Simone Biles

[Cwtchycoopark]

I had never seen her perform so I am currently down a YouTube rabbit hole and I am awe struck.She is phenomenally, jaw droppingly talented and you can just tell how much she loves it. She is a complete joy to watch. She has shown such courage in prioritising her mental health over what is expected from her.

@Oblomov21

I'm well aware of all those facts Downunder. They relate to childhood, awful abuse.

But she had all those issues at the last olympics and all the world championships, where she's won 30 medals.

So there must be a reason why her MH is bad now, of all times.

It's been a long time since the last Olympics and it's during the last few years where she's spoken out publicly and Larry Nassar was arrested and jailed. She has previously said that she's the only 'survivor' competing in this Olympics but that she was trying to show every survivor of sexual abuse that it was possible to overcome it. She has had to train for the last few years at the training facility where she was repeatedly abused. I don't think it's any surprise that what has happened has happened.

@Reallyreallyborednow

She is 24 which is old for a gymnast I believe

Not any more. Average age at the olympics is mid-20’s, chuso has just competed in her last olympics age 46. The whole concept of gymnasts needing to be young/finished at 20 arises from the abusive coaching methods that demanded so much from children that their bodies or minds were usually broken by 18. Kerri strug retired after that olympic performance because competing on that ankle damaged it too badly.

As for the twisties- there is a theory that it is related to the inner ear. Particularly as you grow, the complex structures mature slower. So your eyes and body are telling you one thing about the rate you spin, how high you are, and whether you are upside down- and your ears which manage spatial awareness are telling you something different. So your brain just refuses. Not the only thing of course, but an interesting theory.

That's really interesting about the inner ear thing. It would explain why as a child you love spinning and roundabouts etc but as an adult they just make you feel ill.

She stopped after getting a very low score. After which she announced her mental health issues and left the team without a team member. No, I don't admire that. If she was not in the right head space she should have given her place to another gymnast before the start of the competition.

@Iwonder08

She stopped after getting a very low score. After which she announced her mental health issues and left the team without a team member. No, I don't admire that. If she was not in the right head space she should have given her place to another gymnast before the start of the competition.

Perhaps she felt fine before, or pushed herself or genuinely believed she would be okay to compete. I'm sure she is extremely disappointed to have pulled out, but good for her for putting her mental health before her sport.

That wasn’t a low scoring valut, that was a ‘lucky to have functioning limbs’ vault.

@DownUnder87

That wasn’t a low scoring valut, that was a ‘lucky to have functioning limbs’ vault.

This.

She had had a few uncharacteristic falters during qualifying. She kept going. This was clearly one move too many.

It took strength to walk away in front of a global audience.

The poor woman looks absolutely lost. The light in her eyes has gone yet she's remained on the global stage to support her teammates.

And look what that did for her teammate. She performed the competition of her life.

She's so strong. To be able to walk away, must not have been an easy decision for her to make. She would not have wanted to let anyone down, and I'm pretty sure her team would never have thought of it as her letting them down. She was brave, and must have felt like she was under so much pressure. I hope she's ok, and if she decides to compete again Or not, I hope she's supported.

@Iwonder08

She stopped after getting a very low score. After which she announced her mental health issues and left the team without a team member. No, I don't admire that. If she was not in the right head space she should have given her place to another gymnast before the start of the competition.

There is whole tram there she cannot arrange the soke responsibility of bringing gold home for the US. If the others cannot get gold themselves why is it all on her!

Lets see how you would cope having been through what she has.

@mamawithfive

She's so strong. To be able to walk away, must not have been an easy decision for her to make. She would not have wanted to let anyone down, and I'm pretty sure her team would never have thought of it as her letting them down. She was brave, and must have felt like she was under so much pressure. I hope she's ok, and if she decides to compete again Or not, I hope she's supported.

And I admire her so much for getting out there and being the team's #1 cheerleader. She was there today as well cheering her teammates on. I know I'd want to hide away myself.

@Iwonder08

She stopped after getting a very low score. After which she announced her mental health issues and left the team without a team member. No, I don't admire that. If she was not in the right head space she should have given her place to another gymnast before the start of the competition.

But by quitting, she did give the opportunity to another competitor and they did brilliantly hence the US won a great silver. She also qualified top (despite not being on perfect form) so I think it's hard to say that she shouldn't have been at the games on merit in the first place.

@Iwonder08

She stopped after getting a very low score. After which she announced her mental health issues and left the team without a team member. No, I don't admire that. If she was not in the right head space she should have given her place to another gymnast before the start of the competition.

This.

Honestly, I respect her for prioritising her mental health BUT I'm fed up with her getting the label of being a hero??? She comes across a sore loser.

There is nothing heroic about quitting and Letting your team mates and self down - even if your head isn't in the game. That doesn't mean she should be scrutinised either - but heroic is taking it too far.

She's amazing, but ultimately she has failed at the competition she entered which is what she went to do and I don't know why it needs sugar coating. I say that as someone suffering mental health myself.

If I was to quit something important where others relied on me I would not expect applause.

Amazing athlete! There was always going to come a time that the USA would no longer be able to rely on her it just so happened it came a bit sooner that everyone thought it would.

I really hope for her sake that this is not the last time she competes though as it would be such a shame for her amazing career to end like this.

