Biles bails at the Olympics
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I haven't been paying much attention to the olympics this year. One interesting story is Team USA's loss to Russia in women's gymnastics.
Simone Biles, arguably one of the greatest of all times, withdrew from part of the competition. And, without her, the Team USA was dropped to 2nd place.
First story said, "it was a medical issue." Subsequent stories have been more specific, citing a "mental health issue." Apparently the stress was overwhelming.
UPDATE: "Biles... said she pulled out of the event because she wasn’t in the right place mentally to perform the difficult and often dangerous skills she is known for, after feeling so much pressure to be successful. She had been struggling with the stress of being the greatest gymnast in history, she said, and outside expectations were just too hard to combat" (NYT).
The London Times quotes Biles: "I had no idea where I was in the air. I could have hurt myself and it’s very uncharacteristic. So why push it? I just felt it would be a little bit better to take a back seat and work on my mindfulness. I didn’t want to risk the team a medal for my screw-ups because they have worked too hard for that.... I think it shows power in the athlete — protecting my mental and wellbeing that I didn’t want to go out there and do something dumb and get hurt and be negligent.
Ann Althouse comments: "The stress of being the greatest? Part of being the greatest is handling the stress. "
Did she choke?
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Gymnasts competing into their early 20s (or later!). Gymnasts with much healthier weights, and bodies that show muscle instead of bone. Gymnasts speaking out about physical, mental, and sexual abuse from adults within the gymnastics world. And now, a gymnast putting her mental and physical (she was clearly a high risk for injury with the way she was performing during warmups and that one competed vault) health ahead of the expectation of winning big and making history? I love these changes that are happening in US gymnastics!
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I'd never heard her name until this week. However, it seems that she was one of many girls abused by Dr. Larry Nassar, who was the doc for US women's gymnastics.
That's gotta leave a mark.
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It´s also important to keep in mind that the Olympics were supposed to happen a year ago. So, the normal build-up to the Olympics and the intense training and pressures surrounding it were extended even longer.
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She choked but few people understand just how engineered everything about her routine is. To squeeze out that last amount of performance that no one else on the planet can do requires another level of precision. If just one aspect failed, for example lost for a nano second while twirling, then it could happen over and over again.
This is not like choking because someone is unprepared or naturally too self conscious or fearful, or abused by someone or PTSD. It’s more like an element in the brain that goes from automatic to being processed in real time.
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@george-k said in Biles bails at the Olympics:
I'd never heard her name until this week. However, it seems that she was one of many girls abused by Dr. Larry Nassar, who was the doc for US women's gymnastics.
That's gotta leave a mark.
Sounds nice but could be 100% irrelevant. If you are going to make that charge you need to back it up because it already sticks in too many people’s brains. Conspiracies R us.
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@loki said in Biles bails at the Olympics:
This is not like choking because someone is unprepared or naturally too self conscious or fearful, or abused by someone or PTSD. It’s more like an element in the brain that goes from automatic to being processed in real time.
Yeah, and it´s not like this is her first rodeo. She is an Olympic champion, and world and national champion many times over (I think undefeated in every competition since 2013?). Clearly, this was beyond nerves.
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Her decision was described as "brave."
I'm not sure that that's the correct description.
"Tom Brady, fearing being tackled and injured during the 4th quarter, courageously dropped out of the game. The second string QB failed to make any 1st downs, and the team lost."
I'm not disputing, or even criticizing, her decision. I'm bemused by the way things are being reported.
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@george-k said in Biles bails at the Olympics:
Her decision was described as "brave."
I'm not sure that that's the correct description.
"Tom Brady, fearing being tackled and injured during the 4th quarter, courageously dropped out of the game. The second string QB failed to make any 1st downs, and the team lost."
I'm not disputing, or even criticizing, her decision. I'm bemused by the way things are being reported.
Call it what you want. Russia took home the Gold. They won and it was painful watching our team lose. I don’t think any viewer thought Simone bravery>Russian Gold.
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@george-k said in Biles bails at the Olympics:
@loki said in Biles bails at the Olympics:
I don’t think any viewer thought Simone bravery>Russian Gold.
I never said that, did I? I also never besmirched the Russians for their win.
But, her "courage" did cost the US the Gold Medal.
Sorry did not mean to imply you did. Competition is about winning and on some level choking is choking.
She could redeem herself with a comeback win and/or she could have an amazing career after on the topic of choking and coaching elite athletes through choking and how to prevent.
The science of what is going on in the brain during extreme stress is still young and it’s a podcasting boom.
I read the accounts all day and then I watched late last night. I was somewhat shocked by the gap between what was said and what I saw. That is what I meant by viewer.
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@loki On the choking question, did she or didn't she, I'm thinking you hadda been there to answer that with any usefulness. That is, you hadda shared in the struggle to gain the peak -- in rain or shine, in sickness or in health, in good mood or bad.
Armchair "Olympiads" can't know. Just as we cannot know what is involved in the climb to the Olympics. We can read all about it, but we can't know, not really.
We're like the brat in Jon's Funny Pics post, watching an Olympiad's outstanding performance but wobbling a half inch upon landing: "This guy sucks."
My immediate -- and profoundly ignorant -- reaction to Biles' dropping out was, "damn her; if she couldn't handle the heat she shoulda stayed out of the kitchen," and my emotional self still kinda feels that way. Not that I'm proud of that. But my sensible self does know better.
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I´d love to see more focus on the 3 other Team members who competed with this disability and won the silver.
Biles is an amazing gymnast, and she has been on top for nearly a decade. It´s unfortunate she will not be competing in the all-around, but there are a lot of other highly-skilled gymnasts in the field and it will be exciting to see how the competition plays out now with this opening.
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I am not rushing to judgement yet.
It’s the hottest news event going and there is a need for media on all sides to feed it.
The Russians won, we came in second. Whether Simone perceived a risk for the team to fall out of medaling and was unselfish is the question.
My personal competitiveness tells me Silver is a hell of a lot better than nothing. The drama around others standing up to extreme pressure and performing without prep was thrilling. Edge of the seat thrilling.
Anyone who thinks they know what was in Simone’s head is way over their skis at the moment.
If some are saying white privilege (think CRT) has created toxic competitiveness is full of shit.
Final thought, watching Simone on the vault and one other routine before she dropped out is quite telling that she was crashing, very predictive.
If you didn’t watch the entire event your are missing too much to speak with any authority.
