OT: Olympics: Simone Biles out with injury...

[Plebe]

On the other, she has her teammates relying on her to step up and lead the team. Having your star gymnast deciding not to compete at the last minute is a bit of a selfish move and hurts her teammates chances of winning. She signed up for this and decided to take a coveted roster spot that could've gone to one of a zillion other gymnasts who were dying to be here. Leaving her team out in the cold on the biggest stage is a major bummer.

This perspective is of course not invalid, but I would gently invite all of us, myself included, to question the assumptions that underpin it.

There's a traditional line of thought that mental health issues can be overcome just by "snapping out of it" or "sucking it up" ... because god forbid we let down our [family/team/country/fans]. This perspective goes hand in hand with a failure to appreciate mental health as equally "real" as physical health, as well as with the longstanding and crippling stigma surrounding mental illness.

I'm not usually one to draw parallels between sports and military life, but the soaring suicide rate among active service members illuminates the perils of just blithely assuming that anyone who "signed up for it" should be able to bear whatever the mental toll.

 

[darkstar1]

I don’t know enough to draw any conclusions as to her mental health, other than what Biles has said. I don’t see how withdrawing would have hurt her teams chances. I thought the lowest team score was dropped in gymnastics. . Maybe she just didn’t want to continue individually if she felt she couldn’t do her best. I just don’t know at this point.

 

[eebmg]

This perspective is of course not invalid, but I would gently invite all of us, myself included, to question the assumptions that underpin it.

There's a traditional line of thought that mental health issues can be overcome just by "snapping out of it" or "sucking it up" ... because god forbid we let down our [family/team/country/fans]. This perspective goes hand in hand with a failure to appreciate mental health as equally "real" as physical health, as well as with the longstanding and crippling stigma surrounding mental illness.

I'm not usually one to draw parallels between sports and military life, but the soaring suicide rate among active service members illuminates the perils of just blithely assuming that anyone who "signed up for it" should be able to bear whatever the mental toll.

I think the most reasonable way to look at this is that there is an entire spectrum (different levels) of mental health issues just like their is physical injury issues and that overcoming these issues to compete depends on the level of the particular malady. For example, mental issues can mean anything from suicidal thoughts or loss of structured thoughts (blackouts) to the "yips" just like physical injuries can go from a sprained ankle (to be taped up) to ligament damage . It really is not something an outsider can assess so it is best we simply wait and see what develops.

 

[Kaizen]

 

[oldude]

I don’t know enough to draw any conclusions as to her mental health, other than what Biles has said. I don’t see how withdrawing would have hurt her teams chances. I thought the lowest team score was dropped in gymnastics. . Maybe she just didn’t want to continue individually if she felt she couldn’t do her best. I just don’t know at this point.

In the team competition all 3 scores count. Biles score on the vault, her only event before withdrawing, was the lowest score of the 3 US gymnasts, and Biles lowest score on the vault in any competition in the past 10 years.

 

[Plebe]

Well gee, I'm sure "Simon" will sleep much better now that Erick Erickson has softened his stance <eye roll>.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Well gee, I'm sure "Simon" will sleep much better now that Erick Erickson has softened his stance <eye roll>.

While I get your point here, I am so disappointed that others don't seem to understand the truth of what he is saying. Additionally, I'm pretty sure she wasn't planning on this when she signed up for the Olympics. However, having seen a number of interviews (before this) I'm less shocked as she has talked about (or implied, in some cases) the stress she was feeling.

 

[HCCForever]

I was trying to remember another competition of this magnitude when a key athlete removed themselves from competing. The best I could come up with was game 7 of the 1968 NBA championships, when Wilt Chamberlain took himself out during the 4th qtr against the Celtics in LA, never to return, with the Celtics going on to win the championship.

I’m not sure what to make of Biles decision. After the competition, Biles indicated that she didn’t want to prevent her team from winning a medal. Maybe if she fights through her mental issues, she leads the team to gold, or maybe she has one bad routine after another and the team finishes 4th.

