You can’t be the greatest of all time (GOAT) if you leave your team during an Olympic Gold Medal competition. If she had mental issues she should have let other athletes join the Olympic team instead of her. She took up a valuable spot on the team, the coaches gave her time when it could have gone to others and then she withdrew leaving them.
She knew she had problems beforehand and yet put GOAT on her uniform and then choked and bailed. No GOAT would have done that! Putting GOAT on your uniform just sets you up for high pressure. It’s stupid.
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She isn’t the GOAT. GOATs don’t walk out of the biggest event and leave their team to pick up the pieces. She is the NOPE this year.
Kerri Strug vaulting with a broken leg to take home gold for her team is true Olympic determination and grit.
GOATs don’t leave their team at an Olympics Gold Medal round. That’s not greatness. That’s also what she will be remembered for in the future.
She was unprepared, got stunned by her lack of capability at the games and the extreme compilation provided by the others there and then used a smokescreen to get out and try and gain sympathy.
She may have been honest about not being able to get her act together. But that doesn't make her brave. She may have bowed out when she realized she couldn't pull through. But that doesn't make her a hero. That just makes her an honest failure.
A hero is someone who doesn't give up. Who does the incredible to uplift those who cannot uplift themselves. Simone did none of that. She only looked out for herself when she realized she couldn't finish what she started.
A hero would be any firewoman at 9/11 who pulled someone from rubble, only for herself to then get crushed.
Nor is Simone brave. She's avoiding a risk, not taking one. To stand up for her own fears and insecurities, not to stand up for some matter of principle that is unpopular.
Brave is Kate Shemirani, whom the Twitter ghouls want to turn into the next Sophie Scholl.
I don't fault her for admitting weakness. Unfortunate that it hit an Olympic athlete - who is supposed to be trained specifically to avoid that. I do fault her for caring more about her Twitter feed than her performance on the world stage.
I reserve my bile for those who wish to use the guise of defending her as a pretext for raping the dictionary.
As for the writing "GOAT" on her own uniform: She, like all the other morons on Twitter / Netflix, love to spew blasphemies to sound important; but always plagiarize each other when doing so, never once presenting an original argument, nor one that hasn't already been debunked a million times. And in advance of correction, they say dumb things like "excuse me while I eat my breakfast and contemplate my job choices." Worthless.
Matthew 23:12 predicted this crowd to a T! If only they had a little more respect for that book; they'd realize it was trying to warn them about their own attitudes! Instead, by living to flip the bird at that book, they keep on proving its points in the end! Yet, the Tide eaters never learn.
Whether someone is considered the GOAT in any sport is a matter of opinion but she is the most decorated American gymnast of all-time. These games in Tokyo don’t diminish those past achievements. Her abilities are spectacular. That being said, there were apparently signs of this mental block before the games, so it’s a legitimate question to ask whether she should have stepped down and given another gymnast the opportunity. In hindsight, yes she should have but, in the end, sports is just a form of entertainment. It’s not really that important. Life goes on.
She’s totally choked. It sounds like she has personal problems she should’ve dealt with before joining the Olympics Team. You can’t bail out on America like this and expect sympathy from the people.
I agree but many people support her and say "it is ok not to be ok" Also many people support her beauase they say people do nto understand what mental illness is and people should nto judge her that I what I have read all over
@kitty71 She knew she had a problem before she landed. She should have never joined the team and taken a slot from someone else that could do it. Unless all this is just an excuse for an athlete who did great in the past, then slowed down and had her head on Twitter instead of the competition and then choked. She may have been fearful of realizing that she was unprepared and needed to get out of there before she flubbed in the games. She may be using all of this as a smokescreen which is horrible.
Possible you are right, but there is no proof she was not unprepared, people will stick to her theory that she is suffering from mental illness noone will believe that she bailed out due to she was not ready
@kitty71 Now she claims it was because she gets dizzy not mental issues. She knew beforehand that she would have major trouble and she took a slot on the team from someone who was left home to watch it in TV.
Pulling out may have been the reasonable thing to do.
however, elite athletes aren't admired for being reasonable. They aren't just admired for being born with more talent either. They're admired for pushing through obsessively, for showing people extremes of human capability.
the level of devotion required to win Olympic medals is a little bit unhealthy but that's what it takes to hit the absolute limits of human capability.
any number of young gymnasts have the aptitude to be olympians, they lack the deranged obsession and ability to overcome anything to achieve that goal.
I don't know exactly what happened here and may never. Her withdrawal may have been the right idea. It's not just "choking" it's perhaps falling back to being normal.
maybe she's already done enough to be considered a GOAT. But if she withdrew over anxiety and having the twisties, that might be right but doesn't mean it won't tarnish her status as a "GOAT" because a big part of being goat is ability to handle extreme pressure.
Let's just put the word play aside for a minute and look at what we know or can reasonably assume.
Claim that someone "has stressed out". Not an excuse. Every Olympian has the stress of not having their family present at the Games, being homesick, different routine, etc. So let's put that one aside.
Spacial disorientation. THAT is what happened. When other Olympian gymnasts saw slow-mo's of Biles' vaults, they saw her head going in one direction and her body in another, a Gymnastics 101 faux pas. Only her unusually high strength allowed her to even land on her feet and not her rump.
Biles' only mistake was saying it was a "mental" problem rather than a "physiological" one. Maybe she didn't figure the average person could understand the technicalities of the phenomenon. I never could turn a somersault. I have to be careful when I consider riding a roller coaster. I can't swim underwater. All due to middle ear problems. ButI don't call it a mental problem when I know it is a physical one.
Biles had the third worst score out of everyone for her routine. Staying in the US team events with scores like that would have pulled the team average down and out of "the money". While her typical presence would have landed the US with a gold, by being courageous enough to bow out, she at least gave her team a chance at medals. The team rose to the occasion and took a silver. Congrats to all!So while maybe not a goat this time around, Biles certainly was not a choke.
I can see where both sides are coming from but I definitely can’t say she’s the GOAT.
If what you say is true and her coaches gave her plenty of time for someone else to take her spot then I think she should have settled for that. Japan has reasons for not allowing methamphetamines and we can agree or disagree but it is the current law of the land and right now the only option seems to be going along with it.
I don’t think this has anything to do with a direct affront to her or her skill. And honestly I don't know why this even blew up so much. Probably because nowadays people seem to believe we have to devote so much more attention to what women are doing 🤷♂️
But if she was denied an exemption and was very sure that she would not have been able to perform well without her medication then she should have given that role to someone else, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. If she just walked out to make a statement then this is showing bad sportsmanship and is representing our country poorly.
Maybe it’s unfair for her to compete without her medication but causing a political revolution for that moment is a poor use of that time I think and I don’t believe anyone wants to personally attack her or call her unskilled.
Simone Biles is a spectacular athlete, and has a lot of medals to prove it, but putting GOAT on her jacket is a boasting I don’t like. It also doesn’t help that the media has been building her up for years. If she were part of the team going to the Olympics, she should have been part of the team 100%. The Olympics isn’t just about who’s the strongest or fastest, it’s also about who has the heart and courage.
Scott Hamilton faced a lot of pressure in the 1984 Olympics, and the pressure caused his performance to not be the best, but he hung in there and still managed to win. Same thing with Nancy Kerrigan. She was targeted, assaulted, got a busted knee, but still went to the Olympics and won a silver medal. She came close to winning the gold.
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The term GOAT seems to be thrown around quite a lot lately. Here is the thing. She was chosen to a team she could have said at any point she wasn't feeling well. She waited until the team competition started and blew her first routine. She only then quit because it looked like she wasn't going to be the person she was 4 years ago that dominated everything.
Now as far as GOAT goes. She competed in 1 Olympics prior to now and dominated. That is really good and proves she is or was a great athlete. But a GOAT needs to establish a list of accomplishments over time. Its why athletes like Bo Jackson who was an all star in two sports can be remembered as an amazing athlete but not the greatest of all time.
Has almost 20 gold medals so yes it puts her up there along with more to come given her age.
Can we just say how everyone preaches mental health awareness until someone actually does something for their mental fucking health, blows my mind how dumb people are
Instead we have a silver medal, an elite level athlete who again has almost 20 gold medals and in 4 years will compete alongside a new crop of gymnasts
It’s super weird to act like her career is over after this, especially since she’s pretty easily the most successful gymnast in USA history. Are you the type of person who thinks that Lebron should retire every year he doesn’t win the title? Or do you only apply this logic to biles?
@thotmas97 she is getting too old for another Olympics. And she was getting too unstable for this one. Perhaps she can shine outside of team events this year. That would be good.
@thotmas97 I don’t watch this year. I have in the past. I used to watch as much as I could. The ratings are down by 49% I read, from Rio, so this seems the norm now.
She's a very good athlete who choked in this instance. It's interesting to see how incapable people seem to be at discerning the difference between an individual's overall assessment (she's clearly excellent) and her assessment in a particular instance (she very clearly failed to meet the be bar, let down herself, and let down her team).
If the story today is about her performance at this Olympics, it's a clear fail. Want to see a gymnast who overcame her difficult shit to step up for the team and win? Check out what Kerri Strug (sp) did in the 1996 Olympics. Broke her fucking ankle on a vault, got back up went to the line, ran, vaulted and STUCK the landing on her broken ankle, held her leg up like the goddamned Karate Kid as she spun around for the crowd and the judges and brought home a gold.
