Only thing I can think of is that she thought she might seriously injure herself by not being mentally 100%. And, that’s certainly possible in this sport.
It’s not effing Curling, after all.
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Report: she’s out of the all-around as well. She had injured herself at the Trials that she had no business competing at.
Yeah I’m not blaming her, she’s gotta do what’s best for her. I’m just saying I don’t understand it.
I doubt it. It would take the coach taking his helmet away to make him leave and stay off the field. Unless it’s something like he can’t raise his arm to throw or can’t put weight on one of his legs. If he is better than 50% he is going to be out there.
And how many times have you seen NBA players who are having horrible, horrible shooting nights take themselves out of the game because of it. No, they keep putting it up regardless of where the ball is going. Yeah, I’m mostly talking about 'Melo.
It’s be like Michael Jordan walking away from the sport for a few years in his prime.
Or Rory McIlroy quitting the Honda Classic after hitting his second shot into the water and blaming it on a toothache.
Or the AC Milan team picking the ball up in the middle of the game and walking off the field for racist chants from the fans
Or Bobby Isaac, Hall of Fame NASCAR racer, pulling into the pit and leaving the Talladega 500 race while leading after 90 laps because his head wasn’t in it.
Or Mike Tyson quitting from his stool in a boxing match after the sixth round in an event that he was winning per the judges scorecard at the time
Or Mike Wallace leaving the game in the second quarter since he hasn’t had a pass thrown to him yet.
None of these are exactly comparable, but while rare it does seem to happen. I don’t think I could ever step away like that- but I don’t blame her for the withdrawal. I haven’t seen a single professional athlete say anything but support for her.
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There’s something to be said for admitting you’re going to crack under the pressure and letting your teammates step up and do their A-plus job that’s ultimately better than your C-minus performance. I suspect that if it were individual competition, she would have stuck in it and just gotten what she got.
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One difference is that when you miss a shot in basketball you can keep putting it up the next time down the floor.
When you miss on the vault, or balance beam, or on a reverse quadruple twist on a floor routine? Much greater chance of serious injury.
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Link related
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Kerri Strug probably has the same thought.
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I considered Strug as a counterpoint here as well, but ultimately decided that what she did should not be an expectation. Because it isn’t the expectation is what made that performance so great.
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feel bad for simone, but i don’t think we can call her the goat anymore (and i wonder if constantly calling her the goat did this)
Plus she’s shown toughness by competing and winning with broken toes and kidney stones before.
This Twitter thread was a good read on it-
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the link between physical health being <100% and mental health being able to gut through it is likely different in gymnastics than other sports. Marcie hinted at this.
no physical catastrophe is awaiting a basketball player for having to play a touch slower on a bad ankle. but a person needing the confidence to go for it and land on a broken set of legs/whatever - that could mess up a lot of things. maybe the mistakes/gaffes in the team qualifying round were related and there was no chance of them “getting better”.
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i also explained to someone else that in 3 weeks I will forget this and she will likely still be the best in my memory (failing more by the day that it is).
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I casually looked up who the oldest gymnast is, it’s Oksana Chusovitina, who is 46 and once represented the Soviet Union, and won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics.
I have a guess that for a lot of sports where people retire in their mid 20s, like swimming, it’s because there just isn’t money in it and not because they got old.
Swimming still has a number of 30 year olds in it, though to get a medal at that age you have to have been one of the best in the world in your 20s, since athletic performance declines in your 30s- something seen in every single sport and most noticeable in the ones that rely heavily on athleticism over pure technique
I watched her last vault. She did a perfectly fine Olympic vault, got a middling score, and was not going to move you the finals. So she bowed, and the scattered people who were in the stadium gave her a standing ovation.
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the “twisties” seems a lot scarier than the name:
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yeah, would be dangerous to compete with that going on
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yay to suni lee who covered for biles and brought home the gold!
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