Anyone who understands a thing about gymnastics knows how dangerous the sport is. If Marcus Rashford has an off day he doesn’t score, the other team wins, whatever.

Gymnastics makes you risk your life, especially at the level Simone is at. It’s a testament to how good she is that her vault looked as good as it did.

She is a hero. I just hope she continues to be supported as she returns home and tries to come to terms with everything.

@Oblomov21

I'm well aware of all those facts Downunder. They relate to childhood, awful abuse.

But she had all those issues at the last olympics and all the world championships, where she's won 30 medals.

So there must be a reason why her MH is bad now, of all times.

I wonder if being so far ahead of the field for so long might have been a contributing factor. After several years of walking into first place, this Olympic process has shown that competitors are now at Simone's heels (USA's second place qualification, outscored by a team mate at trials etc).

If you've been competing with only yourself for several years, with enough of a cushion to make multiple mistakes in a routine and still win, to then suddenly be competing with a real risk of dropping out of first place if you don't hit must be quite a mental adjustment. It's a different type of pressure that Simone hasn't had a great deal of experience dealing with because she is just so brilliant!

We really need to move away from the narrative that quitting (especially for mental health reasons) = failure because so often it is the best thing for you and for other people.

I think the idea that she let the team down quite offensive to the rest of the amazing US team who are brilliant gymnasts in their own right and who showed that both in the team competition and today with a gold for Sunisa Lee in the all-around. They still have the best all-around gymnast in the world; it's just not Simone Biles at the moment.

If her MH was that bad, she should never have taken her place on the team - but equally procedures should be in place to assess MH just as much as physical health before competing.

Some people on this thread are so ignorant and are as bad as the likes of Piers Morgan.

She didn't quit because she got a low score.

She got a low score because half way through a dangerous move she lost he sense of self and special awareness and exited a vault incorrectly and potentially dangerously.

She realised at that point she wasn't safe to compete with her MH as it currently is and passed that trust into her teammates and encouraged them. All in front of an entire global stage.

She needs applauding not demonising.

Some people in here should be throughly ashamed of themselves.

There is absolutely truth in this, however, there are also so many factors all adding up together.

Having to actually travel to Tokyo, leave her family behind, go through hyper strict Covid protocols, have a teammate test positive and then deal with that hyper charged Olympic bubble without her usual supports may have been just too much.

Ah crap, I wanted to quote spinningspaniels there.

A lot of people don't seem to realise that with her exceptional physical power comes exceptiona physical risk. If her head wasn't FIRMLY in the game then she could paralyse or kill herself.

A Soviet gymnast paralysed herself in the 80s/90s by not being fully ready

She needs applauding not demonising.

This is what I have an issue with. She needs neither of those things! There is a middle ground. Just because someone shouldn't be demonised it doesn't mean they need applauding either.

I agree she doesn't need demonising, but an applaud is not what she deserves IMO.

We really need to move away from the narrative that quitting (especially for mental health reasons) = failure because so often it is the best thing for you and for other people.

The actual definition of failure would be to quit a competition. Perhaps we should amend our associations with the word failure but the definition of it applied to this situation would be correct.

If removing yourself from the olympics isn't failure then I don't know what is. Irrespective of the reason.

Even if it were a broken leg etc she still would have failed as that's the definition of the word.

Here is the actual dictionary definition;

an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success: His effort ended in failure. The campaign was a failure. nonperformance of something due, required, or expected: a failure to do what one has promised; a failure to appear.

@spinningspaniels

If her MH was that bad, she should never have taken her place on the team - but equally procedures should be in place to assess MH just as much as physical health before competing.

Yes. Let's have judges! Let's score human beings on how well they cope with totally arbitrary rules like doing your day job in your underwear (would you like that? Oh yes! You'd be thrilled to do your highly skilled job in your underwear and be scored on a ....not sure what you're proposing...daily? Hourly? Basis.

Your idea is a bit stupid.

A Soviet gymnast paralysed herself in the 80s/90s by not being fully ready

Elena Mukhina did not paralyse herself.

She was forced to remove a cast from her broken leg and train before it was healed because her coaches wanted her to compete in the olympics. She said she wasn’t ready, she said she would hurt herself. Her coaches went to her house and dragged her to training when she refused. And then made her train a move no other female could do. She was the Biles of that era, pushing the boundaries of difficulty.

Her coaches are completely responsible for her paralysis.

Heartbreakingly she said when she was laid on the mats, realising she was paralysed, she only felt relief that there would be no olympics and no more training.

@Reallyreallyborednow

A Soviet gymnast paralysed herself in the 80s/90s by not being fully ready

Elena Mukhina did not paralyse herself.

She was forced to remove a cast from her broken leg and train before it was healed because her coaches wanted her to compete in the olympics. She said she wasn’t ready, she said she would hurt herself. Her coaches went to her house and dragged her to training when she refused. And then made her train a move no other female could do. She was the Biles of that era, pushing the boundaries of difficulty.

Her coaches are completely responsible for her paralysis.

Heartbreakingly she said when she was laid on the mats, realising she was paralysed, she only felt relief that there would be no olympics and no more training.

I didn't know about this.

I'm going to read about it as my bedtime reading.

That's a heartbreaking story I'm so many ways