Okay, obviously a lot of you don't understand how hard it is to get where she's gotten. She worked her way up through quite literally millions of people and with talent, training, dedication and skill, she has gotten where she has and she deserves it just as much as anyone else. It's the bloody Olympics and to make it there, you have to be the best of the best. You don't know what she's going through, what's happened in her life and the finer details of why she's pulled out so sorry, but you can't comment.
She should have stayed home with her issues. Someone who would have appreciated that slot on the team could have gone to the Olympics but she took their spot and threw it away. She should have stayed home.
She's immensely talented, but I have to admit I did lose some respect for her over this. I feel being asked to compete at the Olympics is a huge honor, and you should push yourself and power through your personal drama. You can fall apart later. Yes, mental health is important, but there's a huge problem with girls giving up in our culture. Learning persistence is a hugely valuable life skill.
Eh, she dealt with sexual abuse and is basically the most successful in her discipline. It is abundantly clear she has persevered through a lot of shit.
@tartaarsaus doesn't matter. Even if someone has to walk through and back hell, no one cares about that in real life. How many companies or organizations care if their employees have has serious trauma? As long as it doesn't mess up their bottomline, no one cares. It's an afterthought. It can be good stories after the event.
Right now, she let her team and nation down giving up. If she had that many demons to deal with, she should have not gone in the first place. She basically gave up at the moment of truth. All her hardwork, and the time and energy of others wasted on all this.
You’re barking up the wrong tree here. The original poster of this opinion says women need more rolemodels that show perseverance. Simone Biles has clearly shown that.
With respect to the other stuff, knowing her own limits is a benefit to the team and their performance on the Olympics. She reported feeling “twisties”, which is where you are completely disoriented in the air. Well, that is incredibly risky and creates crap performance. At that point, you’re way better off putting someone who can perform optimally than risking someone.
And woth respect to “giving up at the moment of truth”, she was basically the most successful in her discipline years before these Olympics. These do not detract anything from her performance
@tartaarsaus it doesn't matter when they give up. I still contend that the "Twisties" was occuring long before she showed up for her final games...
It's easy to understand if someone hurts themselves at the games. When older athletes hurt themselves, it begs the question why did they not look at pretty substantial evidence that Olympic trial games are best for Teens and young adults. I now Simone is not old as people go, but for a gymnast, she is up there for an Olympiad. This is her fourth show. That's pushing it. And then everyone around her should have seen the issues that were popping up I bet years ago. It's just no one wants to level with people, and try to limit them.
When in reality she may have has her time long ago. As had virtually all the athletes before her. Some sports are not that demanding and athletes can go into their 30's, even 40's for some competitions. Not Gymnastics. Simone all ready proved that one, and made a case about the long-term effect of trauma and PTSD on a person's ability, especially on the extreme.
And it might sound like I am bashing Simone, but I am actually bashing all those around here for not being realistic and seeing what would have been flags early on to help her, than put her back into the games.
This would have been abundantly clear had this been any other situation. Everyone doesn't want to hurt other's feelings, and when people lose that control, bad things happen. Say when people are going through rough times. or abusing substances. It's rare that anyone levels with people around them because they don't want to hurt their feelings.
@Little_Princesa Here's a study I found interesting. At a company that does technical interview prep, men were outperforming women, and they suspected it was because the interviewers were being sexist against female candidates. What they ended up discovering is that if anything, the interviewers were biased in favor of women, but they also discovered men and women with the same amount of experience performed about the same. So why were men outperforming women? Women were _dropping out_ at seven times the rate men were, so there were a much higher percentage of women with low experience. The problem wasn't sexism, it was women quitting where men stuck it out.
From what I understand she had vertigo so I don’t think she choked or as a Goat. She’s clearly very talented but if you’re up in the air and you have vertigo you probably shouldn’t be up in the air because that becomes incredibly dangerous I think her excuse of mental health issues was stupid she needed to say it was she was getting dizzy and mid air which would be perfectly acceptable because we don’t want her to fall on her head and die
She was perfectly athletically qualified when she tried out she’s also probably the best gymnast currently living. It seems like this was a one time medical condition but you never know it’s going to be reoccurring and then cases like this you don’t want somebody to literally break their head open
As a college athlete, i can say i completely understand and think if she is unable to help her team, or feel she would hurt her team, sitting out is the unselfish move.
Pretending to know what she was going through doesn't prove anything.
I love all these pretend ass people running around acting like playing a sport at amateur level or rec level makes them an expert in sports
@thotmas97 exactly. And she shouldn’t have gone or would have controlled her fear. Her arrogance had her put GOAT on her uniform and her arrogance had her go when she shouldn’t have gone. She should put NOPE on her uniform now.
While you pretend to claim you understand and know while sittin on your ass living through her ups and downs.
She is actually living them just like all real athletes instead of pretend athletes.
We ain't mules to ride till we become useless and then toss aside.
She is a human who can have a mental breakdown just like anyone.
