Simone Biles withdraws from Olympics

My daughter competed in gymnastics and then trampolining at a decent level when younger and this is absolutely a thing (as much the brain refusing to do a move as much as adding in extra twists). This is a very good explanation:

Another ex-gymnast, Catherine Burns, compared it to being on a motorway and suddenly losing your muscle memory of how to drive.

"You're moving way too fast, you're totally lost, you're trying to think but you know you don't usually have to think to do these manoeuvres, you just feel them and do them," she tweeted. "It's not only scary and unnerving, it's incredibly dangerous even if you're doing basic gymnastics."
 
I play a lot of golf and have played with people who have the yips. It’s horrible to see. I used to think “just play the shot, what’s the worst that can happen?” but it’s not even about that. It’s a mental thing and at that time it consumes you. As I say, it’s really difficult to watch. To many it will seem like something really meaningless.
 
The case does demonstrate the gulf in understanding of mental health issues. A poster earlier in the thread said that they felt for the person left behind because Biles went to Japan. Biles could have simply pulled or torn a muscle tripping over a man hole cover in the village and you wouldn't have thought to post that.

This is exactly the same.
 
FatCat said:
She was having an off day and pulled out stating mental health issues. She probably cost her team gold. She managed to come back to cheer them on, in her interview. She then congratulated herself on being brave enough to do so I.e pull out. She’s now pulled out from the all round event but is currently still in the individual events at the weekend. That concerns me - is she mixing up having a bad day at the office with mental health issues.

personally I think if her head is not right she should pull out completely and remove herself from the spotlight she is currently under, or someone should intervene and pull her out.

from what she says it reminds me of the Ronaldo I situation when he wasn’t right but the powers that be and money men
Ensured he played in the World Cup final.

we will probably never know what’s going on in camp etc but so that she doesn’t spoil it for the rest of the team and detract from their hard work and she cannot compete herself she should maybe remove herself from the situation.
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Ultimately you don’t know what her mental state is now or what it will be like. How about we take her word for it?
As quek stated, Andy Murray pulled out of singles cos of a niggle, no one batted an eye lid. On your reckoning should he be playing in the doubles?
 
Expat Smoggie said:
Totally agree — I think she’ll regret her actions as she’s let herself and the team down — ok you say she should look after number one but perhaps she knew before that this was going to happen — not only that I bet many of athletes felt the same way with all the protocols in place to get from A to B. Kind of like being in the military. As for her team mates they’ll only get one chance to win gold — she’s already won and bagged a boat load of cash in the meantime.
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30 Olympic and world golds, and she knew it was going to happen?
 
GazC_MFC said:
Ultimately you don’t know what her mental state is now or what it will be like. How about we take her word for it?
As quek stated, Andy Murray pulled out of singles cos of a niggle, no one batted an eye lid. On your reckoning should he be playing in the doubles?
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This sums it up for me, mental health is still stigmatised and it is ridiculous that in the 21st century this is the case.

The people throwing around flippant remarks should take a look at themselves and ask the question "do I think if somebody really close to me was struggling would they have the faith in me to be able to ask for help?"

This isn't necessarily aimed at anybody on this thread by the way, just people in general.
 
Her training was badly affected she was expected to win too much pressure. She didn't believe she could win so withdrew as didn't want to tarnish her reputation if she lost
 
Most developmental guides suggest that your personality hasn't fully formed until your mid-twenties.

For many professional sports people they will have known nothing but that discipline for well over 15 years by that point: 60% of their life.

It will consume you in every way and has corralled all your thinking: those of us with regular lives where we balance a job and a family can't get into that mindset.

When you then consider the national training systems in some countries, some human athletes are treated with no more dignity than the horses ridden around in dressage. They won't have football money to retire on, haven't had typical formative years and I feel sorry for a lot of them.
 
Marvanelli said:
I see Piers Morgan is about to publish a damning column about her decision....there's a shock.
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Weird, wonder why he is attacking a 4 foot 11 black girl for being a 'joke', yet he supported 6 foot 8 white Tyson Fury with his mental health battles without putting forward a single negative about him. He even conducted an interview with Tyson Fury and supported him with his claims of racism toward white travellers, but Meghan Markle is just a spoilt woke brat for calling racism out,

The complete different approach to these situations from Morgan tells you more about his bully behaviour, his misogyny and his racism than about the mental health of these people.
 
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