Sorry, Simone Biles, The Olympics Isn’t About You, It’s About Winning For America

The Federalist ^ | 07/27/2021 | John Daniel Davidson

[SeekAndFind]

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I always thought the Olympics was supposed to be about competing, and winning, for your country. As an American, the Olympic Games always felt like a unique opportunity to utterly defeat other countries and prove, again and again, that the USA is the greatest country on earth, and other countries suck.

Apparently, things have changed. For some U.S. athletes, the Olympics has become all about them.

Simone Biles, the best gymnast in the world and the erstwhile star of Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, abruptly quit on Tuesday after botching a vault. Her unexpected withdrawal from the women’s team gymnastics final left her teammates in the lurch. Some of them had not planned to compete Tuesday, and they ended up losing the gold to Russia — Russia!

At a press conference afterward, Biles cited vague mental health concerns as her reason for pulling out. “I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being,” she said, kicking off a flurry of blue-check tweets about how it’s so important for athletes to take care of their mental health.

Then Biles said this: “This Olympic Games, I wanted it to be for myself when I came in — and I felt like I was still doing it for other people.”

Simone Biles: ‘I feel like I’m also not having as much fun – and this Olympic Games I wanted it to be for myself and it felt like I was still doing for other people – and that hurts my heart that doing what I love has been taken away from me.’

— Ian Herbert (@ianherbs) July 27, 2021

Well, you were supposed to being doing for other people. Specifically, you were supposed to be doing it for your country, for all Americans, not for yourself — or at least not only for yourself.

In fairness, the blame here shouldn’t rest solely on Biles. We as a society have begun conflating mental health and mental toughness, or grit. Public figures are often rewarded for taking care of their “mental health,” even in the absence of any kind of mental illness.

Biles doesn’t suffer from a specific mental illness, at least not that we know of or that’s ever manifested itself before. What she experienced wasn’t that, it was something more common among professional athletes: she got psyched out. She wasn’t mentally tough when she needed to be.

That’s fine. It happens to LeBron James all the time (and when it does, you can tell; he stops trying and lets his team lose).

But instead of being ashamed of that, or apologizing to her teammates and her countrymen, Biles seemed to revel in taking care of her “mental health,” whatever that means.

Contrast this mealy-mouthed talk about mental health from Team USA to what Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova said after her floor routine sealed the gold for Russia: “I knew that it was depending on me, and I was feeling overwhelming happiness and I knew I did it. I knew I had done my job.”

She knew she did her job. That’s the Olympic spirit.

We Americans know that spirit well. When Kerri Strug won the gold for Team USA at the 1996 Olympics, vaulting on two torn ligaments in her ankle in one of the most memorable Olympic moments ever, she later said she did it for her team, her country, and herself. She knew that in order for her team to win, she had to pull it together, mentally and physically, and do the vault.

In 1996 Kerri Strug went back out on the mats for the finals & had a spectacular performance despite a severely injured ankle.

She did it because it was the only way Team USA had a chance at Gold.

Due to her effort, Team USA won Gold. Amazing grit.

The great ones find a way. pic.twitter.com/Rg6Mv3z6Gg

— Chris Buskirk (@thechrisbuskirk) July 27, 2021

That she would become a national hero for her grit, she later told a reporter, just seemed, in her words, “weird.” “To me, it was part of my job to do that vault.”

Meanwhile, Team USA announced that Wednesday would be a “mental rest day” ahead of the all-around women’s gymnastics final on Thursday, the individual competition.

No word yet on whether Biles’s “mental health” will be recovered enough by then for her to compete.

[blackd77]

Thank you.

[Svartalfiar]

I can’t imagine the kind of mental concentration needed, let alone the physical conditioning required to be at her level in her sport. If she says her mind is not in it, I don’t take issue with her decision to withdraw. She really has nothing left to prove....we all know she’s the best in the world right now, and perhaps one of the best ever.

She's been doing this for years, she has plenty of mental and physical conditioning to be able to do it. If her "mind isn't in it", then she should have retired before the Olympics or at least not taken the spot from another gymnast that would have been plenty happy to actually compete. She may be good, but to be the best means you don't just quit randomly.

[ctdonath2]

Being the best also means knowing when you’re not, and getting out of the way for another. She was clearly way off her game, blowing what she should be excelling at. If she knew she wasn’t going to win, let a teammate fill the spot.

I’m intrigued by the “Ritalin” comment above.

[rottndog]

She may be good, but to be the best means you don't just quit randomly.

I don't think she quit randomly....she hit a wall she couldn't climb over, and it just happened to be during the Olympics. Given her life story, I will most certainly give her the benefit of the doubt and take her word for it. And after all the best training in the world, she is still a flawed human being (God forbid), as are we all....as are you. Don't be so quick to judge.

[jerod]

While Simone Biles vacations in Japan for free and enjoys herself sitting in the stands... There is an Olympic hopeful sitting on a couch somewhere in the United States who could have filled her spot, if Simone Biles had instead decided to have her ‘mental meltdown’ before she left for Japan.

