The Daily Escape:
Wrongoâs and Ms. Rightâs Havanese dog Harley, died on Monday. Harley was 17+ years old, and we will miss him terribly. December 2020 iPhone photo by Wrongo
Wrongo doesnât follow gymnastics, and doesnât know much about Simone Biles, beyond what has been said on the news. But her withdrawal from the Olympics is a powerful story. She told the BBC: (emphasis by Wrongo)
“After the performance I did, I just didn’t want to go on…I have to focus on my mental health. I just think mental health is more prevalent in sports right now. We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do. I don’t trust myself as much anymore. Maybe it’s getting older. There were a couple of days when everybody tweets you and you feel the weight of the world.â
More: (emphasis by Wrongo)
“We’re not just athletes. We’re people at the end of the day and sometimes you just have to step back. I didn’t want to go out and do something stupid and get hurt. âI feel like a lot of athletes speaking up has really helped. It’s…the Olympic Games. At the end of the day, we don’t want to be carried out of there on a stretcher.”
Gymnastics is physically demanding and has a high injury rate. It is also extremely difficult psychologically as well. Many of the skills are dangerous. According to CNN, Biles said:
â…at morning practice that she had a little bit of the twisties, thatâs slang for when a gymnast is suddenly no longer able to do a twisting skill she’s done thousands of times before. Your body just won’t cooperate, your brain loses track of where you are in the air. You find out where the ground is when you slam into it.â
Bilesâ withdrawal has generally been met with support from the public, but the negative comments were (no surprise) decidedly right-wing. They called Biles cowardly, that she wasnât mentally tough enough to handle the pressure. That she caved. That she gave up. That she wasn’t willing to risk/sacrifice for her team.
Amber Athey, in an article in the Spectator entitled âSimone Biles is a quitterâ, said:
âBiles may be the most skilled gymnast ever, but a true champion is someone who perseveres even when the competition gets tough.â
Another article in the Federalist, entitled âSorry, Simone Biles, The Olympics Isnât About You, Itâs About Winning For Americaâ adds:
âBiles doesnât suffer from a specific mental illness, at least not that we know of or thatâs ever manifested itself before….she got psyched out. She wasnât mentally tough when she needed to be.â
Charlie Kirk, a far-right social media punk known for being almost famous, told listeners to his podcast:
“We are raising a generation of weak people like Simone Biles…If she’s got all these mental health problems: don’t show up… She’s totally a sociopath…What kind of person skips the gold medal match? Who does that? It’s a shame to the nation. You just gave a gift to the Russians.”
Apparently, gymnastics judges have capped the difficulty ratings on Bilesâ routines because they are too dangerous for other elite gymnasts to attempt.
But these right-wingers say Biles should go ahead and try them when she says she feels itâs not safe. Itâs amazing that people who complain that they canât breathe through a piece of cloth on their face expect Simone Biles to maybe break her neck for America.
The world is overpopulated with sociopaths. Athletes can suffer from emotional and mental issues that prevent them from competing at the highest level. Their fear is based in a few things. Earlier in their careers, they had nothing to lose. While today, they each have something to lose, be it injury to their bodies, or to their reputations and earning power.
There is a difference between quitting and recognizing oneâs limitations, and then ceding the spotlight when the personal risk is too great. There is maturity and grace in knowing when to work through pain and when to stop.
The harsh, unfeeling, and angry response by (mostly right-wing) people on social media demeans all of us. These people take the view that Biles is superhuman. Then, when she makes a difficult personal choice that deviates from their ideology, they have the right to humiliate her?
These right-wingers demand robotic perfection not from themselves of course, but from others.
They are inhuman. And they are denying Biles her humanity.
Great post and spot on. American history has shown that Right winged sociopaths have been around for along time, so it really doesnât surprise me that Simon Biles would be labeled as a weak UnAmerican quitter. Joe McCarthy would have brought her before his committee in the 50s as a latent communist who gave away some form of American prestige to Russia. The Olympic Games are not about countries as much as it is about the Olympic competitors. If people havenât been in her shoes, letâs this multiple gold champion the respect she has earned!
I knew an elite swimmer. He went to UNC Chapel Hill and was in the pool when Matt Biondi set one of his records. He described the pressure of elite sports – many stop competing before they age out. My friend did not compete in his senior year.
I swimming at least you do not risk paralysis. That the right has taken this strange turn is bizarre.