Wilt had a history of fading in big games. Biles has been one of the greatest big competition performers ever. For her sake, I hope she finds solace in her decision and can move forward in her life.

The first thing that came to mind was Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard II where Duran supposedly said "No Mas" and quit the fight.

 

[oldude]

The first thing that came to mind was Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard II where Duran supposedly said "No Mas" and quit the fight.

Good example. That was the 2nd of 3 bouts between Leonard & Duran. In the first bout, Duran had won on a narrow decision after Leonard had abandoned his usual move and jab boxing style to stand toe to toe with Duran and trade punches.

I watched the 2nd fight live. Sugar Ray was moving and doing a number on Duran in front of a huge crowd at the Louisiana Superdome, with an even larger crowd watching on tv. Well ahead in the fight, Leonard started “showboating” in the 8th round, which led Duran to turn away and utter those famous words, “No mas” (no more).

 

[darkstar1]

In the team competition all 3 scores count. Biles score on the vault, her only event before withdrawing, was the lowest score of the 3 US gymnasts, and Biles lowest score on the vault in any competition in the past 10 years.

Got it. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Blakeon18]

She has apparently withdrawn from the individual competition as well.

 

[bloor]

She has apparently withdrawn from the individual competition as well.

Biles withdraws from individual all-around final

Defending Olympic champion Simone Biles will not compete in Thursday's individual all-around competition "in order to focus on her mental health."

www.espn.com

She has withdrawn from the individual all-around competition
USA Gymnastics said Biles will be evaluated before deciding if she will participate in next week's individual apparatus events.

 

[Patty Bailey]

A vault that she's probably done thousands of times flawlessly went off the rails. When you perform at the level she does, it's incredibly dangerous to continue when your head isn't in the game. She's not risking medals, she's risking being injured, paralyzed or even death. It was wise and brave of her to accept that she couldn't go on and would be more of a hindrance than a help to her teammates. Look up "the twisties"

 

[eebmg]

 

[Bigboote]

Did anyone see Simone’s face when they showed her vault in slow motion? At the top of her arc, her face showed absolute terror! She had no idea where she was.

After the vault she said to a coach, “I don’t trust myself.”

The consequences are huge for a gymnast who’s lost her mental focus. It was the right decision for her and her teammates for her to withdraw from the team competition. I’m sure if she’d put it to a vote, her teammates would have voted 3-0 for her to withdraw, both for her sake and the team’s.

I hope she regains her edge before the event finals. If she opts out, I won’t question her decision for a moment. She’s been in the limelight and competing against the world for close to half her life. She’s earned everything, including a rest.

 

[Littlemin]

Much different level of competition but I coached traveling softball at a high level for a number of years. We had a very talented pitcher (low D1 prospect) who for no known reason developed, for want of a better term “a self induced paralysis” on balls hit back to the mound. After a couple of such instances it became apparent something was up and we sat and discussed it with her and her parents. She shared she didn’t know why but had become “afraid” and that ended her pitching career. She moved to first and was perfectly fine there, finished a nice travel and high school career and never looked back. The mind is a complex thing and with the potential for injury, no one owes anyone but themselves anything.

 

[oldude]

Did anyone see Simone’s face when they showed her vault in slow motion? At the top of her arc, her face showed absolute terror! She had no idea where she was.

After the vault she said to a coach, “I don’t trust myself.”

The consequences are huge for a gymnast who’s lost her mental focus. It was the right decision for her and her teammates for her to withdraw from the team competition. I’m sure if she’d put it to a vote, her teammates would have voted 3-0 for her to withdraw, both for her sake and the team’s.

I hope she regains her edge before the event finals. If she opts out, I won’t question her decision for a moment. She’s been in the limelight and competing against the world for close to half her life. She’s earned everything, including a rest.

I had not seen the video of her vault until this morning. In addition to her facial expression, she was waiving her arms wildly, like a bird in a storm.

One of the things all great gymnasts have is “air awareness.” Biles has been struggling with hers since the US trials. Last night, it was clear that it abandoned her.

If this is the end of Biles career in gymnastics, I wish her all the best wherever she “lands” next.