But ya know you not understanding the trials of true athletes you could never understand what a real athlete has to endure so there is no reason to continue this conversation.
The mental stress i dealt with going from hs to college was hard enough, let alone going to the biggest event in the world.
But keep living through her life judging her actions instead of living your own life, cuhh
@Still-alive So have to react to each comment? She said that was all she said so I left it there. And you morons think that shut it down? “That’s all I’m gonna say” is just throwing a drive by comment and leaving quickly… kind of a Simone like move actually.
and the only one Nobady ever succed to make a perfect 10 afther all 5 equipment. She win the gold medal (10+10+10+10+10)/5=10. <nobady had ever succed this and now is imposible because the sistem had changed.
She successfully performed a move that has never been done by anyone man or woman since the inception of the centuries old sport...
She's the goat lmao and I don't even give af. There's just no question. Sure you can split it from female goat and make goat. Kohei Uchimura in my opinion is the best All Arounder. But as far as women she is by far the best.
Doesn't mean she's had the most exciting or best moments. Basketball example would be something like Tracy McGrady 13 points in 35 seconds to win the game against the spurs. Tmac was not the goat but it's hard to find a more exciting moment than that in sports history.
Kobe 80+ point game was exciting but not as exciting in my opinion. But there's a stronger argument to be made for Kobe over Mcgrady. Is Kobe Bryant not the shit because he hasn't had a comeback like TMac?
GOATs don’t leave their team at an Olympics Gold Medal round. That’s not greatness. That’s also what she will be remembered for. She was unprepared, got stunned by her lack of capability and the extreme compilation provided by the others there and then used a smokescreen to get out and use sympathy.
"GOATs don't..." are you the goat? Do you personally define it? Is your niche criteria what stands above all or is there an objective standard such as Dominance in a sport that is unquestionable?
Because I'm not in the game of subjective measures that fall on opinions more than anything else
What a bunch of nonsense to deflect from what many see. She is no goat even though she self proclaimed. She choked on her team in a clutch moment, that’s what happened. And now she changed her excuse to that she gets dizzy in the air. What? That just started? No. Someone was left off the team for this crap.
That wasn't a personal jab lol. No need for the defensiveness. I'm just stating it's silly to put such a subjective standard to determine a GOAT.
LeBron James doesn't play defense while Michael Jordan had multiple defensive titles. Is LeBron James out of the conversation now? Or are other factors more relevant?
I am just put off that she gave herself that title. That should be bestowed by fans and teammates. I think it also added a lot of pressure in her that wasn’t good as she was already struggling I would guess before the Olympics. One mishap and the pressure goes to critical. I think someone told her to self claim goat and that person did her wrong. She shouldn’t have come and taken a slot. She should have cheered them on and then she might have been goat.
Being put off by the behavior of backing out makes sense. Maybe even say calling herself th GOAT arrogant is fair. But she didn't self bestow it. Many fans of the sport have called her that years before and other athletes said it years before she ever took it on for herself.
So you can't even make that claim. Again a LeBron example. Is he out of the conversation? Because he himself has called himself the GOAT aswell.
How much consensus is "widely considered the greatest of all time" whenever you Google her name, read articles about her for the past several years or see her name listed in polls all over?
Because there will never be 100% consensus and depending on the pool of people you pick from the percentage of votes changes.
I don’t know. It’s kind of an I’ll know it when I see it thing. There is always someone who is amazing at that level so goat is not something that can last or even be undebatable.
She should had dealt with her personal issue first and not be part of the US Olympic team. I mean if she was dealing with issues before the Olympics, sorry she should had stayed and seek for help, and take this time to recover away from the lights, the stress and tension of being part of an Olympic team. I mean I doubt her mental illness suddenly show up days before her next competition.
That could be another reason, taht she was not prepared enough this time and she used her mental issue as an excuse in order not to be seen like a coward perhaps
mental health has unpredictable outcome. any athlete would try and beat the pressure and mental thoughts. @kitty71 also if she was doing tricks no one else was doing during the events I doubt she would use it an excuse.
I got dizzy at my state meets due to anxiety which i dont get as much it’s a factor and she said her main reason already on TV. she’s even answering questions on instagram on her story saying it’s hard “when your body and mind isn’t in sync due to personal reasons” anyway good day you can have your opinions it’s not like next time people will be booing her lol like you say she’ll be remembered for only that.
@mollyyyy37474 You seem to perpetually excuse her. She shouldn’t be there if she can’t take the pressure. 75 people on this question alone agree with me. And who says I’m watching, lol. No one is watching this year as ratings are down 49% from the last games.
no you just sound crazy she’s not a robot. if your a perfectionist like she is and doing tricks no one else is doing i dont think that’s a sign of her not being physically ready. now being mentally ready is different for athletes and at least trying and fighting her thoughts like any atheletic goat would do is better than not trying at all is better it’s not like it was planned.
