Simone Biles - Do we put too much pressure on athletes?
doubledragon
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Simone Biles, the GOAT women's gymnast, has withdrawn from multiple events at the Tokyo Olympics due to mental health issues. I think the pressure she has on her is taking it's toll on her, and she said that the pressure has taken the fun out of doing what she loves, and that she feels the weight of the world on her shoulders.
'We're human, too': Simone Biles highlights importance of mental health in Olympics withdrawal
"We also have to focus on ourselves," said Biles, who is considered the greatest gymnast of all time.
Simone Biles knew she was carrying a lot when she walked into the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on Tuesday. As the face of the U.S. Olympic team, she was shouldering her country's gold medal hopes. As the greatest gymnast of all time, she was toting expectations for athletic dominance and repeated brilliance. As an outspoken advocate for female athletes, she was lugging around the pressure to make her fans proud.
Or, as she put it Monday, she was carrying "the weight of the world" on her shoulders. And she was making it look easy. Until it no longer was.
In making the stunning decision to withdraw from the team final competition Tuesday, Biles acknowledged the tremendous pressure she had been facing as the "head star of the Olympics" and said she needed to focus on her mental health.
"We also have to focus on ourselves, because at the end of the day we're human, too," Biles said, according to The Associated Press. "We have to protect our mind and our body, rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do."
Biles, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, said she was not in the right state of mind to continue the competition.
"Physically, I feel good," she told Hoda Kotb on NBC's "TODAY" show after she withdrew. "Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment. Coming here to the Olympics and being the head star of the Olympics isn't an easy feat. So we're just trying to take it one day at a time, and we'll see."
Biles' candid admission, which follows Naomi Osaka's decision this year to withdraw from tennis tournaments to protect her mental health, again put a global spotlight on the often taboo subject of mental health in sports.
Osaka, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, stepped away from the French Open and withdrew from Wimbledon to prioritize her mental health.
"I do hope that people can relate and understand it's OK to not be OK; and it's OK to talk about it," she wrote in Time magazine. "There are people that can help, and there is usually light at the end of any tunnel."
Biles said she was inspired by Osaka and would tell others who are struggling to put their own needs first.
"Put mental health first, because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to," she said. "So it's OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself, because it shows how strong of a competitor that you really are, rather than just battle through it."
Olympic athletes are competing under exceedingly unusual circumstances this year. They face more isolation this year with the Games taking place as the world is still in the coronavirus pandemic. And because Tokyo is under a state of emergency, spectators have been barred from most events where the athletes are competing.
"It's been really stressful this Olympic Games," Biles said. "Just as a whole, not having an audience, there are a lot of different variables going into it. It's been a long week. It's been a long Olympic process. It's been a long year. So just a lot of different variables, and I think we're just a little bit too stressed out. We should be out here having fun, and sometimes that's not the case."
After the U.S. team struggled during qualifying rounds, Biles wrote Monday on Instagram that she felt "like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times."
"I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn't affect me but damn sometimes it's hard hahaha! The olympics is no joke!" she wrote. "BUT I'm happy my family was able to be with me virtually🤍 they mean the world to me!"
Dr. Leela R. Magavi, a psychiatrist who has frequently worked with student-athletes and professional athletes, said the societal expectations from fans, the media and others can make athletes feel as though "every single step that they take will be significantly scrutinized, and this kind of pressure is so severe" that they can have trouble even focusing on their day-to-day activities.
Magavi said athletes like Biles, "who have such stature" and are "essentially symbolizing and representing a country," can have so much anticipatory anxiety and face such enormous pressure to be perfect and never falter that "in this way they lose that passion for the game that was the first reason they joined the game in the first place."
Magavi said she commends Biles for prioritizing her mental health needs over "societal expectations."
"It really does take courage and emotional strength," she said.
Simone Biles tumbles free from a nation's hopes in world class routine in self-care
Biles got an outpouring of support after she withdrew.
Former Team USA gymnast Aly Raisman told "TODAY" that it was important to "think about how much pressure has been on her, and there's only so much that someone can take."
"She's human, and I think sometimes people forget that, and Simone, just like everyone else, is doing the best that she can," she said.
"I also am just thinking about the mental impact that this has to have on Simone," Raisman continued. "It's just so much pressure, and I've been watching how much pressure has been on her in the months leading up to the Games, and it's just devastating. I feel horrible."
At the news conference Tuesday, Biles said she knew she needed to take a step back to "work on my mindfulness" and give her teammates the chance to take over, so as not to hurt their medal chances.
She competed in Team USA's first rotation on the vault but bailed out of her Amanar vault. She completed only 1½ twists on a 2½-twisting Yurchenko vault and then took a stumble on the landing.
