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Sorry, Simone Biles, The Olympics Isn’t About You, It’s About Winning For America
The Federalist ^ | 07/27/2021 | John Daniel Davidson

Posted on 07/27/2021 9:03:04 PM PDT by SeekAndFind


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.



TOPICS: Society; Sports
KEYWORDS: gymnastics; leavesimonealone; olympics; simonebiles
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1 posted on 07/27/2021 9:03:04 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Interesting blindgossip about this. Centers on her saving herself for individual competition because that is where the dollars are


2 posted on 07/27/2021 9:05:40 PM PDT by RummyChick (To President Trump: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3923111/posts)
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To: SeekAndFind

My wife wondered if a mom with 3 kids in wet and poopy diapers says “I’m not feeling it today” would get the sympathy Biles is


3 posted on 07/27/2021 9:09:19 PM PDT by llevrok (I'm old enough to remember metal toys in Cracker-Jacks.)
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To: RummyChick

I disagree. I think she just lost it. All of a sudden she just couldn’t perform. You could see it in her eyes. It’s easy for us to throw stones, but imagine the pressure. This isn’t like swimming where you just swim fast. Gymnastics requires precision, and if you lose confidence... its over.


4 posted on 07/27/2021 9:11:09 PM PDT by bigdaddy45
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To: SeekAndFind

No one cares about the wokympics. It will be regarded like the Pan Am games in the USA starting this year but forevermore.


5 posted on 07/27/2021 9:12:19 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (The democrats have just replaced KKK with CRT. /Kevin McCarty 7/6/21)
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To: bigdaddy45

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


6 posted on 07/27/2021 9:13:31 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: RummyChick

There’s no “I” in Team.

But there is in Quit.


7 posted on 07/27/2021 9:14:11 PM PDT by castlebrew (Gun Control means hitting where you're aiming!))
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To: bigdaddy45

Yeah it’s better she didn’t injure herself. But I blame all the hype in the lead up. They probably shouldn’t do so much social media etc...


8 posted on 07/27/2021 9:14:50 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: SeekAndFind

There have been a lot of comparisons with Osaka but the BIG difference is that Biles’ teammates were counting on her. Osaka hurt herself and only herself by pulling out of the French Open. Biles hurt the entire team.


9 posted on 07/27/2021 9:16:39 PM PDT by luv2ski ( )
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To: castlebrew
There’s no “I” in Team.

Ain't no "we" neither.

10 posted on 07/27/2021 9:16:54 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: bigdaddy45

Apparently she was on Ritalin, which is banned in Japan. It finally left her system. Weed is also banned in Japan, which explains why the US team couldn’t even win at skateboarding.


11 posted on 07/27/2021 9:19:01 PM PDT by Mr. Blond
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To: SeekAndFind

Time for reforms at Olympics. All athletes should be amateurs. I think the age limit should be 21. No professional athletes.


12 posted on 07/27/2021 9:21:46 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: SeekAndFind

She knew she was off. Persevering would have been the selfish choice. She would be seen as courageous while her team failed with her poor performance. She made the courageous choice to accept the humiliation she knew would follow to allow her team to win without her. I have nothing but respect for her determination to do the right thing for her team despite the personal cost to her.


13 posted on 07/27/2021 9:22:40 PM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: castlebrew

https://xwidep.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/there-is-no-i-in-team-a-hole.jpg?w=576&h=407


14 posted on 07/27/2021 9:22:53 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: bigdaddy45

That’s what I think. Maybe she had a sudden realization and thought, “What am I doing out here tumbling across the floor?” I think gymnastics is inhumane anyway. Going off the diving board is better.


15 posted on 07/27/2021 9:24:29 PM PDT by Spandau
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To: SeekAndFind

The Lebron James parallel is quite apt. No guts in the crunch. Just walk away and abandon your teammates. He did it in Cleveland and LA, she did it in japan.


16 posted on 07/27/2021 9:35:51 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard (resist the narrative. .)
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To: bigdaddy45

She has competed at the highest levels for years, with great success; and now all of a sudden she has a mental collapse from the stress? I don’t buy it. This should be just another day at the office, based on her history and record. Yes she choked in the prelims; the great ones rise to the challenge. GOAT or goat. Her choice.


17 posted on 07/27/2021 9:42:29 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard (resist the narrative. .)
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To: luv2ski

If Biles knew she couldn’t perform even to a less stringent standard than her usual excellence, she might have hurt the team more by continuing to compete.


18 posted on 07/27/2021 9:57:14 PM PDT by edweena
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To: SeekAndFind

Bah. General Patton would straighten this woman out real quick.


19 posted on 07/27/2021 10:05:57 PM PDT by Mr. N. Wolfe
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To: pgyanke

You know....what Simon Biles does is actually quite dangerous for most, and given her difficult history, it doesn’t surprise me when they make the decision that her mental state could actually get her injured.

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.

Throw some love and compassion her way...and this is one of the few times not to judge someone unless you walk a mile in their shoes, because that young lady has done some serious walking so far in her young life. IOW....don’t be so damn snippy at a fellow American.


20 posted on 07/27/2021 10:14:47 PM PDT by rottndog (What will you do after America? )
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