What will Simone do after gymnastics?

[JaJa]

When getting a good education and decent career (teaching was mentioned as an example) will only net you a lower middle class life if you are lucky (few luxuries, always waiting to see what insurance cost will nearly bankrupt you this year, unaffordable housing, etc), why not take the chance that you’ll “win the lottery” and become a famous influencer?

How about for the satisfaction that comes with serious work well done? Also, I am not sure where you are getting the idea that a good education will get you a lower middle class lifestyle “if you are lucky.” There are lots of people earning very sizable incomes from rewarding work. Sorry, I just do not get this lack of work ethic or lack of interest in contributing to society in a meaningful way.

 

[JaJa]

I think Aly is going to need a degree of some sort if she wants to go into politics

Personally, I think Aly is in for a very rude awakening in a few years. I also suspect she is being driven at least in part by her mother.

 

[irichluck21]

I do not think Aly even came close to graduating from Babson. I think she took a few courses there.

Babson lists her as an “alumni” so unless they are just counting her enrollment only, alumni would mean graduate.

 

[JaJa]

Babson lists her as an “alumni” so unless they are just counting her enrollment only, alumni would mean graduate.

actually alumnus does not necessarily mean a graduate, although it is commonly used that way. It is not incorrect to call anyone who was enrolled in your school for any length of time and for any number of classes, graduate or not, as an alumnus. Aly took a few courses part time one semester. She was very far from graduating.

 

[pavlovasdawg]

I feel like part of the desire for the ‘influencer’ route comes from the attention they received from their gymnastics. They were seen as ‘special’ and ‘unique’ and were in the public eye. I think, especially right after ending their gymnastics career, the desire to ‘stay famous’ and still be ‘special’ is very strong.

I don’t know how much it is the case anymore, but certainly generations of gymnasts came into the sport (or were put in it by parents) after seeing the money and fame that Nadia and MLR got. Even the Mag 7 to a degree, though as Carly Patterson learned, it can be difficult to transfer your sport celebrity into the entertainment field.

 

[KorbutFan]

Perhaps an unpopular opinion and not to take anything away from the work she’s done, but I feel she still isn’t a great public speaker.

 

[RedBirdie]

Saying she’s not a great public speaker is really overselling just how horrifically awful she is.

 

[JaJa]

I feel like part of the desire for the ‘influencer’ route comes from the attention they received from their gymnastics. They were seen as ‘special’ and ‘unique’ and were in the public eye. I think, especially right after ending their gymnastics career, the desire to ‘stay famous’ and still be ‘special’ is very strong

I get that and i totally understand that. So, fine, take a year or even two and go on DWTS, do media, get deals, make money, bask in the spotlight. But then get a grip and get on with the next phase of life. As opposed from spending the next 60 years making podcasts and posting on Instagram.

 

[JDB]

I find it really disappointing that Simone would go the “for profit online university route”. Terrible example for others. Before I retired as a teacher we started seeing a lot of our assistants going for these degrees some of them even getting “Masters” degrees. They did not come out learned and could not pass content exams for teaching certification. They also came out with ridiculous amounts of student loan debt (six figures).

University of the People is non-profit and doesn’t charge tuition (I think there are some fees though). I’m not too familiar with it but I know it started as an experiment in tertiary distance education. I’m not surprised someone like Simone Biles would be interested in it.

 

[Doug1233]

spending the next 60 years making podcasts and posting on Instagram

Well if doing this nets you 100K+ a year, allows you to vacation wherever and whenever you want, gets you free stuff, and gives you flexible arrangements to raise your children … why not?

I’ll bet Shawn is making 20K+ a month on her YT channel. Plus all the free shit she gets in the mail. Hell, she even got a company to freeze her baby’s cord blood for her for free.

Why bust your ass going to college and grinding a 9-9 job for fifty years? Life is for living.

If I was Simone, I’d bust the hell out of the next 3 years. marketing deals. appearances. fucking milk it. Try and make it to Paris. In the meantime, buy a ton of property. Residential. Business. Gymnastics Gyms. Franchise it. Lease it. And then sit on my passive income for the rest of my life and do charity work.

Demand for gymnastics clubs is pretty high - at least in the UK. I’ve heard there are wait lists for several months for 7 or 8 year olds to get into good gyms. And a “Simone Biles” gym. Sheesh. She could go nuts with it. And she could market it with higher ethical standards etc etc. Offer “scholarship” programs for low income families that show potential. I would go nuts.