"I didn't want to risk the team a medal," she said of her decision to withdraw. "They've worked way too hard for that, so I just decided that those girls need to go in and do the rest of the competition."
Biles, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee and Grace McCallum of Team USA took silver. The Russian Olympic Committee team won gold.
Biles won five medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Asked about Thursday's individual all-around competition, Biles said, "We're going to take it day by day, and we're just going to see."
A day later, USA Gymnastics confirmed that she was withdrawing from the event.
Comments
Sign of the times. MSM calls her brave. We had a word for her when I was growing up. Quitter. For the rest of her life she will always be known as a quitter. Unfortunately she’ll make millions writing a book about mental health and giving advice about quitting.
Look at the posts about athletes playing with broken legs, over coming cancer.
Let’s give her a participation trophy. No wait. She didn’t participate, she quit. Brave? Nope quitter. Thanks for watching.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
something to consider before casting aspersions -- she is the only survivor of Larry Nassar's sexual abuse to compete in these Olympics
Tough situation - many of these athletes are children and that’s easy to forget or dismiss.
Simone Biles started ‘serious’ gymnastics at age 8 and has been training and competing for 16 years consecutively. For all intents and purposes, that which has given her life meaning is ending right now. That’s tough enough when you’re 65 but when you are 24? And let’s face it, it wasn’t going all that well. The Olympic athlete is very, very consumable and fame is very, very fleeting. Most forgo lots of ‘normal life’ activities and when you look back near the end - like all people - you wonder what it was all for and about. I think that’s human nature, to a degree.
I also imagine it’s a lot to process that you are perhaps the greatest gymnast in world history yet at the same time you are seeing yourself becoming irrelevant in front of an empty stadium…half a world away in Japan. No family. No friends.
I agree that she should have finished the games; it’s always a selfish act to quit regardless of the circumstances and I can’t imagine her teammates or the people left off the roster are too happy about this choice since for most athletes it’s a literal once in a lifetime that you work towards without any assurance of reaching with lottery like odds.
It’s a tough and sad end to a remarkable career. And that’s not uncommon at all.
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You both make some great points. There is a lot going on here.
I noted in the olympics thread. Aderral is banned in Japan and I believe she has adhd. So, off her meds and only athletes and coaching staff are the only ones allowed. No family, no personal assistants, no friends, nada. Her support system is destroyed for these games.
I saw an article about a paralympian who's deaf/blind and her assistant could not come so she did not go to the games to compete.
I wouldn't be quick to judge any athletes at these games with the circumstances.
Yes, I also read that she is on meds for anxiety and has been in therapy for a couple of years, no doubt due to the Larry Nassar abuse she suffered. I think she is in a dark place mentally and I hope she gets well, I hate to see her struggle mentally.
I also wonder if there is more to this story that we will not know for a long while yet
above and beyond anything sports, the old adage that “if you dont have your health, you dont have anything at all” is so true. and that definitely goes for mental health as well.
I think the huge media pressure of her being not of this planet with her skills set her up with so much pressure she messed up a few times, her psych got messed up and she quit before she made more mistakes. Stress or injury is always the out
She's the greatest gymnast ever. She's been a medal factory for the US. Obviously something wasn't right. She couldn't go so next man up which is what happened.
Most of the time one puts too much pressure on themselves
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
If an athlete has a sense of being "under pressure" during an event, it is a sign that their mental health is messed up to begin with. In a pressure situation the best athletes stay calm and confident. There is of course an adrenaline rush BEFORE the event but the best athletes learn to subdue it. Cool, calm, and collected/ confident. That's the winning ticket.
I hate the whole situation. It sucks for her, her teammates, the fans, everyone.
I’ve gone back and forth on this and have to assume that before she left she thought she’d be OK. I think she would have stayed home and cheered if she thought it would come to this. I can do everything in my life just fine, almost regardless of my mental health state. I don’t sprint, jump, twist 3 times in the middle of a flip and then land safely…all on international TV. Whatever’s going on with her, the margin for error between safety and catastrophe is extremely thin. If she says she doesn’t have it in her to compete properly and safely, I have to believe it. I’m sure she hates it, but it’s better than breaking your neck (which wouldn’t have helped us to Gold, anyway).
As far as the OP question of “too much pressure” goes, at this kind of competition I think pressure finds its own level. You don’t train to be the best in the world without pressure. The whole thing might be unhealthy, or it might just be how we find who can handle the most…or both, and so much more.
I think when she got disoriented during her vault in the preliminaries that something clicked for her. She performs exceptionally dangerous maneuvers that literally no other woman has ever done. One screwup and she could be crippled for life. If she's not right in the head and is getting disoriented, as happened to her at least once already, then she's definitely at serious risk of significant injury. Perhaps that was her line of thinking.
