Simone is out of the AA, VT, UB and FX

[Sasha]

@flyaway and @Rita, because I’m concerned that my post might have spurred your responses I’d like to clarify that I don’t think Simone is weak. But I feel like the wording “focusing on my mental health” downplays, most likely unintentionally, the presumed seriousness of the situation. I think part of the problem is that we don’t have great vocabulary around mental health issues: her wording, depending on context, could mean anything from “I’m having a mental breakdown” to “I need some me time”, and there’s a HUGE distance between those two things.

It’s just frustrating that after all her accomplishments, after Doha, Nassar, Martha, and USAG, she comes to the biggest stage in the world and THIS is what people see, without knowing about everything she’s persevered through. And they judge her on that snapshot. I know it’s pointless to go on about it but I just wish people were more willing to think and listen. I dearly hope that she has more discipline than me and is staying off of social media!

 

[Rita]

@Sasha I saw your post, I know you do not think she is weak. I do not think anyone in this forum does. I ended up going into a spiral of twitter post and other forum saw all sorts of things and realized the world has a lot of good and still lot of ugly. I wish mental health was more talked about but maybe one day it will get there. I do not ever post on forums or social media and felt like sharing my thoughts. I also hope she has more discipline than me also and stays of social media but it is so difficult these days.

 

[Sparklesmom]

Sadly a big chunk of them have kids who are gymnasts. Like maybe some of the people still sending their kids to train at MG Elite? I e read things by parents of gymnasts online in the past two days that make me terrified for their children. One woman said it would have been better if she landed on her head and broke her neck than pull out. She’s got a level 7/8 girl. I mean wtf? I can’t imagine what that kids life is like! Yikes!

 

[Sasha]

Okay, cool, just wanted to make sure I wasn’t miscommunicating.

And welcome to the forum!

 

[Doug1233]

Yeah not to drag Michael Phelps or anything (he’s doing amazing things) but Phelps was never in danger of breaking his neck if he had an episode while swimming.

Anyone who doubts mental blocks should simply watch Steingrubers second vault from Glasgow EF (I think it was). Julia has spoken very publicly about that moment and how overcoming her mental block on the DTY took months to get over.

I won’t link it because it’s not nice but it’s YouTube-able.

ETA: Changed my mind the thumbnail is fine but DO NOT CLICK if you don’t like injuries.



This is what happens when the twisties goes wrong. Simone was very lucky that this didn’t happen to her.

Something like this on the other events might have cost those other 3 team members their only shot at an Olympic medal. Like Simone said “I’m fine, I’ve already been to the Olympics, but you guys go out there and get it”.

 

[flyaway]

I absolutely understand what you mean, and I hoped to convey I wasn’t insinuating that YOU personally thought she was weak. I agree with you, the verbiage is loose and fast still, and people like to assign their own meaning. Sadly, the ones that assign it as weakness are also most verbal on social media. I also hope she stays off of it for a bit!! As an aside, are you the same Sasha on Chalkbucket? If so, hi!

 

[Caligym]

My daughter was arguing with one of those “Michael Phelps overcame blah blah blah” guys. I told her to say, you lose where you are in the 200 free you…stop and look up. You lose where you are in an Amanar you could land on your neck and be paralyzed. Not exactly samesies.

 

[Doug1233]

Totally. The stakes for losing are x1000

 

[Sasha]

Cool cool.

As for Chalkbucket, I’m racking my mind to remember if I ever had an account there, but I don’t recall ever being an active member, so probably not?

 

[Doug1233]

 

[Denn]

Is there video of her missing a full-in on floor? I would think that element would NOT be affected because it’s not really a wrap kind of twist. The full is sort of a different kind of thing there. I could see the double double and triple double being messed up though.

 

[dweiss324]

I really wish that nastia and Tim would have done a better job framing what had happened in the competition. They had 12 hours, granted, there were still a lot of unknowns… But rather than say “she got lost, I’m not sure…” And then letting the unedited Simone and team conversations go, they could have given more context about the dangers of the sport when something like that happens, even instances of major athletes getting severely injured before, and brought more context to the fact that she was potentially being a team player by NOT continuing, in case something even more severe happened. I feel like with all the conversation around it that day,they could have been a little more impactful for framing that conversation for the casual primetime audience.

 

[flyaway]

ha! Ok. Well hi anyway!

 

[flyaway]

Agreed. They could have taken a page from Shannon Miller’s interview. She nailed it.
You better be in the right headspace

 

[cats]

I’m not really upset that broadcasters aren’t focusing on the injury potential. I don’t think it will help Simone to answer questions about how close she thought she was to breaking her neck for the next 20 years, and it’s not going to make the meatheads get it anyway.

I do think the “tried to push through and came extremely close to a 0” point would help some of the people who are not getting why it wasn’t doing her teammates any favors to keep going. I also think the folks who are like “why is she brave if she’s too scared to go?” might like a reminder that she could have claimed a bum ankle and been totally excused. Instead she told her truth and is going to carry this burden forever.

 

[Caligym]

Absolutely. She could have balked mid routine in an event and gotten an 8 or 10. If she had tried to “push through” she might have cost the USA the chance at any medal.

 

[audie83]

I want Suni to win the AA, and if she hits she is certainly capable of it. I hope Melnikova medals too and if Rebeca or almost anyone else medals that’d be great too.

 

[shirai]

Same. I can’t pretend to be even a little excited for this final. I’m just really saddened by how this has turned out

 

[audie83]

Roza Galieva knows the feeling, but at least she got to compete in the Olympic AA in 1996, after being pulled for Tatiana Gutsu in 1992. Perhaps Alexandra Marinescu knows the feeling best of all. Belu pulled her out of TWO major All Arounds back to back, replacing her with his pet Simona Amanar, at the 1996 Olympics, and at 1997 Worlds (her final major competition). Alex knows the feeling very well indeed. Anyway, back OT, I would NOT want those shenanigans to go on in Tokyo. The best one on the day, in the field of play, made the AA and it should stay that way.

 

[Maeloc_Cao]

Well, I sincerely hope he has a very good competition, in the Russian VK they are commenting that they should replace him with VIka, because they think they would win a medal for sure. So, poor Vlada, if she fails they will always think that she should have replaced her, and if she does well, but does not win a medal (which I see difficult because she lacks difficulty on the court), they will also think that Vika would have won a medal. … :sad: