I was a competitive gymnast from 4th grade until a sophomore in HS.

the one thing I'll say / my $.02 is confidence is everything; particularly as you climb through the levels to Elite Level gymnastics. I made it to Class 2; after that was Class 1, then Elite. At level 2, compulsory routines and their elements began to get more difficult, and at CL 2 level optional routines were part of the meet. everyone did a compulsory, then optional routine that met the routine elements ; typically for the optional routine, you had to demonstrate a strength component, balance, and flexibility component.

as I went up in the classes and began incorporating full + twists (1.5 or greater) ; or doubles, my coach would emphasize what he called "air sense". have an air sense of where you're at in the air. and 'don't get lost". I can tell you, it's scary as **** getting lost. Not too bad when you're learning a move into the foam pit, but you can definitely psyche yourself out when you think about the consequences of being 'lost' on a complex tumbling, vault, or dismount move w/out a spotter or foam pit. The psyche-out begins.

Maybe she had been feeling a little 'off' for a while; and that compounded itself to the point where she wasn't confident in executing tremendously complex moves / psyched herself out to an extent - even though she's probably done the elements hundreds, if not thousands of times.

that's what this feels like to me, and not so much on the 'pressure' side of things. I say this because I read where her vault was reduced to a very simple (by their standards) difficulty and she still botched the landing. When gymnasts say stuff like 'they can't see', I'm assuming that's the same as being 'lost' as my old coach would say.

but's it's all just speculation / WAG on my part.

What Simone did took major courage. She knew she didn’t have it today and took herself out. If she continued she could’ve hurt herself and probably not of medaled. Instead the US stepped up and brought home Silver. This is like saying Mahomes doesn’t have it and throws 4 INTs in the first half and is down 20 at halftime but you have Ryan Fitzpatrick as your backup. A good quality QB

So basically, she's ****ed

possibly. I can't imagine losing that degree of confidence at this stage in the middle of a meet / Olympics. It's one thing to lose it in the off season/ training, and have time to get your mind back.....but damn...I can't imagine having to pull it together so quickly. Not even sure how someone would do it.

if, assuming, the lost confidence / lost thing is the culprit.

I just can't imagine it's a pressure thing as she's dealt with it / managed it her entire competitive life. but everyone has a breaking point I suppose. Shit, who knows.

There isn't any sugar coating it, she choked. Good on her for realizing it and pulling herself out. Not doing so might have cost her teammates the silver.

Honestly even if she powered through it, she probably wasn't going to accomplish anything. Once you're mentally checked out your toast at any professional level.

It's not much different than the Super Bowl. You could probably bet money that the Chiefs coaching staff was not completely focused Super Bowl week because of the Brett Reid thing. No it wasn't mental health issues, but if you aren't 100% focused you're probably going to get waxed.

I blame the anti-intimacy beds Biles couldn't **** out the stress

plus, the risk of catastrophic injury.
one wrong move in the air / momentary mental lapse..... eeeeshh.

I'm wondering how much of this has been effecting her / and for how long (if it's a confidence thing). maybe she's been dealing with it for a while and she realized she might be playing with fire (if it's the confidence / not 'seeing' type scenario).


shit who knows. will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

So you are good with Mahomes taking himself out there? Interesting

And I think you’ll get a very honest post-mortem when all is said and done. I was surprised she came out with such honesty so immediately. Super rare for an athlete whose image is so heavily managed. I don’t think she’ll shrink away from her genuine thought process/frame of mind if she’s not able to perform on Thursday.

Yea, that's a real bad analogy. Can you imagine pulling Mahomes out of a game?

Women’s ping pong on USA. None shot outta their vag yet.

gotta wait for Team Thailand v Team Tijuana

Did anyone see the play that the USA left fielder made in the 7th inning of the gold medal softball game today?

Down 2-0 with 2 outs in the top of the 7th she made a spectacular catch over the wall in left field. It robbed the Japanese hitter of a 2 run homer and kept the US hopes alive with one final at bat.

It was a play worthy of the best of MLB outfielders.

As I have stated before, I am too stupid to figure out how to post videos or pictures on this forum. I am 75 years old and apparently am too ****ing dumb and too old to figure it out at this point.

But suffice it to say……….she made a simply spectacular catch!

