Not competing/mental health

ugo.santalucia

Probably going against the grain... when everybody is saying how brave Simone Biles is to withdraw and admit her mental health problems.
To me it seems the easy way out and of course disrespectful to other US athletes who missed out on a chance to compete at the Olympics.

Obviously I don't know what's going on, but I would rather see an athlete compete sub par, like Dina Asher did, than seeing an athlete refusing to compete.

Maybe it's just me, but it all sounds like poor attitude... right, now you can shred me to pieces

focuszing723

“But at the end of the day it’s like, we want to walk out of here, not be dragged out here on a stretcher,” she told reporters, per Slate. “I just don’t trust myself as much as I used to. And I don’t know if it’s age — I’m a little bit more nervous when I do gymnastics. I feel like I’m also not having as much fun, and I know that.”

As a result, Biles made the decision to withdraw and let her teammates take charge of the team event.

"I felt like it would be better to take a back seat," Biles said. "I didn’t want to risk the team a medal because they worked way too hard for my screw-ups."

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/athletics/news/simone-biles-olympics-out-gymnastics/u1t6wvip040k1bkcxvjwgz5tk

What annoys me is when people start a thread on something without bothering to do just a tiny bit of research themselves to kick things off, it's just bloody lazy.

TheBigBean

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

Ben6899

ugo.santalucia said:

Probably going against the grain... when everybody is saying how brave Simone Biles is to withdraw and admit her mental health problems.
To me it seems the easy way out and of course disrespectful to other US athletes who missed out on a chance to compete at the Olympics.

Obviously I don't know what's going on, but I would rather see an athlete compete sub par, like Dina Asher did, than seeing an athlete refusing to compete.

Maybe it's just me, but it all sounds like poor attitude... right, now you can shred me to pieces

I think it’s just you, Ugo, on this one. And maybe a few of this parish with whom you probably don’t want to share an opinion.

First.Aspect

For my degree, 3 years hard work came down to 8 exams in 4 days. Nothing was modular like it is now. I thought that was a fair amount of pressure to deliver.

4 years and 45 seconds?

I don't know how they do it.

morstar

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

masjer

Surely to be a medallist, you've got to be strong both physically and mentally. If you can't handle the pressure mentally, you aren't the world's best.
It certainly seems on trend to have `mental issues` at the mo.

First.Aspect

You lot have no idea.

rick_chasey

I guess mental stuff is part of competing right?

I sort of get the bravery chat but then she is Simone Biles - if anyone has a platform to be honest about mental health after being an all time great athlete it’s her.

Going public about out her abuse earlier in her life was presumably much harder.

morstar

masjer said:

Surely to be a medallist, you've got to be strong both physically and mentally. If you can't handle the pressure mentally, you aren't the world's best.
It certainly seems on trend to have `mental issues` at the mo.

I think she has openly stated she is not in a position to compete at the highest level.
She hasn’t said give me a medal anyway.

I do agree it is very common at present. I suspect it has always been there but not acknowledged. The debate should be about how society deals with this. Some will say tough it out, other opinions will differ. Lives are definitely more scrutinised in this day and age.

Pross

masjer said:

Surely to be a medallist, you've got to be strong both physically and mentally. If you can't handle the pressure mentally, you aren't the world's best.
It certainly seems on trend to have `mental issues` at the mo.

Yes, I can't imagine she has been through anything that might have led to her having 'mental issues' as you put it! 🙄

Edited to add I think she has enough medals to prove she's the world's best. I guess you're the sort who would have given a White feather to those suffering "shell shock" too?

TheBigBean

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

Pross

TheBigBean said:

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

Bit more dangerous though.

elbowloh

She's won everything there is to win up till now already, if she's not feeling right to compete at the top level, then I think she has the right to say so and pull out.

I'm personally not brave or talented enough to do all the vaulting, flipping and tumbling that she does. I'd be liable to break my neck.

masjer

Pross said:

masjer said:

Surely to be a medallist, you've got to be strong both physically and mentally. If you can't handle the pressure mentally, you aren't the world's best.
It certainly seems on trend to have `mental issues` at the mo.

Yes, I can't imagine she as been through anything that might have led to her having 'mental issues' as you put it! 🙄

Edited to add I think she has enough medals to prove she's the world's best. I guess you're the sort who would have given a White feather to those suffering "shell shock" too?

I never mentioned Simone Biles but whoever won the gold medal is the best. She was the best.

veronese68

If she'd sprained something physical so couldn't compete would all these Piers Morgan wannabes be criticising her as much?

pinkbikini

First.Aspect said:

For my degree, 3 years hard work came down to 8 exams in 4 days. Nothing was modular like it is now. I thought that was a fair amount of pressure to deliver.

4 years and 45 seconds?

I don't know how they do it.

That sums it up really well - any doubt and you’re toast. After years of planning and training. And you probably won’t know if you’re struggling until you get close to the start line/floor mat/etc.

I don’t know how they cope at such a young age. The average non- competitive middle-aged person is probably lacking in perspective!

morstar

TheBigBean said:

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

Sorry, wrong word. But yes, it’s the loss of positional awareness with it that makes it dangerous.

Pross

Ben6899 said:

ugo.santalucia said:

Probably going against the grain... when everybody is saying how brave Simone Biles is to withdraw and admit her mental health problems.
To me it seems the easy way out and of course disrespectful to other US athletes who missed out on a chance to compete at the Olympics.

Obviously I don't know what's going on, but I would rather see an athlete compete sub par, like Dina Asher did, than seeing an athlete refusing to compete.

Maybe it's just me, but it all sounds like poor attitude... right, now you can shred me to pieces

I think it’s just you, Ugo, on this one. And maybe a few of this parish with whom you probably don’t want to share an opinion.

