The Summer Games of the XXXII Olympiad

[Pooh's World]

People and especially interviewers need to stop calling her GOAT. That put alot of unnecessary pressure and contributed to her anxiety as it leads to unrealistic expectations. Just let her be a kid.

Even Michael Jordan, during his playing days, people never referred to him as the GOAT in interviews, etc. He was considered one of the best players (along with Wilt, Kareem, Bill Russell) That was only added much later after he retired.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

People and especially interviewers need to stop calling her GOAT. That put alot of unnecessary pressure and contributed to her anxiety as it leads to unrealistic expectations. Just let her be a kid.

I agree but I wouldn't just apply it to kids/young adults. In this context of the Olympics that pressure can and has been applied to countries themselves especially when it comes to certain events a country is known for. US for gymnastics for example. Anything but the best and winning medals becomes a conversation about failures as if that's the only way to talk about it. Even winning Bronze as opposed to Gold gets criticism. Swimming as well.

If just talking about GOAT that's a relatively new term but not one I'm fond of.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

People and especially interviewers need to stop calling her GOAT. That put alot of unnecessary pressure and contributed to her anxiety as it leads to unrealistic expectations. Just let her be a kid.

She wears a “goat” on her leotards, from her own clothing line.

 

[Ariel484]

She made a mistake on her first run out, then packed up her things and called it a day. Tom Brady goes to the Super Bowl and throws an interception on his first pass. Lebron goes to the NBA Finals and throws an air ball on his first shot. Don't think they'd be applauded if they packed up and went home.

You can’t compare gymnastics to those other sports. If she’s off mentally, she could end up seriously injured. It’s amazing she landed the vault as well as she did getting lost in the air.

And let’s not forget that she’s in active litigation against USA gymnastics after being molested by their team doctor…which she stated is a big reason why she she stuck around for this Olympics, so a victim would still be active and visible in the sport and USAG would be held accountable.

Your comparison is overly simplistic. Also…now Jade Carey gets her AA spot, and the rest of the team seemed pretty happy with their silver medals, so I think they’ll all be okay.

Would you feel the same if she had to leave due to a sprained ankle?

 

[HiStitch626]

Well...she's a quitter. Plain and simple. Feel bad for the rest of the team.

Not even close. In fact, her incredibly strong and difficult decision allowed her team to earn the silver medal. If her scores on the other events had been similar to her vault score, the US would not have won the silver. Her correction on the vault allowed her to land safely. A similar correction on the beam, could have resulted in catastrophic injury.

This is a young woman who chose to continue with USA gymnastics after Rio because of her care and concern for her teammates. As a sexual assault survivor, assaulted by someone who's job was to care for her and that the leadership of USA gymnastics did nothing about, she wanted to make sure that someone was still speaking out and making sure no American gymnast ever had to face that again.

 

[Pooh's World]

She wears a “goat” on her leotards, from her own clothing line.

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That's even adding more pressure to yourself.

 

[monsterkitty]

Maybe they won't criminally underscore Jade on balance beam again (if I were her coach, I'd love to know why she got the number she did in team)...

We're used to seeing the scoring from the US judges here at our competitions as they don't always judge to FIG standards. However, when the US gymnasts go out into the world competitions, the international judges score to the FIG standards and our scores are always lower.

Tom Forester admitted after the 2019 Junior Worlds that he made mistakes in helping the gymnasts' coaches with form corrections as well as routine construction. The US juniors were annihilated by the judges for form and routine construction, causing them to place third. Yet, he hasn't done anything since then to correct the situation. Several of the women who were at trials and championships said that Forester never visited them at their gyms in order to give feedback. He told reporters that Morgan Hurd needed to do something if she wanted to go to trials. When she saw that interview, she commented that, "It would have been nice if he would have said that to me and my coach." Finally, Forester showed open contempt for Jade Carey because she and her dad knew that USAG would never consider her for the Olympics so she followed the FIG steps and competed in the World Cup events so that she would get one of the individual slots. He never went to her gym to see her or Riley McCusker.

USAG put all of their eggs in one basket with Simone. They're the ones that the Klayfish of the world need to look at as quitters. Except that can they be quitters if they never really tried?

 

[Pooh's World]

You can’t compare gymnastics to those other sports. If she’s off mentally, she could end up seriously injured. It’s amazing she landed the vault as well as she did getting lost in the air.

If you aren't there mentally in football you can get seriously hurt or crippled as well.

Basketball you could probably keep playing without threat of serious injury

 

[Karin1984]

What people also need to keep in mind, it's a tough couple of years. She is 24, that is barely a fully grown adult. With her childhood full of training, she is formed as an adult quite differently than 'normal' people.
The list:
- First the entire abuse of the trainer that comes out in 2017/2018.
- Then not being able to train properly, which all athletes are suffering from. Many of them are not at their peak at the moment.
- The fear of getting covid and being put in covid-jail (That's how the Dutch athletes with Covid in Japan describe it, no sunlight, bad food, small rooms)
And then on top of that:
- An entire country thinking she owes them gold medals.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

People and especially interviewers need to stop calling her GOAT. That put alot of unnecessary pressure and contributed to her anxiety as it leads to unrealistic expectations. Just let her be a kid.

Even Michael Jordan, during his playing days, people never referred to him as the GOAT in interviews, etc. He was considered one of the best players (along with Wilt, Kareem, Bill Russell) That was only added much later after he retired.

That's because in Jordan's time, goat did not mean greatest of all time. It referred to the guy that caused a team to be defeated. Goat's other meaning at the time was mean old man. Neither of which usually described Jordan. It was only with the advent of social media with its tendency to abbreviate everything that Goat's meaning changed.

Furthermore, Biles wears the phrase on her clothing So she invited the phrase.

 

[Klayfish]

We have such a long way to go...

Indeed.

If you want to stick with comparisons to gymnastics instead of football/basketball...how many other young ladies did you see last night who fell off the balance beam, or fell during their floor routine? Heck, there was that one poor Russian girl who looked petrified on the balance beam. I didn't see any of them quit after they made mistakes. Sorry, I guess I do see it as that simple...she quit on her team.

 

[Pooh's World]

What people also need to keep in mind, it's a tough couple of years. She is 24, that is barely a fully grown adult. With her childhood full of training, she is formed as an adult quite differently than 'normal' people.
The list:
- First the entire abuse of the trainer that comes out in 2017/2018.
- Then not being to train properly, which all athletes are suffering from. Many of them are not at their peak at the moment.
- The fear of getting covid and being put in covid-jail (That's how the Dutch athletes with Covid in Japan describe it, no sunlight, bad food, small rooms)
And then on top of that:
- An entire country thinking she owes them gold medals.

That's all true but to be fair she is getting millions of dollars.
And at the end of the day her sponsors and NBC (which relies on ratings to make money) are counting on her. So in that sense yeah she has made a deal and has a duty to perform.

If the NBC ratings fail (which they might anyway due to this COVID waterdown Olympics), that hurts NBC and Universal, which may mean cutbacks across the board, even at Universal studios.

After all the main reason Japan was forced to hold these Olympics (and not postpone another year) is because the IOC and TV networks wanted their money.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Indeed.

If you want to stick with comparisons to gymnastics instead of football/basketball...how many other young ladies did you see last night who fell off the balance beam, or fell during their floor routine? Heck, there was that one poor Russian girl who looked petrified on the balance beam. I didn't see any of them quit after they made mistakes. Sorry, I guess I do see it as that simple...she quit on her team.

It wasn't about mistakes or errors. Are you not even listening to the news? Klayfish I'm not sure where you're coming from other than to say let's not devolve this thread. It's already taken enough attention away from the Olympics so perhaps let's get back to that Aside from Simone what's something else you have about the Olympics? Any other events you were excited for? Any events you found yourself cheering even if it was for someone not from the U.S. Share with us that

 

[Karin1984]

That's all true but to be fair she is getting millions of dollars.
And at the end of the day her sponsors and NBC (which relies on ratings to make money) are counting on her. So in that sense yeah she has made a deal and has a duty to perform.