@mollyyyy37474 She signed up for this. Doing tricks is literally what she does. She more than volunteered for this, she pushed for this. You have some emotional attachment to her and are defending her when she should never have been there. She must have known she was unfit and yet screwed someone out of a slot in the team. She was extremely selfish.
nope you just sound like a hater lol that’s all & not that clever sorry if she was doing tricks which is exactly what she’s known for good job lol, new tricks keep in mind that no one else was doing i doubt that would be considered unfit and something she obviously trained for. good day sir exit time i’ll be cheering for her and i know millions of other will and won’t be booing her because that’s definitely not what she’ll be the only thing she’s remembered for lolll you troll.
It's a tragic deal. It's sad that this athlete feel from her trauma. But that's not the fault of her team or country. If she had this level of demons, why was she allowed to attend?
Because everyone wanted to send what they thought was the best, but I surprised no one saw issues a brewing. These types of breakdowns don't just happen out of the blue?
See, there are likey other girls who lost their seat because of this. Dreams lost not only on Simone, but others as well who were likey up to the challenge.
This is like taking a race car to the race you know that has structure damage that will fall apart if stressed. Who takes chances like this? How many race car teams become heros because they opted to race, but decided not to last minute because they didn't want to chance it? This is fundamentally why competitive sports is all about.
You don’t walk away like that traveling all those miles just to quit. Rven Michael Phelps pushed on through his mental issues. To me I’ll stick to Mary Lou Retton she had the eye of the tiger and beat out a high competition Russian gymnast and won the Gold medal 🥇
She got too cocky. Probably was partying way too much and focused on being a celebrity instead of focusing on her skills. Then she quit like a snowflake in the summer. She should've been kicked off the team when she said her life isn't all about medals/gymnastics. When you are representing your country on the world stage that's not the time to talk like that.
Leave her alone! Simone did the right thing as an athlete I know. If you are dragging down your teams score you have to back down. Plus gymnastics is a sport where if you are not at 100% you can seriously injure yourself. Don’t bring up the Kerri Strug thing because you can clearly see she is in pain and crying after her second vault. These girls are trained athletes who know when to back down and as someone who was in Simones place where I had to decide whether to back out and let my team handle it. I know she made the right choice.
She’s neither right now. She already proved herself in her increíble career. She’s executed gymnastic moves that have never even been seen before.
But she has been recently suffering from “aerial disorientation” which is a very real and dangerous phenomenon that’s impacts pilots, skydivers, etc. She could screw up a movement and land her neck.
So I understand and repeat her decision. But she is NOT a heroine. No. You are not brave for quitting. She’s not a coward or a villain either. She’s just a responsible adult who made an adult decision. Nothing better nothing worse.
SHE WAS ASSUALTED BY SOMEONE SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TRUST. AND SHE STILL TRIED TO COMPETE. EVEN AFTER THAT HAPPENED. SHE HAD EVERY RIGHT, SHE WAS DOING WHAT WAS BEST FOR HER. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE FRIGGIN BETRAYED LIKE THAT BY SOMEONE WHO YOU SHOULD BE SAFE WITH, DO YOU? ITS DAMAGING IN SO MANY WAYS.
Then she shouldn’t have competed and taken a spot in the Olympics team that others would have killed for. Someone was left home in the US but could have been in that amazing team. She took that.
IMHO, Miss Biles disgraced what it means to be an Olympian, overcome all obstacles and do the best you can for your country and your team. Citing mental health as an excuse meaning she had lost her competitive edge and desire to be the best for her country and her team.
She's the GOAT who choked. Amazing athlete but I think she fucked up and will regret this for the rest of her life. I don't think it's "courageous" or "brave". This was a coward's move, but I honestly feel bad for her. All that being said I still very much respect her and her talent.
She literally pulled a LeBron James. He was getting worked over, so claimed injury and took off, abandoning his team. by the way, he also called himself the GOAT. Birds of a feather flock together I guess. Sure is strange she was fine with all the shit from her past all these years, but now suddenly, she can't handle it?
by the way, I fully support people looking after their mental health, I'm just not buying her story, and I'm not required to.
This is an experienced gymnast for whom the Olympics is everything, so I don’t think she would have stepped away unless she felt it were really necessary.
If she had retired prior to this Olympics, no one would have said she was anything other than a great gymnast. Her accomplishments speak for themselves.
@Jersey2 Though I agree Biles is something of an embarrassment try to research history before you come across as an idiot.
Kerri Strug broke her leg landing that position. She would NOT have been running on a broken leg. You can literally hear the snap/crunch when she lands.
did the hard thing, right thing, to step aside. there's a reason they have alternates. comparing being off mentally and a physical wound is not the same. and the mental may actually be digestive, hormonal, or emotional, they are related. hopefully she comes back stronger.
