Posted on 07/29/2021 9:20:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
Thanks for posting this. I was going back and forth about this until I remembered what a Georgetown U basketball coach said when his team member scored the winning championship basket—in the other team’s basket: Why would I be mad? Without him, we wouldn’t have been here at all (paraphrased from memory).
I played an ice hockey game in a national tournament with three cracked ribs. Every breath was excruciating, much less every check. We lost. We would have lost without me, so my participation was, objectively, irrelevant. But I didn't want to quit on my team. And every person I played with appreciated it (some of us are still close, even after all of these years, because of that experience). Winners don't quit. Neither do competitors, even if they lose. Only quitters quit.
Let me be even more clear:
Excellence is laudable.
Perseverance is laudable, even when you fail.
Giving it your all is laudable, even when you have no chance.
Giving up may be necessary, but it is never laudable.
So stop praising someone for quitting (as the entire media/industrial complex is doing). You can understand, you can feel sympathy, but it’s neither brave nor praiseworthy.
But look! *all* of these keyboard warriors are accomplished world-class athletes and scholars. Just ask them!
Have you ever competed at the absolute world class level? Have you ever done moves that could break your neck if you did them wrong? Have you ever been the best in the world, or close to it at anything?
The difference is, if she would have stayed in the competition, the team would have been out of the medals entirely. She lost her confidence and knew from that point forward she would be useless and a drag on the team. Would you prefer she stay in even though it keeps the team out of the medals?
Ok, fine. But that certainly doesn’t make her a hero. Tired of hearing about her, and nobody even cares about the American who actually did win the All-Around title.
I never said she’s a hero. But she’s not a villain or a sociopath either. She is just an athlete figuring out she was past her prime at the wrong time
My problem is more with the media.
Correct me if this is incorrect, but didn’t she score first or second in every event during qualifying? Wasn’t her score in the one event she did before quitting higher than the lowest score that a teammate scored in each of the other three rotations? Even sub-par Biles might have been enough for gold. We’ll never know...
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