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For Biles, it finally all becomes too much

33 Comments
By Tim Dahlberg

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33 Comments
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Well,she tried.. She will still go down as one of the all time best gymnasts; just not the greatest of all time.

Which is why GOAT changes a lot, like time does. Especially in a sport as age crucial as gymnastics.

When I read your posts my first thought is usually “what is he thinking?” Then I remember, he isn’t.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

While I have no particular interest in gymnastics, men's or women's, I noticed something interesting on Twitter this morning.

America, which is so often about coming first, winning, competing, being the best, second place is first loser, etc., has suddenly turned into Therapy Central as far as this particular athlete is concerned. Literally dozens of tweets saying things like "she is so brave to pull out for her mental health", "she's a trailblazer", "she doesn't owe you anything", ad nauseam, and any post daring to suggest otherwise gets ripped apart by the baying mob.

Fascinating stuff from a sociological and anthropological perspective.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

What part of These are HIGH LEVEL athletes. Peak performance. Top of peak. There's no room for error. Competition is like walking on sharp deadly razors.

Takes a heavy toll dontcha think? That what you wanna see?

Dangerous talk. Lot of powderkegs walking around just waitning to blow and the do whatever it takes even if it costs everything crowd has no idea. None.

Once upon a time not so long ago, it was known as 'bottling it'.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Putting Simone Biles on a pedestal, then forcing through the grinder of social broadcast/media is hardly going to help the lady move on from a loss.

Goat, Greatest of all time, what a load of old cobblers, there is no such ridiculous acronym.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Mental stress, and abuse is something everyone wants to discredit, but yet don't understand because they think they are perfect!! Try walking in that person shoes. In today's world its all about talking about someone else's life when denying you have problem yourself that you don't consider mental!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Mental stress, and abuse is something everyone wants to discredit, but yet don't understand because they think they are perfect!! Try walking in that person shoes. In today's world its all about talking about someone else's life when denying you have problem yourself that you don't consider mental!!

It is a known fact of what this woman has been through and it is heart-wrenching for sure and Nassar will spend the rest of his life behind bars, but knowing what Biles has gone through, her mental health and stability should have been the top priority and if she was mentally compromised then she should not have been allowed to be on this team, I feel for the woman, I do, but because a lot of people are selfish and can only put the games front and center before mental health, the rest of the team has to suffer and pay the price, so the with COVID slowing and putting their training on hold and the last 4 years of training, what did her team get? That's 4 years down the tubes that they will never get back. Even watching the last event tonight, Biles seemed more preoccupied with her phone than the rest of her teammates. If she's not serious or if she needs help then she should seriously think about taking a leave for a while and quitting, it's unfair and unprofessional to drag this out whatever it is because the rest of her team shouldn't have to be sucked into whatever is tormenting this woman.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

One can even generalize that. Those virus amplified spreading games are too much for everyone, for the country, for the planet.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Mental Health issues is not that you perform badly in an event and decide and chose what events you want to participate in.

Some athletes want all the fame but blame others when they do not do well.

Biles had no issues nor setbacks prior to her performances.

Look at Suni Lee of USA. Her father fell from a ladder and got paralyzed. Two of her family members died from Covid-19. She also had Covid-19.

This is not only pressure but mentally disturbing.

Sui goes on to win the Gold Medal.

I have a friend who was abused when he was 10 years and now he is in his 50s. He is still mentally disturbed and challenged. This is mental health and not just everyday pressure that most of us have to deal with at work and other happenings.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

She is a top ten all time great I agree, but her quitting knocks her out of any contention for the best of all time.

But if she feels better, that's great.

I just hope future athletes who are selected to represent their country give an all out effort and take the result, whether they win or lose.

I agree.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

GOAT changes a lot, like time does.

GOAT = Greatest Of All Time. The only reason it should ever change is when someone better than the previous best comes along..

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The backlash against her withdrawal from competition is really a reaction to the steady news feed of GOAT talk leading up to these Olympic Games. She was on the cover of Vogue and hyped up by the media not only because of her skills but also because she’s a black woman, which in today’s victimology zeitgeist means her mere existence is heroic. Her skills were undeniable, but what put her over the top, the plus alpha, so to speak, was her gender/racial identity.

Now, according to the media, she is brave even in quitting. And although only alluded to, this too is due to her identity. The media built her up, and now they feel guilty.

That’s it in a nutshell.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I'm getting dizzy from all the changes in direction.

On social media now, everyone's practically started what I call the "living beatification" process. She is being painted as some kind of patron saint of mental health, and apparently "vulnerability" is the new black (no racial implication intended, it's just an expression, so keep your hair on).

Must be galling for athletes who actually do fight through problems, be they physical or psychological, and barely get mentioned because they don't compete in the "blue riband" events.

If this Olympics proves to be the end of her career - not that I'm wishing it on her, I don't particularly follow gymnastics - she could make a killing on the lecture circuit with Osaka telling kids things like "If you have a major exam coming up, say to get into a good college, and you feel pressure, just don't turn up for the exam. When they send you your notice of failure, just say "I withdrew from the exam for my mental health", and boom. You're in".

