the athlete who's been the centerpiece of the coverage of the Games suddenly decline to compete at the last second. She is this Olympic's Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mary Lou Retton, smiling out at us from the Wheaties Box. She was capable of handling the pressure four years ago in Rio. And now, her Tokyo Olympics legacy is a dramatic underperformance in the all-around qualifiers and a shocking early withdrawal. It does raise the question whether NBC, and other institutions that heavily cover the U.S. Olympic team, established an ever-accelerating cycle of hype that wasn't good for Biles and wasn't good for all of the lesser-known U.S. athletes, either."

[MuggsyB]

Muggsy - people are losing their crap at restaurants because something didnt go their way after living through the last year.   

Does an athlete that is under a constant microscope really need 'something specific'?

No, she doesn't need something specific, but the fact is we are all speculating and have no idea.  That's my gut feeling is all I'm saying. 

As far as living under the microscope this is a woman that has thoroughly dominated her sport seemingly forever.  Again, she has profited and certainly enjoyed aspects of the attention by embracing "goat" memes and endorsements. 

She's dealt with similar pressure for like a decade and has probably been the best in gymnastics competitions since she could walk.  She always appeared happy and very together during these times, the change seems dramatic to me.   Maybe it was the culmination of a tough year but it would not surprise me if something very serious happened to her.

[MUBurrow]

With that said, it's really hard to overstate what a shock it is, and how legitimately disappointing it is, to watch the athlete who's been the centerpiece of the coverage of the Games suddenly decline to compete at the last second. She is this Olympic's Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mary Lou Retton, smiling out at us from the Wheaties Box. She was capable of handling the pressure four years ago in Rio. And now, her Tokyo Olympics legacy is a dramatic underperformance in the all-around qualifiers and a shocking early withdrawal. It does raise the question whether NBC, and other institutions that heavily cover the U.S. Olympic team, established an ever-accelerating cycle of hype that wasn't good for Biles and wasn't good for all of the lesser-known U.S. athletes, either."

This is a good take.  And my follow up to the bolded is, "what am I supposed to do with this realization?"  I am old enough to remember when the sin was not paying sufficient attention to world class women athletes, and not giving them their due compared to men.  But when those lights shine brightly, I am supposed to say, "It is great that the best athlete in the world is walking away on the eve of her sport's largest competition. I guess I will watch just as intently."  That's not going to happen.  Same applies to the Osaka situation. 

I guess I'm just shaking my fist at the sky, because my honest reaction really is "Good for Biles.  Only she knows if that was what she had to do." But the bright lights that force these athletes' withdrawal are the natural consequence of what they've been fighting for - our eyeballs and admiration.

[StillAWarrior]

...the fact is we are all speculating and have no idea.

Could have stopped there.

[The Sultan]

This is a good take.  And my follow up to the bolded is, "what am I supposed to do with this realization?"  I am old enough to remember when the sin was not paying sufficient attention to world class women athletes, and not giving them their due compared to men.  But when those lights shine brightly, I am supposed to say, "It is great that the best athlete in the world is walking away on the eve of her sport's largest competition. I guess I will watch just as intently."  That's not going to happen.  Same applies to the Osaka situation. 

I guess I'm just shaking my fist at the sky, because my honest reaction really is "Good for Biles.  Only she knows if that was what she had to do." But the bright lights that force these athletes' withdrawal are the natural consequence of what they've been fighting for - our eyeballs and admiration.

I think it is an assumption, by both the NR and yourself, that it is simply "the bright lights that force these athletes' withdrawl." 

Look at some of the disgusting narratives that have come out about Biles since yesterday, and ask yourself whether or not a male athlete would have faced something similar.  Had Michael Phelps pulled out of a relay race four years ago, would he have been labelled a "sociopath?"

[MUBurrow]

I think it is an assumption, by both the NR and yourself, that it is simply "the bright lights that force these athletes' withdrawl." 

Look at some of the disgusting narratives that have come out about Biles since yesterday, and ask yourself whether or not a male athlete would have faced something similar.  Had Michael Phelps pulled out of a relay race four years ago, would he have been labelled a "sociopath?"

See, I do think that the narratives that would evolve around a male athlete would be equally venomous.  Maybe in a different way due to the gender, but equally venomous.  Look at what evolves around Paul George's playoff reputation.  It would be that x1000.  All are disgusting, but I don't think that Biles is treated worse in this respect because she's a woman.

And you're right that I'm assuming a strong, direct correlation between the attention/focus and the mental health struggle.  But I didn't see a lot of toxicity around the mainstream narrative of Biles in the leadup to these games.  I may be wrong, but it does seem an issue with the intensity of the attention, and not the tone.

[forgetful]

I applaud her being open and honest about her mental and emotional struggles.

Me too. I don't fault her at all for recognizing she wasn't mentally capable of performing. It takes a lot to make that decision on the world stage. But the treatment of her actions raises a lot of societal questions.

Should she be applauded as this making her even more the "GOAT," or people championing her as even a better teammate, because she cheered her teammates on. Which is something I see very commonly online. Maybe it is an artifact of my social circles, but I've seen no criticisms, and instead championing her as an ideal teammate and a hero for withdrawing.

What I would like to see is her admit this is a failure (maybe of no fault of her own; given extenuating circumstances), and to emphasize that as an athlete they need to be both physically and mentally prepared to deal with the stress and difficulty of a major competition. That she handled the physical part, but neglected the mental part, and that in the future she will do better.

We grow through failure. Someone who has succeeded at such a high level as her admitting that she too can fail would be a very powerful statement. I'd definitely 100% champion her for that. Especially if she ever came back and competed and went back to kicking the crap out of others.

All of us deal with major stress at times. If we fail to perform, most of us would be fired and it held against us forever. If a policeman was put into a life-saving situation and panicked and ran, he would be called a coward. Same if a fireman showed up to a fire, panicked and let the people inside burn/die. If a doctor that arrives on a emergency scene fails to provide life-saving aide, because they panic, they can be charged with negligent homicide. A soldier who panics and runs will be court-marshaled.

I've seen a lot of posts from friends who are educators, championing Simone for stepping out and calling her a mental-health warrior. But if one of their students let the stress get to them before an exam, and had to leave the room, or asked for an extension because of stress/panic, they'd hand them the zero and say everyone else was in the same situation and you need to learn to deal with it, because stress is a part of life.

If we are going to give Simone a complete pass here (which I'm fine with), then we need to re-evaluate how we view others. Again, I think Simone made the smart decision, she did the right thing for herself and her health, but how should that be viewed in the bigger picture...do we re-evaluate how we treat stress/panic universally?

[The Sultan]

Would we label it a "failure" if she wasn't able to compete due to an injury or a physical illness?  If not, why would we label it a "failure" if she is suffering from a mental illness?

(I don't know the answers to this.  Just hypotheticals.)