“It’s OK to quit when things get tough” -The message Simone Biles sends to little girls

coach wrote:

when the going gets tough??? wrote:

Say what?? Stop the excuses.

This was not her first competition. She quit on her team because she choked.

Of course she choked, no one including Biles denies that.

The "clutch/choke" debate is classic in all sports. 20 years ago (heck, 2 months ago), we'd have been here talking about her performance as an athlete in this important moment without the added aspect of "mental illness/mental health." Now, "feeling overwhelmed by the situation" is a threat to mental health. Some of us may not like this new definition, but that doesn't really matter because society has made this decision.

I dislike "slippery slope" arguments myself, but were really getting awfully close to a situation where someone who puts pressure on someone else might be characterized as assaulting the mental health of that person, de facto "abuse" of that person, and treated similarly to a physical assault on a person's physical health.

It's also possible that I'm misunderstanding this. So I'll ask a question. Is feeling pressure a threat to the mental health of Simone Biles because of her specific background? Or does it apply to everyone feeling pressure? Like an "underlying condition" makes getting other types of illness more likely? Thanks

My initial reaction was a lot like the posts here coming from a runners perspective: she quit on the team. It’s easy for runners to say because if we go past the red line we waddle in. If a gymnast isn’t 100% they can seriously injure themselves. Simone deserves a huge amount of credit for staying on and supporting her teammates. She could’ve just crawled into a dark place and head but she didn’t do that. Still the goat.

And for those who insist they are equal opportunity haters, add Matt Centrowitz, the US Women's Soccer Team and Shelby Houlihan to the mix.

My dancing daughter and I have been keeping a close on on Simone.

She's been off for the last TWO months plus.

I told her if you are struggling for 2 months. Take a break - you are about to get hurt.

I applaud Simone for realizing there is life outside of sport. 'Lost in air'. 'Twisties'. 'Yips' with your neck and spine exposed is not the place to be.

The Truth Hurts wrote:

ultramarine wrote:

Being GOAT is more than your medal or championship count. It’s a certain attitude, winning under pressure and against the odds, rising to the challenge etc.

GOATs just don’t walk away on the biggest stage bevy they feel pressure.

Imagine if prime Kobe, about to take the final shot in a close game with the clock winding down, just set the ball on the floor and walked off...then told the media it was because he needed to take some time to de-stress (and sorry team! sucks to suck!).

That's right. Never would have happened.

Scottie Pippen did something like that in a playoff game one time.

In 2006 when his teammates were struggling in the closing game of the first rd vs the Suns, Kobe basically shut down and stopped trying to score and win.

Man it must suck to be a little girl looking up these female pro athletes these days. We have women getting banned for eating steroid burritos, then smoking weed. A woman got angry that the national anthem of the country she represents was played to celebrate her making the team. Then there's the purple-haired "activist," millionaire who complains about not getting paid enough, then loses. We have a few athletes who want attention for switching genders every other day (yet are conveniently always female on the days they compete). Now a "goat" quits on her teammates mid-competition because sports are stressful.

Very sad these are the "role-models" for young girls. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

roller coaster wrote:

ultramarine wrote:

Oh what a role model!

Oh what a GOAT!

Yeah. This is like Tom Brady bailing in the middle of a game when his team is losing.

She's one of the all time greats but I think this is a big mark against her in my book and prevents her from achieving legend status.

She is still at legendary status with her accomplishments.

Tom Brady is probably in another level with his accomplishments at his age.

But Simone still competing at this high level coming in as a favorite at age 24 is pretty phoenominal. She’s actually been very unfortunate with the year she was born compared to Olympic years. In 2012, she was too young at 15. 2016, she was even little old for a gymnast. Then 2020, she would’ve been very old at age 23, but with COVID, got pushed to 2021 at age 24. So it sucks that she was only able to be in her true prime for one Olympic. If the rules wouldn’t have been set as 15 as too young, she would’ve dominated in 2012 as well.

....what are your credentials for diagnosing her?

For those that say she is not injured or sick...it looks like she is, in case you forgot that mental issues are real illnesses.

Perhaps the role model impact here is that it is ok to be open with mental issues or your state of mind.

Gymnastics is one of those sports that no one else takes note of, except come Olympics, everone is watching and everyone is an expert. And if you are the champ, you are expected by these non followers , to add to the country's medal count. No one cares about the sport, nor the person. Just bring us that medal you are supposed to...we are the best in the world etc

This is a real medical issue

From a newspaper article, quoting an elite gymnast rather than guys in basement:

well said.

JealousLilB wrote:

She was sexually abused by Larry Nasser and the only one left standing and competing. She already came from adversity to rise to the level she achieved and now she is showing that you do not have to give in to what everyone else thinks you should do. You don't know what she is dealing with, especially after the Nasser case and all the attention it called to USA gymnastics, including Simone herself. She showed grace. You on the other hand seem to dismiss everything she has already done and only want to judge her based on a decision she made (OH NO A WOMAN MADE A DECISION THAT BENEFITS HER AND NOT YOU). You petty little turd.

Yeah. Im sure her teammates feel the same.

