• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Tokyo Olympics

Biles was doing stuff the judges of her events didn't even know how to score her for. They couldn't come up with rubrics to judge her by, she was that far advanced in her field, a generation ahead of her peers. Yet there are dudes here who know better about her choices and career than her! Love to see it.
 
Good straw man, Townie. Go pat yourself on the back.
 
If a golfer had the yips and pulled himself out of the British Open, hardly anyone would care.

A gymnast who wasn't mentally focused pulled herself out of a competition in a sport in which a mental lapse could cause paralysis or another tragic outcome.

People suck.
 
Biles had every right to pull out and protect herself. She doesn't owe America anything, and she doesn't owe those grifting other teammates much either.

Still, when we are talking about GOAT status, I feel like she gave up the GOAT, but who cares.
 
Last edited:
if anything, I don't know what she was feeling in the run up to the games but she shouldnt' have gone to the olympics at all, it sounds like.

unless she wanted to make a statement about athletes/athletics
 
If a golfer had the yips and pulled himself out of the British Open, hardly anyone would care.

A gymnast who wasn't mentally focused pulled herself out of a competition in a sport in which a mental lapse could cause paralysis or another tragic outcome.

People suck.

If golf was a team sport, and the person with the yips was still scoring the best out of his teammates who were projecting to win the tournament.

You bet your ass we would be talking about it.
 
If a golfer had the yips and pulled himself out of the British Open, hardly anyone would care.

A gymnast who wasn't mentally focused pulled herself out of a competition in a sport in which a mental lapse could cause paralysis or another tragic outcome.

People suck.

This. It's like Tiger when he started skulling simple chips across the green like a hack. Dumbfounded everyone, including him. Then he wins the Masters. If you watch that vault in slow motion you can pretty much see the moment her face breaks into a panic and she loses it. How she handles it moving forward and what she says about her withdrawals might be a middle finger to the mess that is US Gymnastics, but the actual mental issue has to be 100% real. That was legit dangerous, no way she's faking it or just not trying as some kind of statement.
 
This. It's like Tiger when he started skulling simple chips across the green like a hack. Dumbfounded everyone, including him. Then he wins the Masters. If you watch that vault in slow motion you can pretty much see the moment her face breaks into a panic and she loses it. How she handles it moving forward and what she says about her withdrawals might be a middle finger to the mess that is US Gymnastics, but the actual mental issue has to be 100% real. That was legit dangerous, no way she's faking it or just not trying as some kind of statement.

It's actually nothing like that.

I love it when the threads turn into a woke off.
 
If a golfer had the yips and pulled himself out of the British Open, hardly anyone would care.

A gymnast who wasn't mentally focused pulled herself out of a competition in a sport in which a mental lapse could cause paralysis or another tragic outcome.

People suck.


If Tiger Woods in his prime had pulled himself out on Sunday after not playing up to par (as it were), but in second place and within easy striking distance of the lead? Yeah, we would. It would be talked about for years, maybe decades. We still talk about Tom Watson's choke in the 2009 British Open, and he was actually playing.

That's not to say this is the same situation. It isn't, for a lot of reasons, one of which is that, as you note, Biles could have been seriously injured or even paralyzed, but don't pretend that similar decisions in other sports would be NBD.
 
if anything, I don't know what she was feeling in the run up to the games but she shouldnt' have gone to the olympics at all, it sounds like.

unless she wanted to make a statement about athletes/athletics

Or, like, maybe it is really hard to admit to your self that you are suffering and need help, especially when there is tremendous pressure to never show "weakness." Plenty of athletes try to play through physical injuries and likewise plenty try to play though mental health problems. It is reasonable to speculate that she was planning this big dramatic withdrawal to highlight mental health problems in Olympic athletes, but it is equally plausible and and likely more parsimonious to assume that she just couldn't admit to herself and all the people "depending on her" that she was suffering until she was on the floor and it was increasingly hard to ignore.
 
And it didn't even matter. The US would have won the team gold even if she hadn't done it.

Yep that is true, however nobody really remembers that, they remember her courageous vault. A lot of athletes pay a price for their success, some decide to get out before that price gets too high and some stick around until the price gets really high. It should be up to the athlete and neither choice should really be criticized.
 
I get the feeling Biles and several other veteran Olympians were prepared to train four more years for 2020 but the additional year during COVID completely drained them.
 
Yep that is true, however nobody really remembers that, they remember her courageous vault. A lot of athletes pay a price for their success, some decide to get out before that price gets too high and some stick around until the price gets really high. It should be up to the athlete and neither choice should really be criticized.

I agree. But I don't know how much say in the matter Strug actually had.
 
If Tiger Woods in his prime had pulled himself out on Sunday after not playing up to par (as it were), but in second place and within easy striking distance of the lead? Yeah, we would. It would be talked about for years, maybe decades. We still talk about Tom Watson's choke in the 2009 British Open, and he was actually playing.

That's not to say this is the same situation. It isn't, for a lot of reasons, one of which is that, as you note, Biles could have been seriously injured or even paralyzed, but don't pretend that similar decisions in other sports would be NBD.

Thanks for agreeing with me.
 
Can we just leave it that Simone had every right to dip.

Anything else happening in the Olympics or is America pretty much shitting the bed?
 
Back
Top