I could understand questioning whether there was an issue before she traveled and, if so, whether it would have been better for herself and the team if she hadn't gone and someone else could take the place but the "disrespectful" and "poor attitude" comments are ridiculous.

I couldn't understand Osaka's decision to take part after missing the French Open and Wimbledon given the additional pressure of being a home favourite.

orraloon

elbowloh said:

She's won everything there is to win up till now already, if she's not feeling right to compete at the top level, then I think she has the right to say so and pull out.

I'm personally not brave or talented enough to do all the vaulting, flipping and tumbling that she does. I'd be liable to break my neck.

Have you seen the clip of Charlotte Worthington doing her BMX gold? I sometimes fail to stay upright on a simple rutted track on my graveller, no Danny MacAskill me neither.

webboo

ugo.santalucia said:

Probably going against the grain... when everybody is saying how brave Simone Biles is to withdraw and admit her mental health problems.
To me it seems the easy way out and of course disrespectful to other US athletes who missed out on a chance to compete at the Olympics.

Obviously I don't know what's going on, but I would rather see an athlete compete sub par, like Dina Asher did, than seeing an athlete refusing to compete.

Maybe it's just me, but it all sounds like poor attitude... right, now you can shred me to pieces

As someone who has stated in other threads that you struggle to understand empathy. You are probably the last person who should have started this thread.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that as an educator of young people you need to be looking at attending some sort of self awareness courses as soon as possible.

Pross

As someone who has never been able to live up to the very limited sporting potential I have due to being unable to ignore the voice that says "this is hurting, maybe just take it easier for a bit" I'm not very suited to criticise elite sportspeople.

TheBigBean

Pross said:

TheBigBean said:

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

Bit more dangerous though.

More dangerous than when snooker, golf and darts players get it. She practises with foam pits though, so I don't think it is likely to be that dangerous at the moment.

My point really is that it happens in sport. Some people get over it, some don't. She is most unfortunate to get it at the olympics, so gets high profile attention from people who don't watch much sport.

elbowloh

orraloon said:

elbowloh said:

She's won everything there is to win up till now already, if she's not feeling right to compete at the top level, then I think she has the right to say so and pull out.

I'm personally not brave or talented enough to do all the vaulting, flipping and tumbling that she does. I'd be liable to break my neck.

Have you seen the clip of Charlotte Worthington doing her BMX gold? I sometimes fail to stay upright on a simple rutted track on my graveller, no Danny MacAskill me neither.

Yeah I was watching it live (5 month old in sleep regression meant I'm up between about 12.00 and 4am at the moment).

To have that fall in the first round and lay everything on the line to try it again in your only attempt left was very ballsy.

ugo.santalucia

TheBigBean said:

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

That's different from mental health problems though... it's one or the other, or the media have made up the mental health story.

Anyway, apparently she is now doing the beam...

masjer

Looks like mental health issues have spread to the England footballers too. https://bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58051349
I think some athletes, celebs (hate that word) and even royalty (Meghan/Harry) are confusing normal anxiety and feeling a bit low with genuine mental health issues and are trading on it.
All the above suffer from 1st world problems, that are endemic to the rich and famous.

elbowloh

masjer said:

Looks like mental health issues have spread to the England footballers too. https://bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58051349
I think some athletes, celebs (hate that word) and even royalty (Meghan/Harry) are confusing normal anxiety and feeling a bit low with genuine mental health issues and are trading on it.
All the above suffer from 1st world problems, that are endemic to the rich and famous.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/58033393
Ben Stokes has also stopped all cricket for his mental wellbeing.

ugo.santalucia

Maybe I don't understand the definition of mental health issues... but if you have balance issues it looks like a physical issue to me... and if that's the case, then of course you can't compete...

TheBigBean

ugo.santalucia said:

TheBigBean said:

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

That's different from mental health problems though... it's one or the other, or the media have made up the mental health story.

Anyway, apparently she is now doing the beam...

It doesn't really matter though does it? She could have a muscle injury, she could have the yips, she could have some other mental health problem. All of which might prevent her from competing.

Really, I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

ugo.santalucia

TheBigBean said:

ugo.santalucia said:

TheBigBean said:

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

That's different from mental health problems though... it's one or the other, or the media have made up the mental health story.

Anyway, apparently she is now doing the beam...

It doesn't really matter though does it? She could have a muscle injury, she could have the yips, she could have some other mental health problem. All of which might prevent her from competing.

Really, I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

The point I am trying to make is that if there is no physical reason and it's not dangerous to compete and it's simply a case of anxiety and a feeling of not being able to perform at her standards... then she is stealing someone else's spot and she should put her big pants on and compete...

Which apparently she now will

elbowloh

ugo.santalucia said:

TheBigBean said:

ugo.santalucia said:

TheBigBean said:

morstar said:

TheBigBean said:

I thought she had the yips. Not a lot of point in competing in that case.

She referred to the twirlies which seems similar to the yips but much worse. It’s actually a loss of positional awareness.

She called in twisties which is the gynastic equivalent of yips.

That's different from mental health problems though... it's one or the other, or the media have made up the mental health story.

Anyway, apparently she is now doing the beam...

It doesn't really matter though does it? She could have a muscle injury, she could have the yips, she could have some other mental health problem. All of which might prevent her from competing.

Really, I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

The point I am trying to make is that if there is no physical reason and it's not dangerous to compete and it's simply a case of anxiety and a feeling of not being able to perform at her standards... then she is stealing someone else's spot and she should put her big pants on and compete...

Which apparently she now will

How is she stealing anyone else's spot?