Let's see. What if another gymnast joined Bikes and walked out of competition too? Or 2 more or all? Because, you know , the pressure of not having their best teammate competing and having that thrust on them in the middle of competition was too much. Then what?

So to be clear this sort of behavior is acceptable to you when? Can a 10 year old now walk away from soccer tryouts because she felt too much pressure? How about a college grad doing a job interview ? What about a lawyer, at a murder trial , a lawyer who has won thousands of cases, suddenly walking out of the court room , leaving their client behind because she didn't feel it that day?

Let's keep it in sports. What about Sue Bird saying to her teammates during a water break that she didn't have it that night and walked off the court into the locker room.

Defending this is absurd. Quiting while she reptrsented herself is her choice. Quitting while she was a part of a team representing America is different.

She's done great things. But she has also forever tarnished her legacy.

"Biles did a biles"

Let it Rupp wrote:

Man it must suck to be a little girl looking up these female pro athletes these days. We have women getting banned for eating steroid burritos, then smoking weed. A woman got angry that the national anthem of the country she represents was played to celebrate her making the team. Then there's the purple-haired "activist," millionaire who complains about not getting paid enough, then loses. We have a few athletes who want attention for switching genders every other day (yet are conveniently always female on the days they compete). Now a "goat" quits on her teammates mid-competition because sports are stressful.

Very sad these are the "role-models" for young girls. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

I agree with you on virtually nothing on this board, except this.

ultramarine wrote:

Oh what a role model!

Oh what a GOAT!

Let me tell you a couple of stories that you and many others on this site need to know.

There was distance runner named Fernando Mamede from Portugal. Going into the 1984 LA Games he held the world record in the 10000 and was one of the favorites to win. But he had a history of anxiety and poor performances in championships. He won his heat, then in the final after about a mile he just ran off the track and out of the stadium.

The other is maybe better known and that would be Kathy Ormsby. She was one of the favorites at the 1986 NCAA's also in the 10000. She was near the leaders with 2 miles to go, then just like Mamede ran off the track and out of the stadium. However, once outside she scaled an 8 foot fence, ran to a nearby bridge and jumped off, paralyzing herself for life.

Now those two were both distance runners. The brave, tough athletes that this site was supposedly created about.

Don't think for a second that anxiety attacks or quitting a competition label someone as a "quitter". They can happen to anyone, male or female and they can happen to brave, tough distance runners too. People trying to sound badass by denigrating someone when it happens are plain ignorant. It goes a lot deeper than just a competition and can have serious consequences.

If Biles was panicked and worried about her mental health, she did the right thing.

khcglhc wrote:

I listened to her press conference. I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

“Felt like it would be better to take a backseat. Work on my mindfulness and I knew that the girls would do an absolutely great job and I did not want to risk the team a medal for my screw up because they worked too hard…”

If she knew that she was not there mentally, could she not let the alternate compete instead of her

If it was too late, could she not at least try. They drop the low score anyway.

I missed something for sure

Ok, I understand now. Rules have changed. Only 3 in final and all 3 count.

Yes, she had to remove herself. For some reason, she can’t do gymnastics anymore (inner ear problem, brain problem or psychological problem, it does not matter),

Had she soldiered on, the US would not have been on the podium. She also rather have left on her own terms than having the coach pull her.

Now what I don’t understand is how the heck did The US manage a silver. Biles had a terrible vault (which counted). I saw one girl who was all over the place in the floor exercise (which counted).

I only saw highlights.

I guess all teams had bad performances

I know that Biles being selected was controversial, since she has not been performing very well lately. Somehow, I feel that the girl who was 5th is pretty upset that Biles took the spot.

Without a doubt, her contracts all have a clause that state she must compete in the Olympic Games to be fully compensated.

Well, she did didn’t she?

The Biles camp is a sneaky little organization isn’t it?

She's under a huge amount of pressure and has developed the 'twisties' (a quick google search will give you some insight on this - it seems like she's struggled with them for a while).

But the problem with this mindset, is that the consequences of quitting are still there. You can have every excuse in the book, but at the end of the day the outpouring of empathy is a brief respite from the 'trigger' behind the stress / anxiety, it's not an alternate path to the end goal. And quitting, to paraphrase a quote commonly attributed to Armstrong (I doubt he said it first), lasts forever.

Once you begin to lose these mental battles you lose your resilience. Ultimately, for Simone Biles, whilst this will probably leave a permanent scar on her psyche, she's still going to have her Gold medals, millions of dollars, and a long and successful media career waiting for her if she wants it. Heck, now she could be a mental health advocate to boot. But for the average man or woman quitting can be character defining and life changing - hence the underlying stress in the first place.

BREAKING: Biden won’t be coming back for the last 3 years of his term. “It’s too hard!”

My initial reaction was the same, but she also might have had a panic attack. Hard to compete after something like that.

ultramarine wrote:

flyingfrog wrote:

Her list of accomplishments is way longer than mine, all I can do is admire her hard work and dedication. She is now over 20 and has been doing this since ?yrs old?

Being GOAT is more than your medal or championship count. It’s a certain attitude, winning under pressure and against the odds, rising to the challenge etc.

GOATs just don’t walk away on the biggest stage bevy they feel pressure.

you need to post your mile PR before making such assertations. This is letsrun bro.