What happened in Team Finals

[Doug1233]

Maybe planned isn’t the right word, because I don’t think this is a conspiracy. But this also doesn’t strike me as a random thing. Too much weirdness leading up to it.

You can’t just throw this kinda stuff around. The implications of what you’re saying are huge.

Explain exactly how this wasn’t a random thing?

 

[Big_rock_show]

She literally balked her first vault. It was scary. It obviously wasn’t planned and if it was premeditated, you’d think she’d do it in a much safer fashion, no?

 

[JJS_5056]

The implications of a post on a random gymnastics forum? Please.

Everyone here is sharing their observations and insights from way across the globe. If you think the best gymnast of all time, who has effortlessly performed skills deemed impossible, such as a Double-Double BB DMT, Yurchenko DBL Pike, Triple-Double, etc., simply had an “off” day mentally that led to her baulking on a VT she’s nailed for almost a decade… that’s fine.

And, if you think the natural reaction of an athlete, ANY athlete, at the OLYMPIC GAMES in the TEAM FINAL, would be to withdraw… that’s fine, too. But, it’s absolutely fine to think that something feels off. It certainly does to me, and I’m so sick of people censoring discussion on places like this - that exist for the sole purpose of gymnastics discussion.

Of course I think Simone should have done whatever she needed if she felt unsafe, unstable, etc. That disclaimer shouldn’t be needed in order to state that “nonchalance” as was used earlier is very similar to the vibe I got considering the GOAT, who made a comeback for this event itself, who kept training an extra year when it was postponed, withdrew from the team event and cost them the title. The entire thing has been dry, bizarre, and a million other things. But, normal isn’t one of them… I’m entitled to interpret this just as anyone else.

 

[dweiss324]

I will say I don’t disagree that her responses both to her teammates and to the press seemed very casual. Nonchalant is a good word for it. It was more evident on the nbc broadcast because they picked up more of her comments, focused on it, and we’re 12 hours removed from it now. But definitely the non gymnasts I was watching with were really struggling to understand why what had happened was such a big deal given her understated response.

Now there may be a host of reasons for that, a likely one being that she perhaps wasn’t wanting to spook her teammates, distract or take away attention from them or their moment or the task they still needed to do. She may not have been able to process it, or simply doesn’t feel ready to share the details to the press about what was going on inside her head. Who knows.

 

[Doug1233]

The implications of a post on a random gymnastics forum? Please.

Everyone here is sharing their observations and insights from way across the globe

Sure

But you can’t just say “I think Simone baulked and scratched intentionally” with ZERO back up or evidence.

I like discussion. But you can’t just say outlandish claims like that with no receipts.

 

[rlayt]

I don’t see anyone being censored here. Majority opinions expressed may feel like “piling on” sometimes but I haven’t seen anyone censored. I do think people have a right to question and ask for proof or at least asked to back up their opinions. That’s also part of discussion. We’re not here just to shout at each other.

 

[Sparklesmom]

My daughter had them once as a little level 8. She lost her half and could only do a full or 1.5. It came back in a few days. She got them again coming back from covid break and lost everything- just over twisted it all. Was doing triple instead of double. She was terrified. It rolled over to floor and vault as well. This took a bit longer to work out but it did with some time and effort. The second round was likely due to major growth that took place during her time off- hello puberty! Lol!

 

[Passion]

I don’t think she was saying she baulked intentionally.

I read it as Biles may have already been thinking about pulling out of the competition before the baulk happened. Like things were bad enough in the leadup to this meet that pulling out was not necessarily “planned” but already being contemplated as an option. Which would result in seemingly nonchalant interviews, because it wouldn’t have been as much of a surprise to her if she was already thinking about it as a possibility.

She’s had the twisties before. She’s been talking about stress and pressure all year. It could even be that maybe she came close in her head to wanting to withdraw during say Trials or Olympic Quals but never said anything, and this was the time she finally felt things were dangerous enough that she had to do it. The situation would seem weird or planned to outsiders looking in without that information, but Biles would have been prepared for it.

That is my interpretation of Gymnbf’s post.