If the NBC ratings fail (which they might anyway due to this COVID waterdown Olympics), that hurts NBC and Universal, which may mean cutbacks across the board, even at Universal studios.

After all the main reason Japan was forced to hold these Olympics (and not postpone another year) is because the IOC and TV networks wanted their money.

It's so bad that mental health problems do not care about dollars. They come whether you get paid or not.
Probably it contributed to the pressure to perform.

Her sponsors cannot get angry about it, because that would cause backlash. They will probably say something like 'we support her 100% and we will see how we can help athletes better to keep not only their physical fitness in mind, but also their mental fitness'.

 

[BrianL]

Indeed.

If you want to stick with comparisons to gymnastics instead of football/basketball...how many other young ladies did you see last night who fell off the balance beam, or fell during their floor routine? Heck, there was that one poor Russian girl who looked petrified on the balance beam. I didn't see any of them quit after they made mistakes. Sorry, I guess I do see it as that simple...she quit on her team.

But doesn't she get credit for trying to help her team, knowing she wasn't going to turn in good scores? They may very well have done worse with her performing. Other athletes may make a mistake, but not think it will affect future performance. In this case she felt she couldn't perform. Now WHY that happened is the question, but I think it's pretty clear that something is wrong with USA Gymnastics, besides what we already know.

 

[soccerdad72]

That's all true but to be fair she is getting millions of dollars.
And at the end of the day her sponsors and NBC (which relies on ratings to make money) are counting on her. So in that sense yeah she has made a deal and has a duty to perform.

Sure, she should have just lied and said she hurt her ankle. Much better to bury that whole mental health issue - because that's worked so well in the past.

 

[Pooh's World]

It's so bad that mental health problems do not care about dollars. They come whether you get paid or not.
Probably it contributed to the pressure to perform.

Her sponsors cannot get angry about it, because that would cause backlash. They will probably say something like 'we support her 100% and we will see how we can help athletes better to keep not only their physical fitness in mind, but also their mental fitness'.

At the end of the day she will be fine. She has millions and millions of dollars.

We need to be more concerned with all the people who have mental health problems in our nations who are living on the streets in cities like Denver, New York, Washington, D.C, Portland, Los Angeles, etc. Homelessness is out of control right now.

 

[jrmasm]

That's all true but to be fair she is getting millions of dollars.
And at the end of the day her sponsors and NBC (which relies on ratings to make money) are counting on her. So in that sense yeah she has made a deal and has a duty to perform.

If the NBC ratings fail (which they might anyway due to this COVID waterdown Olympics), that hurts NBC and Universal, which may mean cutbacks across the board, even at Universal studios.

After all the main reason Japan was forced to hold these Olympics (and not postpone another year) is because the IOC and TV networks wanted their money.

You put the success or failure of the entire Olympic Games on her shoulders. Seems to me that’s part of the problem.

 

[Pooh's World]

Sure, she should have just lied and said she hurt her ankle. Much better to bury that whole mental health issue - because that's worked so well in the past.

No, it's responding to the idea that she doesn't own anybody anything.

She's been compensated heavily for her success.
One is under no obligation to receive millions of dollars when competing.

Personally, I think she made the right move, but let's not pretend she doesn't own anybody anything. She's not an amateur or in some rec league, she's a pro getting millions.

 

[jrmasm]

At the end of the day she will be fine. She has millions and millions of dollars.

We need to be more concerned with all the people who have mental health problems in our nations who are living on the streets in cities like Denver, New York, Washington, D.C, Portland, Los Angeles, etc. Homelessness is out of control right now.

People freaking hate when celebrities and athletes speak out about their struggles (what are you crying about? You’re rich and famous ) but they are helping those that are also struggling but don’t have a public platform.