Look, she's just a kid that got a bit of fame a bit too early in her career. She's not the first athlete/sportsperson to end up a bit loose in the head.
Add to that she was one of the many sex abuse victims of USA team doctor Larry - it's a tough time for anyone to go through.
I think the question is too simplistic , now obviously she had some issues and maybe these issues should have been picked up sooner , and assisted though..
However , I take your point to be GOAL time , you are going to have to compete , thats part of the Gig. You can't be Jack Nicklaus if you dont play the majors :) .
After initially reading the question I was not fully up with the story , I have since watched a couple of summaries , in change of my answer above.. THIS GIRL IS AN UTTER EGO MANIAC.. I change my answer to CHOKED , CHOKED , CHOKED , and use of the term GOAT ! Man , she is not. Id kick her out for good and tell her to grow up , and SHUT UP ! They have been wayyyyy too soft with this b%tch , horrendous stuff.
1) Why'd you put GOAT if you didn't believe it? Then you put your argument in the OP as an edit, tainting the results. 2) Your counter argument never vaulted again, and wasn't assaulted. What kind of sick fuck tells any athlete "I don't care if your career is over, do it for our entertainment.". Y'all are like the people who wanted Gollata to keep fighting Tyson, in 10 years you'll all look stupid. 3) All the non-athletes need to STFU. The Olympics is not a representation of you, it's not even about each nation. It's about the world coming together in a friendly competition, and showing the world a great athlete can come from anywhere. You brats are so entitled that you can't even stop yourselves from shitting on a rape victim.
Kerri Strug never competed in gymnastics again after that vault and has publicly come out saying she felt forced into doing it and she fully supports Simone Biles decision. Don't use a manipulated and abused 14 y/o as your example for why athletes should be expected to hurt themselves for our entertainment.
She wasn’t 14, she was 18. He first Olympics was 14 in Barcelona her second was 18 in Atlanta in 1996… you know, before you were even born. Many retire around that time she went in to college and a normal life. That vault made her LEGENDARY! She showed greatness!
You didn’t experience the greatness of that moment. It was so memorable we all know her name 25 years later. I also read she said was never forced. But either way, I bet you she would never take it back. Her daughters name is Alana which is a lot like Atlanta, I don’t think think it’s a coincidence.
you've said things that aren't true and accused me of saying things that aren't true. If you don't want to see proof of that I don't really know what else you want
I ran during high school and the pressure on athletes is crazy we may hide it but it sucks and I stand for her especially because of what she went through.. she’s was doing tricks that no other could do so I don’t even think she needs to prove herself or explain herself there’s always next time.
I somewhat agree but pressure also has it’s “bad” outcomes. Billions know her secret so this is a different type of pressure. as an athlete there may be pressure but the sport has to be fun & she said it doesn’t feel as fun for her at the moment. Me being a past runner at state meets experienced seeing nervous activity from the best aka the PRs, to the point where they could only do some much and backed out of the remaining events. mental health isn’t a joke we’re human.
She should have pulled out three years ago instead of in the middle of a gold medal round with her team. I also question if all this is a smokescreen for an unprepared athlete.
mental health is unpredictable, anyone would rather try at least & fight the pressure & mental thoughts. she went as far as she could & that’s better than nothing , she most likely was hoping her mental health wouldn’t interfere with anything with her performance just like any athlete who’s going through things. I know she’s sad since she’s known for being a perfectionist & also her team stands for her & understands , posting countless posts for her.
When y'all are able to get to that level of competition at the age of 24, had sexual abuse by your team doctor, pushed yourself to be the best in the world, and subjected to incredible pressure, let me know. She doesn't owe a damn thing to anyone, least of all you. Her teammates agreed with her departure and her reasons.
I would have taken up a spot in the team from someone who was fit enough to complete. Those slots are cherished and someone had to sit out because of her taking it and then disregarding it. Her teammates are being supportive even though she walked in them in the middle of the competition and left someone else to come in cold and get silver.
I don't buy into the trope that one is "brave" for doing something widely considered trivial. So long as I'm laughed out of relationships, jobs, and public for showing any measure of sadness or struggle, you'll find no sympathy from me.
She was doing stunts that no one was doing did y’all even watch it. i doubt that’s it. having the whole world watch her and know her secret about being sexual abused is a different type of pressure.
no, she most likely feels more pressured since everyone knows her secret & has to do well with everyone watching her & there’s not even that many people there to cheer her on. also there’s rules in the olympics you can’t just fill in someone. athletes try and see how far we can go no matter what we’re going through. I’ve ran at state meets & had team mates fant & etc because of pressure & some even hitting themselves, because they “gave up” later on during the meet while holding Personal records for each event they ran.
Let her be, maybe it was be something that she wasn't able to cope with. Weather it was that or she choked, I don't stand by her. It just seemed more like a publicity stunt to me and we are just adding fule to it. Let her be if all she wants is peace kf mind.