 

[falcon9]

In terms of the twisties, do they manifest themselves more in single saltos with multiple twists, or can they hinder double saltos with and without twisting as well?

In terms of what happen to Simone… we don’t call this the “twisties” at our club… we call this “getting lost”. Learn a double full and lose the full… get the full back and lose the double… we call all of this getting lost.

We call it the “twisties” if an athlete can’t do a non-twisting skill without a twist. If they try a back layout and they weirdly do a 1/2… we call this the “twisties”.

We are very specific in what we let people call these things at our club as a true case of what we call the “twisties” is much more difficult to deal with… in my opinion… than just “getting lost”.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

That’s what I thought the twisties were, too.

 

[falcon9]

I am almost convinced that the Yurchenko Double Pike destroyed the Amanar. The different block of the YDP made the Amanar feel unstable. Every upper level gymnast knows what it feels like when you go to pull the multiple twist and you start to go end over end instead. If you start “cruising” you just bail right away… automatic… just what happens.

 

[Gymnbf]

I don’t think she was saying she baulked intentionally.

I read it as Biles may have already been thinking about pulling out of the competition before the baulk happened. Like things were bad enough in the leadup to this meet that pulling out was not necessarily “planned” but already being contemplated as an option. Which would result in seemingly nonchalant interviews, because it wouldn’t have been as much of a surprise to her if she was already thinking about it as a possibility.

She’s had the twisties before. She’s been talking about stress and pressure all year. It could even be that maybe she came close in her head to wanting to withdraw during say Trials or Olympic Quals but never said anything, and this was the time she finally felt things were dangerous enough that she had to do it. The situation would seem weird or planned to outsiders looking in without that information, but Biles would have been prepared for it.

That is my interpretation of Gymnbf’s post.

This is exactly how I feel about it. As I said, I don’t think this was sinister or some long con. It just seems clear that there’s a lot more going on then just one vault being off.

 

[glamafonic]

I think she’s clearly been dealing with a lot of shit for a long time and many things precipitated this. I also think she hoped up until the very end, right until it clearly became too dangerous to continue, that she’d be able to pull it out for the team.

She’s said in some press that she’s had moments before when she thought she couldn’t perform, but she felt compelled to push through it. Will Graves specifically mentioned 2013 Classics and she said that Aimee pulled her from that comp because she wanted to continue. But she was 16 then; she’s not 16 anymore.

 

[KristyJ]

I feel like Simone has appeared… we’ll go with displeased… in a lot of her interactions with the media, like she is so done with them. There have been a number of times where it looked like her smile didn’t reach her eyes until she could talk about her teammates or family. Frankly, I wouldn’t blame her for being done with a lot of the inane or pressuring questions. I wouldn’t be surprised if that showed more in this press conference.

 

[OnoNoKomachi]

Years of chronic stress can add up.
Sometimes the brain has just had enough and won’t let the body go on. One can grit their teeth and land on a broken foot, but not so simple with a broken brain.
My guess is that’s what happened to Simone. She may have walked in there thinking she could do it, but after the vault, it was “nope”.

 

[Stacey]

You’ve also got to remember that this is a very different Olympic experience. They are there, essentially, alone. There’s no friends, family, support bubble, whatever you want to call it there with them.

And yes it’s the same with all the athletes but who knows what has triggered the flight response in Simone and watching the interviews the more she’s pressed on it the more she’s retreating into herself.

 

[ucrgirl]

I read on Twitter that Simone withdrew from AA.

 

[Bob]

I’ve just read a report that she was struggling with a full in on floor in the warm up gym and also with her Amanar, balking several times and downgrading it to a one and a half. Knowing that it makes far more sense. This didn’t just happen on the spot as she went up for her vault in TF, it was already playing out in the warm up, if not before. So the rest of the team knew there were issues even if they didn realise what it would lead to.

A gymnast who does not feel safe in the air should definitely not compete, especially Simones insane skills. And that won’t resolve quickly enough for the AA.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

This is sad. These Olympics are becoming a nightmare for women’s gymnastics.

 

[MaryClare]

How it is becoming a nightmare for women’s gymnastics? I feel so bad for Simone and I hope she’ll be ok, but gymnastics isn’t just her