She pulled in of the individual all around. Feel bad for her. NBC must be devastated. She is a cash cow. Fans have to be devastated as well.
m
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One never knows what is happening in the off camera life of those who live under the spotlight and in the glare of the media.
The unfortunate circumstance of Ms. Biles being abused and victimized by Nassar, plus having 16 years of your life devoted exclusively to gymnastics is a recipe for mental/psychological problems arising that will likely never go away.
Sometimes self preservation kicks in and causes one to stop, get off the life crushing treadmill one is on and do something else. Hopefully Ms. Biles will be able to move forward with her life in a positive and constructive manner.
I am curious whether the response to Ms. Biles withdrawing from further competition in the 2021 Olympics would be different if it was not her and instead was another athlete of similar stature including for example:
Michael Phelps;
Katy Ledecky;
Florence Joiner;
4, Kristi Yamaguci; or
I’m not going to add to anything above. But seeing all her media posts pre Olympics she didn’t have any problems posting everyday with smiles and happy stories. Just saying.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
That's indicative of nothing. People fake being happy all the time.
Especially when hits earn money.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
i guess i am insensitive, but when i was growing up I was taught to have resilience and finish what I started. now, I understand that I was not competing in front of millions, but it seems we are beginning to enter an era where perseverance and resilience are not attributes that are celebrated.
it seems that many of the great stories of sport that we all love to reminisce about are filled with athletes overcoming injury/hardship/adversity. i fear that those stories will become more and more rare if this trend continues. it seems a poor example for our youth as well. not only is it accepted for our athletes to quit on themselves and their teams because the situations seem too stressful or adverse, it is actually celebrated.
it makes me wonder where society at large will be in a few decades.
I would imagine that when Ms. Biles has greyed and is alone with her thoughts, she will feel a sense of regret for not pushing through the adversity and leaving everything on the mat.
everyone has baggage. everyone has adversity. everyone has stressors in their lives.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I for one will not pass any judgement at all. I would thank her for being a great representative for our country in the past.
The mental end of things is always the hardest. Do we blame a soldier for PTSD? We thank him for his service and get him all the help he needs. I wish her all the best.
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she quit on her team
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Or she realized that she didn’t ‘have it’ anymore and withdrew so as to not hurt the team, who took the silver.
Most people are just starting their career at 24; hers just ended. If she tried to power through and sucked, then people would say she was selfish and took a spot from a better gymnast because of her name and she’s too old to be competing.
I don’t think it needs to celebrated or criticized; this isn’t a team game despite being in a team. This is more like golf and Ryder Cup where you do your individual best to help the team score.
This is different than James Harden quitting on Houston a few years ago…
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some of these replies are just so "Sports Forum" that it's ridiculous. let's kick someone battling a Mental Issue, what's wrong with you guys?? if she had a severely sprained wrist or ankle, would you call her a quitter because she couldn't compete any longer??
I would imagine that when Ms. Biles has greyed and is alone with her thoughts, she will feel a sense of regret for not pushing through the adversity and leaving everything on the mat.
I suspect her thoughts will be closer to "Better to be a has-been than a never-was" but that's just me. she has nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to regret. some of you guys should chew on that for awhile and hope that you or a family member never has to face Mental Health issue. if you do, don't come here, you'll be mocked and hounded for being a coward.
I literally just heard an interview on NBC from two of Biles teammates. when asked how Biles was doing, they said she was back to her normal happy self, considering whether or not to compete in any individual events later on in the games.
according to her teammates, it sure seems Ms Biles is back to normal again.
Maybe instead of celebrating athletes who resign from tournaments/games because of the extreme stress their sport causes, we should be cheering them on the adapt and persevere. just like your sprained ankle analogy, we revere the performances when players persevere through those type of hardships.
how different would the Red sox history have been had not Curt Schilling pushed through his ankle injury? can you imagine the mental and physical toughness it took for Cal Ripken to play 2600 consecutive games?
those are the type of performances we should be celebrating, not quitting because the pressure is too great.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Craig, I agree with you that we shouldn't be cheering her on or making a spectacle out of the whole thing. that's a product of the modern media culture and money. they'll soak it for all they can get.
the flip side is that she shouldn't be denigrated for a debilitating condition that's easy to trivialize because it can't be seen. also, Mental Health is a complex issue that is difficult for a schooled Clinical Professional to asses, I wouldn't put much stock in what the Gymnastic Team has to say about things.
I tend to think that Simone Biles has shown us throughout her career that she is an incredible competitor and is able to rise above many types of physical and mental/emotional issues and still perform at levels rarely, if ever, seen before. If she determined that she could not perform in this situation, then I think that whatever she is going through must have been pretty significant. I also try to remember that we only see in the news what they really want us to know. There are likely things in this situation, maybe too personal to let out, that are being kept from the public. And rightly so, I believe. We don't need her inner most personal turmoil laid out for our knowledge/entertainment.