She never should have gone and taken the position in the team from someone who was left at home to watch it in TV. Now it’s a physical thing she says, she gets dizzy in the air. She knew.
She's still an amazing athlete and made the right choice in protecting her mental health but... She chocked... by having GOAT on her uniform she put a lot of pressure on herself to live up to those expectations. Which she has lived up to because she is highly skilled but it just got too real for her because america expects so much of her and hold her to such a high standard
@Jersey2 you couldn't do what this women has done in a million years. So continue to talk your shit from the couch bc you'll never amount to Simone. You'll forever be watching the Olympics from a couch 🥔.
She is on the largest sports stage. She does owe her teammates and the US. She owes her teammates 100% for the team. She is more about her. She owes America her best efforts as she is representing the US. She can sit the fuck home and not go in the first place if she is so scrambled in the head and let others step up and win for the team and the US. Now since you don’t care, sit down.
@Jersey2 - what Ellie-V said was a little too hard to comprehend? Athletes, all in all, contribute nothing to society except entertainment for simple-minded (even boring) people.
She was friggin molested by the team doctor you sexist pig. Don't forken lie about her. All the other girls who were molested by that guy also dropped out. But she stayed in the longest. So shut the hell up because you have no forking idea what that's like. www.washingtonpost.com/.../
YOU and all the other DISGUSTING ARRAGONT SEXIST PIGS should be ashamed of yourselves. You all OWE her an apology and then some. You don't know what it's like.
@MoonStalker And now she has changed her story. It’s not about the doctor, now it’s about getting dizzy. She should never have come to these Olympics as she took the place of someone who would have been thrilled to be there but got left at home to watch in TV. Disheartening.
That, or I voted A just be a contrarian dick today. Like I said, I don't care about any of this. Didn't even know people still watched the damn Olympics.
It's okay that people have opinions, but the ones that do haven't walked 10% of her in any field.
Sorry, just because someone did it with a broken leg doesn't mean everyone has to.
You know why? Because you don't know how severe a person's struggle is or the details of it. She's a world class athlete, who knows what the details of her trouble was?
She achieved more than most I feel for her she seems to have had more to deal with than a lot of her critics and all in the public eye she has my every sympathy and I wish her well
If she stays out of all competition due to her mental issues, then I have no problem. But if she competes for individual medals and just walked out on the team but goes for individual competition, she's garbage.
I have already started to hear things about her not being allowed to take her prescribed medicine for a mental issue she's dealt with all her life. I can definitely see where that would mess her up. This is why I am going to wait for facts. My inclination is to criticize, but I think it's important to get as much context as possible and deal in facts and evidence. I don't want to be like the people I criticize because they rush to judgement without all the facts. What will convince me this was a bail out on her team, is if she competes in the individual medal rounds. That will make it hard for me to then believe her story.
I am just saying, lets hear the facts first before we judge or we're going to be the ones who look pathetic.
She changed her issue to a physical problem of getting dizzy in the air, the Twisties. She probably knew and took a spot in the team leaving someone behind.
Now I think she's a selfish piece of shit. That's all the evidence I needed. She can perform for her personal medals, but can't help the team, I believe her problems are selfishness. Of course, the whacked out media tries to paint her a "stunning and brave". If she didn't want to be there and do all the competition, she should have opened a space up for another athlete who wants to be there and compete. And I found out that the medicine deprivation was complete B. S. I got no use for her or people like her.
I don't give a damn what anyone says, she's an amazing athlete, I hope she's feeling better, and I have no negative feelings for her actions. She felt like she'd bring the team down if she stayed, so she left. I feel bad for her, media is covering her 24/7 and it's way too much pressure for a person. She's human.
In past Olympics athletes have been kept in a private cabin away from media and certainly not on Twitter. She should have done that and not have added to her pressure by self proclaiming goat on her uniform before the Olympics.
She gave way in face of pressure due to expectations. Goes down as choke in my book.
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Anonymous
(25-29)
+1 y
She let down a whole nation, that's just being weak. Feel bad for Americans and her teammates who were looking forward to her.
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Anonymous
(25-29)
+1 y
I love Simone. I don't give a fuck what anyone says, she is the GOAT because she knows what is most important: herself. Strug got a medal sure, but she also ruined her career. The team already had won. It was STUPID for her to continue. That "determination and grit" bullshit ruined her fucking life.
She is in the world stage for all to see and have an opinion. Many feel as I do. She took a spot on the team and some worthy athlete was left at home that could have been there with the years of training and coaching to her gold. She took that from her. She was unstable, sucked and bailed.
I am empathetic to the girl that was left off the team because another girl took a spot knowing she was unfit to compete. And if you haven’t heard, she is no longer claiming it was a mental issue. That didn’t work well so now it is that she gets the “twisties”, basically dizzy in the air. She must have known this before going and THAT is selfish.
