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Post by pelican on Jul 28, 2021 8:59:28 GMT -5
I'm glad to see her pull out early of the individual all-around to make sure that another American can compete. I would've hated to see her do one event and then withdraw.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2021 10:45:40 GMT -5
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Post by bumpsetsonly on Jul 28, 2021 11:32:36 GMT -5
Another thing to keep in perspective is that Simone is performing at a difficulty level that no other female gymnast even at the Olympic level is capable of. She is the only one of her competitors and teammates who knows what it feels like to do those skills and so no one should be speculating on whether or not she should compete. You'll notice she has gotten nothing but support from other gymnasts who probably all have personal experiences of how dangerous the sport is, and she is still quite literally in a league of her own in terms of difficulty and risk.
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Post by vballfan17 on Jul 28, 2021 11:51:13 GMT -5
I'm glad to see her pull out early of the individual all-around to make sure that another American can compete. I would've hated to see her do one event and then withdraw. Who got to take her spot? I believe Suni Lee was already in, but who is the other now? Chiles?
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Post by bumpsetsonly on Jul 28, 2021 12:00:16 GMT -5
I'm glad to see her pull out early of the individual all-around to make sure that another American can compete. I would've hated to see her do one event and then withdraw. Who got to take her spot? I believe Suni Lee was already in, but who is the other now? Chiles? Jade Carey. if Simone pulls out of the vault event final, McKayla Skinner would compete in her place.
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Post by knapplc on Jul 28, 2021 12:10:51 GMT -5
It's sad that some people need to ***see*** an injury to understand that an athlete can't compete. Biles is being dragged by a bunch of bros online who have never competed remotely at her level. Those who have, like Michael Phelps, are adamant in their support of her.
A lot of the outrage seems fake. Her withdrawal meant we got Silver (thanks to the rest of the amazing team) rather than Gold - and that's in a sport most of these raging bros don't care about.
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Post by bumpsetsonly on Jul 28, 2021 12:15:46 GMT -5
It's sad that some people need to ***see*** an injury to understand that an athlete can't compete. Biles is being dragged by a bunch of bros online who have never competed remotely at her level. Those who have, like Michael Phelps, are adamant in their support of her. A lot of the outrage seems fake. Her withdrawal meant we got Silver (thanks to the rest of the amazing team) rather than Gold - and that's in a sport most of these raging bros don't care about. Any excuse to imply that women aren't as "tough" as men
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Post by bumpsetsonly on Jul 28, 2021 13:43:36 GMT -5
www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/28/twisties-gymnastics-simone-biles-tokyo-olympicsAriana Guerra, a former U.S. elite gymnast, dealt with the twisties multiple times during her career. At one point, she trained a double layout on floor and that same skill with a full twist during the second flip. She needed to warm up the double layout first and would worry that she would twist accidentally. The trouble spiraled, and soon, she couldn’t perform a simple back tuck without twisting. She worried about how the twisties could spread to skills on other apparatuses.
Guerra would go to the trampoline and tell herself: “Just a back handspring. Just a back handspring.” At the last second, she’d pick up her hands so they didn’t touch the ground. That was the only route toward performing a flip without her body adding an unintentional twist. After practice, she would do backward rolls — a skill that preschoolers learn — in hopes of regaining that feeling of only rotating without spinning.
“That's how mental it was,” Guerra said.
It took about two weeks to overcome, Guerra said, and she was in the midst of her preparation for an important competition. She thinks the twisties are more likely to surface during moments of stress.
... Melton had the same issue in which his “body, for some reason, just automatically starts twisting and you just have no control over it.” Then, rather than focusing on technique, he’d start thinking about the twisties, which would lead to more trouble. At one competition, when Melton saluted the judges and looked down the runway, he couldn’t remember which direction he twisted on his new vault.
For Melton, the twisties turned into a recurring problem. He eventually tailored his routines to include skills that didn’t lead to getting lost in the air. “There was no point in trying to fight the twisties at that point in my life,” said Melton, who recently retired from the sport.