 

[ucrgirl]

I’m old fashioned and I worry about people like Shawn. Constantly marketing yourself or your lifestyle or your kids (and through comments and likes being constantly aware of what people think of you) doesn’t seem like the good life. Sure, its not immoral and it pays the bills but YouTuber/Influencer burnout suggests to me that there are more fulfilling ways to make money.

No judgement if that is what they chose, I just don’t believe celebrity is really healthy for humans and I hope for things I believe to be better for these gymnasts.

 

[Doug1233]

Do it for 5 years then dive into obscurity.

You can make 5 million go a long way if you invest it right. You might never need to work again.

 

[pavlovasdawg]

Just to clarify, I totally agree with you. I have such respect for athletes like Chow and (getting old school) Marie Roethlisberger, starting a completely new chapter in their life, post-gymnastics. I often wonder how much this has to do with the parents, as I imagine if coming up a legitimate education was sacrificed (i.e. dubious homeschooling or that Christian school in Houston that many Karolyi girls attended) for the sake of gymnastics success than I think it might be difficult to see the value of an education/career outside of the sport I suspect this is why so many former gymnasts go into coaching, i.e. their horizons were never encouraged to be broadened.

 

[MaryClare]

What if she just wants to get married and have children? What’s wrong with that?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yeah, much as I don’t find the influencer lifestyle at all aspirational and worry about the negative mental health impact it evidently has on at least some participants and observers, there are reasons why it’s sometimes more attractive than the other options. Studying, learning, getting qualified in anything, these things can be hard. Not everyone can do it and not everyone wants to. The idea that work is something that brings fulfilment in and of itself is not one that’s universally subscribed to, to say the least. Especially not with how work looks for a lot of people, even very well qualified and well paid ones, under capitalism.

Burnout for people in the public eye is very real, and the prospect of oneself being the product horrifies me personally. I think ucrgirl’s view about celebrity being unhealthy for humans is probably right. But then who amongst us can say we’ve not seen people burned out in other lines of work? Shitloads of jobs eat you up and spit you out if you’re unlucky.

eta because I initially wrote that shitloads of jobs eat you out, which is in fact the opposite of the point I wished to make.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Yeah, burnout can happen in any career field. That’s why being a school librarian versus a classroom teacher was and is a more attractive option for me.

 

[Kara]

Nothing should be wrong with that, or being an “influencer”, or gymnastics coach, or whatever. This whole must go to college and get a degree or you’ll be an unfulfilled, useless waste space expectation is so harmful. Sure it’s great if someone wants to be a doctor or teacher; but college is not for everyone, and these jobs are not for everyone. Personally, I have a degree with honors; scored in the 99th percentile on the MCAT, and completely burned myself out doing it. I ended up doing something creative and totally unrelated to that fancy degree; 15 years out and I own a successful business, and am much happier than if I had become a doctor.

These girls bust their asses for years to get to the top of their sport; maybe they need a break after that. Why shouldn’t they cash in on their hard earned success while they can. If they regret it in 10 years and want to go to college they always can. If they want to start families and stay home with their kids, why should we judge? If they want to invest what they make now and do absolutely nothing for the rest of their lives; why not? Everyone has different goals and desires for their own lives; just because what fulfills you is different from what fulfills someone else shouldn’t make either wrong.

End of rant.

 

[dweiss324]

I think that for a weird combo of reasons, Simone and Aly are at a disadvantage. They were too famous / still doing elite for too long. It’s not like they can’t still go get a degree but they totally missed the normal window for getting a normal college education. They’re trying to juggle their bodies, fame, their situations, their increasing age, opportunities inside and outside the sport and then… The education and career aspect,not to mention family prospects.

I think for most people (myself included) we were just decent at gymnastics and still loved it. Getting an education and a career or a family post-gymnastics was always the game plan. Fame or higher level competition was just never a realistic opportunity, and I feel bad for people that I knew that were better than me and tried to make something come from gymnastics with a competitive career or financially, because it doesn’t really pan out unless you’re… A very select handful of people.

 

[MissBlaineWilson]

They were too famous /

Was Aly really ever famous? I mean to the non-gymnastics world, she is definitely not on the same level as Simone.

 

[RAFIKI]

Demand for gymnastics clubs is pretty high - at least in the UK. I’ve heard there are wait lists for several months for 7 or 8 year olds to get into good gyms.

I coach at a charity gym in a small UK city that mostly does rec classes and we’ve been oversubscribed (three figure waiting lists, kids joining the list as soon as they’re born) for years. Not sure of the situation at the moment given the inevitable increase of gymnasts quitting during the pandemic.