I feel bad for that young athlete... As for Simone Biles, I and I’m sure any other true fan of sports, feels cheated and ashamed of her selfishness.

[Political Junkie Too]

I’m intrigued by the “Ritalin” comment above.

I found this from 2016:

Simone Biles on Her ADHD: 'It's Nothing That I'm Afraid to Let People Know'

Simone Biles’s privacy was seriously invaded this week, when Russian hackers attacked the World Anti-Doping Agency's athlete database and released medical information about the USA gymnast.

According to ABC News, the published documents revealed that Biles had received a medical exemption to take methylphenidate, a stimulant used to treat ADHD that's typically banned. Ever the role model, 19-year-old Biles took to social media yesterday to clear up any confusion about her medication: "I have ADHD and I have taken medicine for it since I was a kid," she tweeted. "Please know, I believe in clean sport, have always followed the rules, and will continue to do so as fair play is critical to sport and is very important to me."

If the hackers were hoping to smear Biles’s image, they failed. As ABC News senior medical correspondent Jen Ashton, MD, explained, drugs like methylphenidate (known by the brand name Ritalin) "are thought to work by enhancing neurotransmitter function in the brain." They would not affect an athlete's performance, she said.

Biles wasn't the only target of the hackers: They also published medical information about Serena and Venus Williams.

Biles has apparently had a "therapeutic use exemption" from the relevant oversight agencies to use the drug and still compete.

-PJ

[Celtic Conservative]

Self centered little twit. Or word very similar to “twit”.

CC

[MoraBlack]

First of all let me say i find it hard to believe her doubts came out of the blue. If she had them before the competition and should have given the team the chance to start a substitute.

Other than that i think the Federalist is absolutely wrong.
She was NOT supposed to do anything for other people. She put in the work, she made the sacrifices to get were she is, it his her body and her health she`s putting on the line every time she competes, so nobody else gets to have a say.There is no margin for error or doubt in top level Gymnastics. She might easily have injured herself severely had she forced herself to go on.

And how would it have helped her team? If her vault is anything to go by she probably would have scored low, maybe lower than the girls who had to stand in for her.

And no, i don`t think Kerry Strug is a role model. It was an extremely dangerous and, frankly, stupid thing to do. With all the flak coaches get for mistreating their athletes she`d never be allowed to do it now.Not for nothing the now discredited and fired Karolyis were here coaches.The health of the athletes, often minors,should come first.

That said, there are countries where athletes are still mistreated physically and psychologically without consideration for their longtime health. Those systems break many, many athletes. Those who make it through will probably not falter under pressure.

Artur Dalaloyan from Russia helped to win team gold in Tokyo three months after surgery for a torn achilles tendon even though his doctors hadn`t cleared him and it usually takes more like 9 months to come back from that kind of injury. He is the product of just such system. He might have crippled himself for life. Would that have been worth it? Is it right to expect that from an athlete?

[EEGator]

“God damnit Maverick!...”

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

In the end tho, \everything\ was about winning the Gold and beating Russia.
And, nothing else.
With this in mind, I withhold judgement of Ms Biles decision.

[RummyChick]

So does this mean she is allowed to take it in Japan

[RummyChick]

Eastern block countries just have a different mind set when it comes to athletes. They are pushed to extremes in all kinds of sports

That young English girl at Wimbledon got raked over the coals when she quit due to medical reasons.

[RummyChick]

Maybe. Lets see if she miraculously recovers for individual competitions.

[ronniesgal]

she did not do anything wrong.

[mewzilla]

That 24 hour delay is what tells the tale, pulling out of the team, but not the individual.

She reminds me of the NFL players who don’t want to play at the Pro Bowl, who don’t want to risk injury during a, for them, meaningless game.

I wonder who/what convinced her to pull out of the individual event.

I bet that’s an interesting story.

[RummyChick]

She has pulled out of an individual all aound comp but next week is still not determined

I dont rule out $ as the reason. A crappy performance could affect her ability to earn

She also has had a terrible home life and was subjected to sexual abuse from the gymnastic system...so she probably has mental issues

[bigdaddy45]

I do. You get older. The body doesn’t do what it once could do, and doubt creeps in. Did you watch? Did you think she was faking it?

I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. The pressure is tremendous, and some people just buckle. None of us is really in a position to judge from the comfort of our living rooms.

[bigdaddy45]

We’ve got lots of armchair quarterbacks with beer bellies in the comfort of their easy chairs judging her.

[bigdaddy45]

Please, tell us your experience competing athletically at the highest level in the world. What was it like? Did the pressure get to you? Was your body up to the task? I’m really interested to hear your experience since you clearly have some insight.

[HereInTheHeartland]

““I’m holding on too tight, I lost the edge!“

“Talk to me Goose.”

“Mavericks re-engaging sir!”