What will Simone do after gymnastics?

[irichluck21]

Simone Biles: I'm prouder of the lesson I gave the world in Tokyo than all my medals

Simone Biles is the latest sporting star to receive the prestigious MARCA Leyenda award, a prize that honours the top legends from the world of sport. After collecting the award a

www.marca.com

Biles more proud of withdrawing due to mental health than any of her medals. It was a lesson for the World.

 

[RedBirdie]

I can’t believe they’re still framing her withdrawal from Tokyo primarily or even solely as mental health reasons.

 

[Doug1233]

Yeah I really don’t like this. I mean, they’re her medals, sure. She can think about them what she wants. But, meh.

 

[JaJa]

It drives me crazy. But Simone herself keeps referring to it as a “mental health,” issue.

 

[irichluck21]

Looks like Simone isn’t done yet… plans to continue with gymnastics because she doesn’t want to have regrets.

No definitive timeline of her return to the sport, but this is as definitive of an answer that she isn’t retiring and will continue to compete.

Simone Biles on Future of Her Gymnastics Career: 'I Might Push It a Little Bit More'

"Technically, if you would ask anybody in the U.S. that looks at an American gymnast, I'm probably already aged out, but I really feel like leading up to Tokyo, I was hitting my prime," Simone Biles told USA Today

people.com

 

[JaJa]

I really just wish Simone would stop equating the twisties with mental health issues.

 

[rlayt]

I’m really glad we haven’t seen the last of her. Even with all the speculation of a rest then a comeback I was afraid she was done.

 

[JaJa]

I don’t ever want to see the last of Simone.

 

[Doug1233]

There’s no marketing or sponsorship opportunities for the Twisties though!

 

[Denn]

I am not sure whether her wording explicitly refers to the twisties as a mental health concern, but the author of the article certainly says that.

 

[irichluck21]

I think the twisties were a result of mental health. The twisties caused her from doing gymnastics properly in Tokyo, but they developed due to mental health issues.

 

[JaJa]

Oh I think Simone absolutely talks about the twisties as a mental health issue.

What are you prouder of, your medals or the lesson you gave the world in Tokyo?

“Most definitely the lesson that I gave the world in Tokyo, because nobody would have ever thought that would happen but everything that happened because of that has brought real good attention to mental health and the awareness that it brings.”

I mean – what else is that??

 

[JaJa]

There’s no marketing or sponsorship opportunities for the Twisties though!

That is for sure the likely impetus

 

[JaJa]

I think the twisties were a result of mental health. The twisties caused her from doing gymnastics properly in Tokyo, but they developed due to mental health issues.

The twisties may be triggered by stress, but stress is normal in high pressured situations. Its not a mental health issue. Athletes all deal with it. As a trial lawyer we all had to learn how to deal with stress. Because you get sick to your stomach before going into the courtroom, you are terrified. And some people freeze and just can not handle it, most of us learn how to. You are not having a “mental health” issue you are just learning how to deal with stress – which is a perfectly normal emotion to have in very high pressure situations. Its not about “mental health”

 

[cats]

I’m sorry, but that is a truly ugly take.

First of all, mental “fitness” is part of your overall mental health in the same way that physical fitness is a part of physical health. So yeah, being unable to handle the level of stress you are under is indeed a mental health problem. I think pretty much everyone alive the last two years can attest to that, as there has been no shortage of societal discourse around burnout, anxiety, Great Resignation, etc. Mental health is not just the absence of a diagnosed mental illness.

Second, seriously: You’re accusing someone with her history of making things up for a marketing campaign?

 

[JaJa]

I’m sorry, but that is a truly ugly take.

First of all, mental “fitness” is part of your overall mental health in the same way that physical fitness is a part of physical health. So yeah, being unable to handle the level of stress you are under is indeed a mental health problem. I think pretty much everyone alive the last two years can attest to that, as there has been no shortage of societal discourse around burnout, anxiety, Great Resignation, etc. Mental health is not just the absence of a diagnosed mental illness.

Second, seriously: You’re accusing someone with her history of making things up for a marketing campaign?

Well, of course I am not “accusing” Simone of making anything up. She very obviously had a pretty severe case of the twisties and had no choice but to drop out of her events at the Olympics. What appears to have happened, however, is that commentators immediately started characterizing it as a “mental health” problem Simone had and I think Simone just kind of went along with it for whatever reason. There are for sure plenty of people who are capitalizing on the whole mental health aspect of problems in elite sports (Aly Raisman – who also jumped at the time to characterize it as a mental health issue – and who has been earning quite a bit of money since retirement from the sport as a self-styled “mental health advocate” ). I do not, however, think Simone is one of those people. And I never said she was.

There is no definitive understanding of what causes twisties. But in light of the fact that it is a breakdown of a complex neurological system of proprioception and kinesthesia my guess is that while performance pressure (very different from other forms of more generalized stress) may trigger it (by overloading the nervous system with fight flight or freeze reactions) it is not primarily a “mental” issue. But, as i said, there is no definitive medical or scientific explanation that I know of.

Finally, calling people’s viewpoints “truly ugly” as opposed to just discussing them and offering counterviewpoints is, in my experience, a very good way to shut down reasonable discourse. It is not, on the other hand, a good way to engage in helpful and enlightening discussion.

 

[JDB]

I’m surprised people still aren’t over this topic. I’ll just say I wish Simone Biles had directly said this quote last year.

 

[irichluck21]

“Most definitely the lesson that I gave the world in Tokyo, because nobody would have ever thought that would happen but everything that happened because of that has brought real good attention to mental health and the awareness that it brings.”

I mean – what else is that??

Simone is clearly saying she was suffering from mental health issues and as a result, the twisties. Whatever was going on in her mind is non of our business, nor will we ever know or understand what she was feeling in Tokyo.
Beyond stress and pressure there was much more, clearly, piled up on her. Whether it was personal, emotional, from outside forces, just a brain lapse that caused her to not trust herself. It really doesn’t matter.
She has stated she had mental health issues. The consequences of were the twisties and her withdrawing.

You have no right to say what Biles was suffering with.

 

[irichluck21]

I’ll just say I wish Simone Biles had directly said this quote last year.

Just to make it clear…you are aware the Onion is satire…yes?

You just wished she had said this fictional quote at the time?

 

[Kara]

Seriously, people like this are why no one wants to speak about mental health issues. Unless JaJa is Simone or her healthcare provider they have no idea what she was dealing with in Tokyo. Simone has stated that she had mental health issues, that should be all the proof one needs that she was indeed dealing with mental health issues. Yes, it was shown that she had the “twisties”, but no one other than Simone knows what was going on in her head beyond that. It is beyond ridiculous that every time Simone is brought up someone feels the need to discredit what she states she was dealing with.