 

[clbabson]

I'm proud of her for doing what she needed to do and more importantly, her willingness to speak out about it. I hate using the term 'brave' because it shouldn't require bravery to do what's best for yourself, but in this case representing the United States of Judgment, I think it's appropriate. People see some of these athletes as infallible, but they are human like the rest of us. It's good for young people to see this and appreciate that sometimes it's OK to 'take a break.'

 

[oldhusky]

She already tried to compete and she knew she was not performing optimally. She did the right thing by letting her teammates compete without her dragging them down and being the only story of the competition.

Hope she can get her mind right and compete in the individuals

I don't know what to make of this, and I agree with eebmg the vast majority of the time, but by doing what she did, she made her "the story" of not only this competition but the overall olympics. Secondly she may have been the best performer even being far from her peak. She was probably extremely disappointed in her qualifying performance, but as bad as it was for her, she was still in first place. So if she just repeated her "poor" performance again in the finals she could have probably contended for a Gold, been likely the best performer on her team, and helped her team by sticking it out. From that perspective I think she let the team down.

I can't relate to the mental part of it, and if she had totally lost concentration then maybe her decision was correct, but if she was capable of performing below her best but still at a possible medal level even a bronze at one event, I think she owed it to the team to stick it out.

 

[oldude]

There is a term in gymnastics I heard yesterday for the first time, “the twisties.” It’s when a gymnast inexplicably loses their sense of timing and feel in the air. Evidently, it occurs to some gymnasts. As I mentioned in another post, Biles has struggled in the air since the US trials over a month ago.

One reporter suggested it’s like the “yips” or “shanks” in golf, both of which I am sadly familiar with. The difference is that nobody can be seriously injured from a bad case of the yips or shanks, unless of course someone is standing 20 yards in front of me and to the right when I tee off.

I cannot know what precipitated Biles case of the twisties or how to fix it. For anyone who watched a slow motion replay of her vault a few days ago, there was a look of alarm on her face as she flailed with her arms in midair, seemingly without full control.

I think that vault scared the hell out of Biles. Upon reflection, I think her decision to withdraw for her own safety and so as not to be a burden on her team was the correct decision. I sincerely hope that she will be at peace with that decision.

 

[oldude]

When one door closes, another one opens up. US gymnast Suni Lee just won the gold medal in the individual all-around.

 

[eebmg]

When one door closes, another one opens up. US gymnast Suni Lee just won the gold medal in the individual all-around.

Our resident MN girl has taken notice

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

I think it's important to keep in mind the safety aspect of Biles' situation. She goes air borne on every apparatus... often quite high. If she "gets lost in the air"... meaning her brain isn't in sync with where she is...where is up, where is down, she runs significant risk of serious injury... just imagine if she lands on her head or neck... I have seen some articles as something gymnast community (and diving?) refer to as to the "twisties". Apparently it happens more than we ever hear about. Biles pulling out of team competition, when she was clearly not performing well, gave the team a better chance to medal, and instead of adding to her own lack of confidence in her abilities...and risking serious injury.
I am sure she has gotten and is getting all the help available...i.e. sports Psychologists, medical, team mate love and support.

 

[Ozimoto]

There is a phrase immortalized in a Joe South version of this song that epitomizes my thoughts on this situation...

 

[Stymie]

I don't know what to make of this, and I agree with eebmg the vast majority of the time, but by doing what she did, she made her "the story" of not only this competition but the overall olympics. Secondly she may have been the best performer even being far from her peak. She was probably extremely disappointed in her qualifying performance, but as bad as it was for her, she was still in first place. So if she just repeated her "poor" performance again in the finals she could have probably contended for a Gold, been likely the best performer on her team, and helped her team by sticking it out. From that perspective I think she let the team down.

I can't relate to the mental part of it, and if she had totally lost concentration then maybe her decision was correct, but if she was capable of performing below her best but still at a possible medal level even a bronze at one event, I think she owed it to the team to stick it out.

Owes?
Owes nobody nothing.