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Jesus. Look, she's a great gymnast and she decided to pull out because of mental stress. She did the right thing. End of. Why is this story dragging on and on?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So giving up is the new excuse now? I love the girl, but come on…..

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The Olympics, and modern spectator sports in general, ask a lot of the performers. While we sit on our couches watching, these mostly young athletes give it their all.

Miss Biles won 4 gold medals in Rio, and has already accomplished more in her short life than most of us can even dream of. She deserves praise from us, and understanding, gratitude, and sympathy.

The first person to run the marathon, back in 490 BC, collapsed and died at the end of it. Let's hope that modern athletes do not feel the need to push themselves until they die.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I first became aware of Biles from her Subway commercial.

She is a top ten all time great I agree, but her quitting knocks her out of any contention for the best of all time.

But if she feels better, that's great.

I just hope future athletes who are selected to represent their country give an all out effort and take the result, whether they win or lose.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

For Biles, it finally all becomes too much

The title says it all.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It takes a lot of mental discipline to perform at peak level. When you lose that mental discipline, sports success (or any success) will fritter away. Many years ago (around 1983), when I attended university in the USA, the Los Angeles Dodgers had a star second baseman named Steve Sax who suddenly got a mental block and was unable to make a simple throw to first base... something he'd done thousands of times before without his brain interfering with his body executing the task. He threw the ball into the dugout, the seats, at the first base coach - anywhere except his teammate at first base. This continued for a whole season. It was tragic to watch. It took some work and therapy to overcome the mental challenges which blocked a near, automatic, routine physical function he could have done with his eyes closed all his life up to that point.

If Ms. Biles experienced the same thing, she was right to withdraw until she can regain the mental control, or mental partitioning she needs.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Michael O’ DereiterToday  12:55 pm JST

While I have no particular interest in gymnastics, men's or women's, I noticed something interesting on Twitter this morning.

America, which is so often about coming first, winning, competing, being the best, second place is first loser, etc., has suddenly turned into Therapy Central as far as this particular athlete is concerned. Literally dozens of tweets saying things like "she is so brave to pull out for her mental health", "she's a trailblazer", "she doesn't owe you anything", ad nauseam, and any post daring to suggest otherwise gets ripped apart by the baying mob. 

Fascinating stuff from a sociological and anthropological perspective.

It's the CNN fed Lib crowd that adheres to CRT and woke beliefs. Sad actually.

bass4funkToday  05:11 pm JST

So giving up is the new excuse now? I love the girl, but come on…..

But she is so heroic.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

She was one of the athletes sexually abused by the Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar,

Very sad and tragic, but what does that have to do with her quitting?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Bob FosseJuly 29  08:22 am JST

Which is why GOAT changes a lot, like time does. Especially in a sport as age crucial as gymnastics. 

When I read your posts my first thought is usually “what is he thinking?” Then I remember, he isn’t.

You didn't read what I wrote, because I never said she was or is the GOAT. I did write that she never will be.

What were you thinking?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Well,she tried.. She will still go down as one of the all time best gymnasts; just not the greatest of all time.

The great ones compete when they are sick, injured, tired mentally or physically--nothing gets in their way.

Yes, she tried. @ Commodore Perry - True, more so when the cards are stacked against you. Example, Jim Thorpe. His track shoes were stolen, and the best that he did was a couple of unmatched shoes; one he found in a trash bin. He persevered and won his race. Yes, we all have pressure at times, but the winners, not matter how they do (win, tie, or lose) will win.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

zichiToday  06:18 pm JST

She was one of the athletes sexually abused by the Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar,

Oh; had no idea about one of the most high profile sexual abuse cases in America involving athletes.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Let this be a lesson to those who would seek being "the best". Ms Biles has demonstrated an almost superhuman mastery of Gravity, momentum, and her own body that has generated expectations within her and her milieu which no Human mind might easily contemplate without great trepidation. Plus, she has the added burden of being a mature Human female with all of the added physiological burden THAT brings with it. It must have been even tougher for Ms Biles than the agony we witnessed for Osaka-sama and we must celebrate the strength of their characters that they could say NO in the face of what must have been enormous unvoiced expectation from the entire World essentially. If the rest of us had that strength of character to say NO! Bad dog!, war amongst us Humans would be an almost forgotten historical relic...Whatever disappointments have attended this Olympics, these two women have salvaged at least some sanity for us from the chaos of mindless nationalistic competition. Thank you both, we really need this example of courage you have provided and your personal Gold outshines all the others. Stay safe...

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Finally, it all became too much. Simone Biles felt it hours before she took the floor in Tokyo, a nervousness she couldn't explain as she waited to deliver what everyone except her was sure would be a gold medal for the U.S. women's gymnastics team.

Well,she tried.. She will still go down as one of the all time best gymnasts; just not the greatest of all time.

The great ones compete when they are sick, injured, tired mentally or physically--nothing gets in their way.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

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