It would be more like Mahomes pulling himself.

Agreed. Awesome catch.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What a catch, <a href="https://twitter.com/_janiereed?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_janiereed</a>. 🤯 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a><a href="https://t.co/7u0PgI2Gsz">pic.twitter.com/7u0PgI2Gsz</a></p>&mdash; Team USA (@TeamUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1420006681342189570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

There’s a lot here. And damn if the last thing I want to do tonight is defend my criticism of marketing. But here goes.

1. I know who Larry Nassar is. I didn’t know Biles was involved. I don’t follow gymnastics. Moreover I have a 7 year old daughter who likes gymnastics (she’s horrible at it but nonetheless) so I’m not just some asshole midnight radio caller dismissing everything that has happened to her.

2. I’m open to the idea of a mental breakdown. It’s just a poor look when you just got done telling everybody you’re the goat. And I’m a lot closer to this than you might think too. I work 3600 hours a year in the second most dangerous industry in the nation. I’m pretty safe, safer than most guys, but I’ve danced kn the razors edge more than I’d like to admit. It’s different, but a lot of the same concepts. But empathy on my end doesn’t really matter. All I’ve criticized her for is the goat thing. Regardless of the job, if you’re going to say shit like that and then quit it’s going to be a bad look. No matter the circumstances.

3. I fully acknowledge that the rape thing was horrible and she deserves much better. But if that stuff is really weighing in her mind heavily enough to be a major impact on her thinking she needs to quit mid-competition, why be on the team? I mean the Olympic trials weren’t that long ago (according to the wife. She follows the stuff not me), she had an out. And again, a lot of this stuff is softened substantially if she doesn’t roll out all the goat stuff.

4. I never compared her to Mahomes, Jordan or anyone else.

5. My point was always about the goat stuff. I know it’s all marketing, but the simple truth is if you’re going to lean on the marketing narrative, you have to control the imaging associated with your brand. And spouting off about being the goat (I think this is only person other than Ali, who had a far different approach who’s ever said anything at all like that). If I’m in her shoes and they want to make a funny prop hype video, I put on a fake old man beard and a cane and rip it off and do a flip or something. She didn’t need to go the goat route. Invariably if you say things like that and then quit, it’s going to look bad. Invariably.

5. This is most certainly not a hill I’m willing to die on. I’m willing to concede anything you want because I just made a damned passing comment about an athlete in a sport I don’t care about. But while I’m conceding, here is my rear guard action as I retreat.

The following things are not mutually exclusive and can all be true simultaneously with regards to her withdrawal .
A. Being raped is horrible and undoubtedly has substantial impacts on her mental health.

B. She’s in a high stress high leverage situation. There’s a reason most gymnasts don’t do 2 olympics. This undoubtedly has substantial impacts on her mental health.

C. She stuffed the whole thing up pretty bad by playing up the goat thing and then not finishing. That will never not look bad.

The hill is yours. Enjoy.

This was so cool. First ever gold for the Philippines.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PURE EMOTION from Hidilyn Diaz as she wins the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal in any sport ����<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/OnHerTurf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OnHerTurf</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OlympicHERstory?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OlympicHERstory</a> <a href="https://t.co/uZPw1B2ISk">pic.twitter.com/uZPw1B2ISk</a></p>&mdash; #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1419693440917454849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

You're a good man, sir.

But it's possible karma dictates that a goat will one day attack you at a traffic light. Otherwise, blue skies ahead. :)

Reason 7363662527833927484 athletes always take “boring” positions on everything.

ROFL

I hit a goat once. True story. Neighbors had one. And it would always get out. Because goats. Well, that was fine because it knew when to get out of the road…last minute but it’s fine. Well, one of the goats buddies came out with him. He uhhhh. Didn’t so much get out of the way. I blew that thing up. I got out and it’s back was broken. I felt bad. Kinda.

Buehler445 - 1
Goat - 0

:D

Not one of the women of USA Gymnastics owes anyone a thing after the complete disregard for their safety has been the standard for decades. And yet USA Gymnastics are still in charge while drowning in lawsuits. The USOC should have scrapped the connection and started over with anyone else. Any other sport, have at them. But not this one.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Simone Biles has withdrawn from the women&#39;s individual all-around final to focus on her mental health <a href="https://t.co/iBMRA8VmW3">pic.twitter.com/iBMRA8VmW3</a></p>&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1420272053689618437?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition. We wholeheartedly support Simone’s decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being. Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many. <a href="https://t.co/6ILdtSQF7o">pic.twitter.com/6ILdtSQF7o</a></p>&mdash; USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) <a href="https://twitter.com/USAGym/status/1420266286441922562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This is on par with Boxing's Leonard vs Duran match when Roberto said "No Mas"

To be fair, he was getting his shit kicked in real bad.

so she got her period?

Thanks for posting this for me.

Dude. Have you been around women? It's the week before when they PMS when shit goes off the rails.

So my wife was watching the Biles thing when I finally got home last night.

Let me preface by saying I don't know ****all about gymnastics but something wasn't right. Especially if she was missing whole twists or whatever. At that point she was probably right, the team probably had a better shot with the other girl competing. Total speculation but it's probably akin to a super amped up version of a guy that gets in his own head at the freethrow line.

She certainly looked unable to perform.

The big thing about it was after she came back out and the producers knew it was a mental thing, they CONTINUALLY had a camera in her face. Like right in her face. It was bad. She was always trying to move away, wouldn't look at it, etc. I know she's the big star and the big story, but come on. Her nervously looking away from the camera isn't good television. Focus on the performances and get shots of her from further away. Get the damned camera out of her face. It got weird.

Here's to hoping she can leverage this into a positive outcome for mental health awareness, like she did with Nassar.

Another thing: Tirico is the best. I know the production staff provides him a shitload of support and blah blah blah, but that dude is really ****ing good.

When he was still with ESPN, Russillo had him on and absolutely gushed about how good he was. Went into a lot of the technical things he does better than anybody else, so I started paying attention.

Costas was good (politics aside) and deserves all the credit he gets, but Tirico is better. NBC is leaning on past stars as analysts, which I'm down for I care more about what Phelps and Lukin have to say rather than some off the shelf analyst, but they're not professionals. They just don't have it planned out before they start talking. But Tirico saves them, smooth as butter, and gets them pointed in the right way. Grand scheme it doesn't make a ton of difference, but the guy is good. Credit where credit is due.

This is what "journalism" has turned into

Because that's what sells. The problem has always been the consumers. :(

Here’s the thing about gymnastics at that level. It’s hard to compare it to football, baseball, basketball, etc….

You make one mistake at that level and your done. No medals. In a team sport you can make multiple mistakes a game and still win. Miss throws, interceptions, miss baskets, miss goals, give up a home run, base running mistakes. You name it.

The pressure to do a one time great performance with no mistakes must be enormous.

If that's the case she should probably head on home so the focus isn't on her tomorrow. Even though it will be.<iframe scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets/widget_iframe.06c6ee58c3810956b7509218508c7b56.html?origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.chiefsplanet.com" title="Twitter settings iframe" style="display: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe><iframe id="rufous-sandbox" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden; display: none; width: 0px; height: 0px; padding: 0px; border: medium none;" title="Twitter analytics iframe" frameborder="0"></iframe>

I didn't even know 3X3 bball was a thing. I watched the gold medal game and that shit was amazing! Those girls are tough

Is that where 3 from each team stay in one side of the court all the time?

Yes. It's basically like basketball scenes from the movie White Men Can't Jump, except 3 on 3 instead of 2 on 2.

Iowa high school girls was all that way until they switched to 5 on 5. Used to love watching that growing up.

I can see why this could lead to confusion:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Really looking forward to all the events at the 2020 Olympics <a href="https://t.co/yivO3hJ14a">pic.twitter.com/yivO3hJ14a</a></p>&mdash; Sean Leahy (@thepunningman) <a href="https://twitter.com/thepunningman/status/1106202466394259456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

6x6 girls basketball in Iowa was popular and they played on a full court.

Found a new sport I like

Rugby > Basketball

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In the Olympic team final, Simone Biles planned to perform a 2½-twisting vault, but her mind stalled after just 1½ twists: “I had no idea where I was in the air. I could have hurt myself.”<br><br>This is what “the twisties” are and why they&#39;re so dangerous: <a href="https://t.co/lhG0jzuftE">https://t.co/lhG0jzuftE</a></p>&mdash; The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1420341626472472577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If she was gonna cost her team a medal, you can't really blame her for dropping out. I don't think it's necessarily some radical decision for us to collectively orgasm over, but it was the right thing to do. If Mahomes was losing his bearings on the field, like it seems Biles was in the air, he'd have to sit.

