Posted on 07/27/2021 9:15:54 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles took a cue from tennis pro Naomi Osaka by pulling out of the team final after a shock error on her first event, insisting that she needed to 'focus on her mental health' because 'there is more to life than just' sport.
Speaking about her sensational exit from competition, which cleared the way for Team USA's Russian rivals to claim gold in a dramatic upset, the 24-year-old revealed that it came as a result of her personal mental health struggles and her desire to prioritize her 'wellbeing'.
'To focus on my wellbeing,' she told reporters of her reasons for pulling out of the competition following a sensational flub on the vault, echoing the statement issued by Naomi, 23, when she pulled out of the French Open earlier this year because of her own mental health struggles.
Shrugging, Simone added: 'And you know, there's more to life than just gymnastics.
'It is very unfortunate that it has to happen at this stage because I definitely wanted this Olympics to go a little bit better but again, we'll take it one day at a time and we're going to see how the rest goes.'
The gymnast also insisted that her decision to pull out of the competition after just one event - when she was due to take part in all four - was made, in part, to help her team, saying that she 'didn't want to risk the team medal' with 'her screw up'.
'I thought it was best that these girls took over the job which they absolutely did,' she continued. 'They are Olympic silver medalists now and they should be really proud of themselves now for how well they did last minute.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That’s below the belt....where is the proof/evidence....America is weak just now, this is more like blackmail....
I don’t pretend to know her true reasons for dropping out.
But being mentally unprepared could have huge consequences
in gymnastics where one wrong move could result in serious
injury, paralysis etc.
Marko
Shun Fujimoto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq-C5-vIim8
Right... so she’s not a serious competitor as I said. Think of all the people who work, struggle, sacrifice, train and don’t get to make the cut.
Why did she bother to qualify then become SO uninterested?
It’s not fair to the others who would love to have gone to the games.
My my the holy estrogen ones are fluxing up at the Olympics bigtime. Media darlings of worship going down led by their purple haired dyke.
Not impressed and not watching any of it anyway. Sayonara.
YUP
An interesting perspective. comments seem to cluster around two extremes, 1) she is a woke-child who abandoned her teammates or 2) poor girl is a victim and mental-health trumps everything
I agree with you about how this reflects on society. I'm reminded that at the height of the Roman Empire, there were were a few gladiators who in their day, were the wealthiest Romans alive.
Well, it's her life after all. But she put in one heckuva lot of work to get where she is and now just to walk away .... there must be something else going on.
I disagree with the comments. I watched the prelims a couple of nights ago and Simone was not right. She was making mistakes she’s never made in major competitions. Couldn’t tell if it was physical or mental, but something was wrong.
Frank Shorter? Or Abebe Bikila who won it running barefoot?
The Roman Empire is a font of depressingly familiar phenomena.
It’s not just the U.S., of course. All over the world, children are pulled into athletic machine-programs that do not have the children’s best interest in mind.
Oh, you have hit the nail on the head. There are so many young people who have no coping skills. Their parents who are constantly telling them from the time they can toddle “Be careful!” have not allowed them to fall down and get hurt and then learn to handle falling. On top of that, they are told “Good job!” in situations in which they have made no effort to accomplish anything.
Imagine if Tom Brady quit in the middle of the 2017 Super Bowl when they were down 24-3. No one would buy into some slop like “Well he has many rings and and lots of money and after all, football training is hard and it’s his life after all...”
You don’t quit in the middle of a competition, especially when you have teammates who have spent the last 4 years of their lives preparing for it.
Osaka really burns me. Japanese born and raised in The States. She attacks the US for supposed systemic racism, while she has reaped incredible benefits from growing up here. And she ignores the Japanese society, which I have great respect for (it works for the Japanese) but which is undoubtedly one of the most racist int the world. FUNO! And to hear sports commentators saying Osaka's absence is going to hurt women's tennis. On the sports ladder, women's tennis is right there with corhole competitions. No one gives a damn except tournament organizers.
LOL! I like McKayla’s commercial.
Welcome to FR.
I can think of a number of athletes who seemingly ended their careers early. For a number of different reasons. Even in the middle of competition.
For example, Jim Brown Cleveland Browns (not to be confused with the Cleveland Cucks baseball team). Jim Thorpe and Lou Gehrig.
Wilt Chamberlain, Barry Sanders, Chuck Connor (Rifleman) and others.
Who knows the reason this time, but it will eventually come out.
Thanks for the memories.
5.56mm
A classic “she might have pranced in but she’s gonna limp out” sitcom comment becomes a real life event!
“Focusing on my mental health” is a under 30 thing. Every time they quit a job, it is to “focus on my mental health”. Like sitting at home with no money is good for your mental health. Any bad financial decision is due to “my mental health”. They had to have a $45k truck with a part-time job for their mental health.
Seriously? Women in tennis have always been higher up than women in other sports, and tennis is the one sport where the women are at least as likely to be famous as the men.
She attacks the US for supposed systemic racism, while she has reaped incredible benefits from growing up here. And she ignores the Japanese society, which I have great respect for (it works for the Japanese) but which is undoubtedly one of the most racist in the world.
For that very reason it was hard to take her activism seriously. I sort of figured that for her it wasn't really about the United States at all but was actually about not really fitting in anywhere.
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