But what we don't know, maybe her parents pushed her like parents of child stars do.. Maybe they broke her in their attempt to live their own hopes and dreams through her. Maybe her coach did too? Maybe her coach molested her. Maybe she's making excuses (and getting caught in lies) because she can't say any of those things without making it worse.
We just don't know the real story. I for one don't like filling in the blanks with assumptions.
If she couldn’t compete at the level required for the Olympics then she should have stayed home and let another girl have that experience. Now it’s just a mess.
She's the goat she beat all the other American girls. To get here your physical and mental health is more important than a gold medal and being on a cereal box.
Only you know you. If she felt she wasn't on 100% then don't do it. Nobody wants half ass work.
Again you don't own her. Isn't she the most decorated. Meaning she won the most. Why wouldn't her loser teammate pick up the slack? They could have won without her but they didn't. Simple as that. You should be criticizing their real performance
Lol, you…. Anyway, she blew the first event and hurt them and then flew out of there. Another gymnast who had to come in cold for her and they still produced silver. Had they had their fourth teammate two years ago, with all that training and coaching time, they would have gotten gold as they have in the past. Three girls can’t make up for one that’s fallen apart at that level of competition. She was obviously weak of mind and hurt the team by being there to begin with.
They only got silver they should've gotten gold. But they were weak loser Coming in cold not a excuse you knew you were the replacement. Stay ready Instead, you relied on one person. SAD
Lol, no one relied on her. As a matter of fact she is unreliable from this day forward. You are just bitter for some reason, I am guessing you are trying to protect her because she is black. She should never have been there and certainly not with calling herself GOAT. She out to put NOPE on her uniform now.
She allowed another to step up to the challenge and opportunity to compete, all while acknowledging her own faults. Each of us know our own bodies better than anyone, even if others think we're being cautious and try to motivate us. Also, are you world class in anything? That is an enormous amount of pressure and I think she partially regrets her decision, but safety first!
She's probably just a diversity hire who thought from her years of living in a Twitter bubble with her fellow mindless zombies that disrespecting our flag would get her medals but she was wrong.
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Anonymous
(36-45)
+1 y
I know she had to take care of her mental health but there has to be a way to take care of your mental health and still compete.
She chose her mental health something that is judged in the black community in general so I stand for that …. that’s important these days. She’ll always be the GOAT though 🤷🏽♀️
She never should have taken a spot on the team away from someone that was then left home. She knew she was unstable and a goat would have stayed in the stands cheering the team on instead of taking a spot and leaving them mid-way through a gold medal round leaving the team cold and shaving someone come in to try an pick up the pieces of that mess.
She obviously couldn’t predict what her mental state would be in and there’s an immense amount of pressure in her competing to begin with. Loooong before this Olympics. She’s literally one of the most decorated Olympians in history and the only time she stood aside to take care of her mental state her teams still wins the silver medal. Seriously if this bothers you so bad why don’t you win an Olympic gold medal yourself?
She literally asked them if they needed anything let them know and I doubt that would be the best idea for her to stay. some americans are crazy and racist as heck. She would’ve won we all know it
@mollyyyy37474 She knew she was unstable beforehand… if you believe that. Some say she knew she would not do well and just bailed, that seems like it could be true as well. Just because she is back and people criticize doesn’t mean it’s racist. But you, what a crap excuse for her. She should never have gone and let an athlete that was up for it attend the Olympics in the spot she wasted.
i’m saying it would be good if she stayed, but i’m sure she left because she wouldn’t want to hear bad things from others such as racist comments. also if you’ve never been a hardworking athlete like some you wouldn’t understand. I’ve along with others in high school became so nervous during our state meets to the point where my teamates would throw up. one teammate came to the state meet and was nervous as heck and ran some events but backed out on her 5th event and she was a beast. simone could’ve beat everybody there, it’s a mental thing and i’m glad she backed out otherwise she would’ve gotten hurt. the end
@mollyyyy37474 I think it’s a smoke screen for an unprepared athlete going to the worlds biggest sports event. She was going to have a bad games and bailed with this as an exercise. Then back to a Twitter for her.
How if she was literally doing tricks no one else was doing lol. she’ll crush everyone next time and if more people are allowed to be in the building i bet they would cheer her like nothing happened. she’s known for being the greatest. you just keep down talking her like she hurt you personally lol it’s weird.
Now she changed her story. She gets dizzy. She knew and too a slot in the team anyway. I feel for the girl left at home who may never get to an Olympics.
Jersey2 the only sport you currently compete in is the drive through and here you are tryna tear down the most decorated Olympic athlete of our time. How pathetic
no she’s kept the same story and when your some mental issues such as anxiety causes you to act dizzy. she was even answering questions to her fans on her instagram story about her mental health.
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