Earlier in his career, Melton’s coaches would have him progress through basic elements — first a back tuck, then a back layout, a half twist and a full. But doing so took time. And at his gym, Melton could use the pits to eliminate the risk of injury while he focused on working through the issue.
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Post by guest2 on Jul 28, 2021 13:53:32 GMT -5
Its a little dated now but the book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes details some absolutely terrifying and heartbreaking stories of what gymnasts go through. The cast thing is relatively small potatoes to the injuries they have been expected to compete through in the past
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Post by pelican on Jul 28, 2021 13:57:35 GMT -5
Its a little dated now but the book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes details some absolutely terrifying and heartbreaking stories of what gymnasts go through. The cast thing is relatively small potatoes to the injuries they have been expected to compete through in the past Yes, that's a really great book. Covers both gymnastics and figure skating. Probably on my top 10 list of best sports books ever.
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Post by mikegarrison on Jul 28, 2021 14:08:42 GMT -5
Melton had the same issue in which his “body, for some reason, just automatically starts twisting and you just have no control over it.” Then, rather than focusing on technique, he’d start thinking about the twisties, which would lead to more trouble. This is so true. My dad, for instance, has really struggled over the years with what archers call "target panic". At the very moment he releases the string, he flinches with the hand holding the bow. And the more he thinks about not doing it, the worse it is. He has experimented with different string releases to help him avoid this, but none of them are sure solutions. He's also a lot better archer than I ever was, and has been shooting for 40+ years. But he still has difficultly training himself out of this mental issue.
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Post by mikegarrison on Jul 28, 2021 14:09:38 GMT -5
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Post by netsetter on Jul 28, 2021 14:36:59 GMT -5
I was 14 when I watched the '96 games with the Strugg vault. I know a lot of people say their views on it changed when they became parents. I am not a parent, but I can no longer watch that series of events.
Listening to ESPN's Heavy Medals podcast made me dislike the sport. I feel bad that there is so much pressure put on such young people while we destroy their bodies.
I feel the same way about football now. I feel guilty watching and enjoying it.
You guys probably remember that during the 2014 Olympic games, the USA was favored to win a lot of medals in speedskating. That did not happen. There was controversy around the suit slowing them down. When asked about the suit, the Dutch coach said they "found something that makes the suit very fast. It's the man in the suit." That led to him to say,
“You have a lot of attention on a foolish sport like American football and you waste a lot of talent, athletic talent, on a sport that is meant to kill each other, to injure each other. ... You’re so narrow-minded, and then you want to compete against the world [in other sports] when you waste a lot of time, good talent on a sport that sucks,” he said.
I feel this rings true with football, but also a bit with gymnastics. We are ruining their bodies when they aren't necessarily old enough to make that decision for themselves.
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Gymnastics
Jul 28, 2021 15:37:22 GMT -5
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Post by akbar on Jul 28, 2021 15:37:22 GMT -5
www.insider.com/russian-gymnast-won-gold-after-blowing-out-achilles-2021-7I CRINGED WHEN I WATCHED THIS GUY. I wasn't amazed but rather uncomfortable. I watched very little gymnastics this Olympics but the little I did was this story and Simone's story which has opened a can of worms (which needs to be shouted from the rooftops) www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/magazine/gymnastics-abuse.htmlREAD THIS!😵 Some gymnasts and coaches have increasingly begun to see Nassar’s abuse as part of a broader failure to protect athlete health, and among athletes, a new willingness has emerged to openly discuss the line between pain and abuse, which many say has been blurred for too long. I am done with this sport
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Post by undersized on Jul 28, 2021 15:52:10 GMT -5
I am done with this sport I understand why you are frustrated with the sport, but I think there's a middle ground. Be mad at the abusive individuals in power who have given gymnastics this reputation, but don't completely give up on the sport itself. Instead, you can support the athletes and coaches who are speaking out publicly, doing the WORK to change the sport from the inside out. Biles is a great example. Or Aly Raisman -- see her latest interview with the New Yorker. (link: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/aly-raisman-still-wants-answers)
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