I have ZERO proof... but I heard that her Adderall (sp?) was confiscated at the border and she's suffering from withdrawl symptoms.

That's a banned PED anyways.

Link to the article? No offense but sounds like BS.

They showed her in the USA championships right before the Olympics falling off a balance beam and stepping out of bounds on the floor exercise. She has been making mistakes she doesn't normally make prior to the Olympics. If she takes addrerall we can assume she had it with her in America and was making these mental mistakes.

I read that she has an exemption from the Olympic Committee. She's been on that and Ritalin for a long time for ADHD ... but it's illegal in Japan.

The first part of my post states that I have ZERO proof. It's just something that I've heard (from someone that is usually pretty reliable about football stuff).

I don't follow gymnastics, so I have no idea what she's been doing or not doing in competition.

I do like to watch the highlight clips without all the boring stuff though. :D

yeah, you usually don’t post BS. Wasn’t citing you for BS. Your a great poster. :thumb:

Cool ESPN photo off Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CR667hNg...um=share_sheet

Klineman closed out the last pool play match with 4 straight aces. She was ****ing sending smoke man. And in the rain.

Awesome.

I don't even know what to compare that Michael Andrew to. Guy's from Kansas too. He dominates the first 150m of a medley race then completely implodes the last 50 in the freestyle swim. Went from dominating to 5th in one length of the pool. That was wild.

LMAO

And the announcers were basically roasting him the entire race in anticipation.

"John, watch this. This guy is going to completely shit the bed here. If he hasn't lapped someone after the first three legs, he may as well climb up that ladder and quit."

Yeah I honestly thought they were being overdramatic, but they might have undersold it. Guy looked like he was doing fine, then died like a fish.

Yeah that was hilarious/crazy.

It's weird that he has that big of a weakness and it's 100% fixable with training and yet this still happens in the Olympics.

Phelps said it would happen.

Yep. Race played out word for word how Phelps said it would. I feel
like that guy knows a thing or two about swimming. Just a hunch I have.

BMX racing has been far more entertaining than I expected.

Yeah. As a guy that doesn’t follow these sports at all but loves competition in general I’m a total goober for the olympics. Im pretty happy with nbcs picks for analysts. They’re not the smoothest customers in the world but they know shit and like I said before Tirico fixes shit. Much better than a professional broadcaster that knows ****all.

Conner Fields seriously injured


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Conner Fields’ crash looked horrendous. Hopefully he is ok. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BMXRacing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BMXRacing</a> <a href="https://t.co/VjBM2FCxC5">pic.twitter.com/VjBM2FCxC5</a></p>&mdash; neil leverett (@neil_lev_sport) <a href="https://twitter.com/neil_lev_sport/status/1420949337975238659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The US is about to go to penalties to try and finish the upset over the Netherlands!

Great! Is this pickup sticks with your butt cheeks or what sport?

Ice in their veins. That’s how you dominate a penalty shootout. USA!

I think it’s high time we talked about the total smoke shows on both the Turkish and Russian Olympic Cheaters women’s court volleyball teams.

No argument from me. Goddamn I love chicks.

Tall girls, with those legs that go all the way up to...amazing. :hump:
Absolutely beautiful.

Nice, triathlon mixed relay going now.

We have a thread in the pics forum.

By all means, please show us the goods.

This team triathlon on USA is really good.

Why do the women volleyball players look 40? And have male swimmer bodies.

**** those woke America hating ****s!

Are you shaking your cane?

Finally getting to Track and Field! Most of these other sports are nonsense.

Don’t sleep on BMX and skateboarding

Jordan Thompson (US VB) rolled her ankle to the inside. My ankle hurts just looking at that.

What, you're not into badminton, synchronized swimming and transgender weight lifting?

How jiu-jitsu is not in there is beyond me.

Are BMX freestylers and Skateboarders athletes?

I’m really enjoying watching rugby. It’s a lot like football.

Yes.

Whether or not they're sports is the real question.