Over the years in sports, there are lot of guys who get it and lots of guys who don’t.
I have heard many guys say ‘He’s a good teammate’ about guys you just know were not good teammates. It’s the person offering the quote who is the good teammate, biting their tongue for the sake of the team and not outing someone and creating more drama.
I imagine the teammates are saying what is right for the team, pushing away questions for their teammate and trying to shift the focus back to the remarkable things they’re doing, like Suni Lee stepping up and winning all around gold in Biles’ place!!!!
USA! USA! USA!
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adhd withdrawls mixed with the pressure.> @AFLfan said:
she also had the juevos to say it was mental vs faking a foot injury and lying. so ill give her some points there.
What about if other professions just didn't feel like finishing the job due to mental anguish:
Your surgeon during your surgery,
A pilot about to land a plane,
A policemen not confronting a shooter. Look at all the crap that was laid on the resource officer at the Florida HS shooting who stayed outside. Maybe he had too much going on in his life,
A fireman that doesn't want to go into a burning building. My wife has worked with area fire departments for 30 years. All the divorces and you only hear about the suicides that happen at the stations. Never the ones that happen at their homes.
I am not trying to downplay Biles, but to be called courageous and a hero for quitting I disagree with. She earned her hero status before this incident.
https://apple.news/AtfhOxvVCRKyN2hspXIEAbA
Imagine flying through the air, springing off a piece of equipment as you prepare to flip on one axis while twisting on another. It all happens fast, so there’s little time to adjust. You rely on muscle memory, trusting that it’ll work out, because with so much practice, it usually does.
But then suddenly, you’re upside down in midair and your brain feels disconnected from your body. Your limbs that usually control how much you spin have stopped listening, and you feel lost. You hope all the years you’ve spent in this sport will guide your body to a safe landing position.
When Simone Biles pushed off the vaulting table Tuesday, she entered that terrifying world of uncertainty. In the Olympic team final, Biles planned to perform a 2½-twisting vault, but her mind chose to stall after just 1½ twists instead.
“I had no idea where I was in the air,” Biles said. “I could have hurt myself.”
Biles, who subsequently withdrew from the team competition and then the all-around final a day later, described what went wrong during that vault as “having a little bit of the twisties.”
The cute-sounding term, well-known in the gymnastics community, describes a frightening predicament. When gymnasts have the “twisties,” they lose control of their bodies as they spin through the air. Sometimes they twist when they hadn’t planned to. Other times they stop midway through, as Biles did. And after experiencing the twisties once, it’s very difficult to forget. Instinct gets replaced by thought. Thought quickly leads to worry. Worry is difficult to escape.
“Simply, your life is in danger when you’re doing gymnastics,” said Sean Melton, a former elite gymnast who dealt with the twisties through his entire career. “And then, when you add this unknown of not being able to control your body while doing these extremely dangerous skills, it adds an extreme level of stress. And it’s terrifying, honestly, because you have no idea what is going to happen.”
The twisties are essentially like the yips in other sports. But in gymnastics, the phenomenon affects the athletes when they’re in the air, so the mind-body disconnect can be dangerous, even for someone of Biles’s caliber.
This sounds like a terrifying position to be in and I don’t blame her for stepping down when she knows something is wrong. We definitely put to much pressure on athletes at times, just look at the men’s basketball team over the past two weeks as an example.
Eric
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I can understand these these things and agree to a certain point. However, Biles withdrew prior to competition beginning. I think your examples are presented under the assumption that those people are in the midst of a situation and then mentally breakdown and leave. Biles didn't step onto the gym floor, look around at the crowd and then walk away.
I would counter that in similar situations, I would encourage those individuals to back down. If in the days leading up to a big surgery, long flight or authorities engaging with criminals, I would hope those people would step aside and let someone else take their place if they did not feel like they could accomplish their task. If a surgeon is not feeling 100%, then most definitely take a step back, reschedule the surgery for a later date or allow another competent surgeon to take your place. As the person being operated on, I would rather wait for someone mentally prepared to perform at 100% than hope my doctor could pull things off while only at 75% engagement.
You've also got to consider that Biles has trained her whole life for Olympic competition. I wouldn't imagine that she would frivolously throw away all of the time she put in leading up to these Olympics.
If I'm her teammate I'd be saying the right things to the press but otherwise would be royally ticked off. Sure they got silver without her but it could have been gold. In the individual, Suni Lee stepped up and won gold despite Biles bailing. That's pressure and stress having to pick up the slack. Dealing with emotional stress? Remember Canadian ice skater Joanie Rochette from the winter olympics a few years back, who had to compete the day after her mother died? She could have done a Simone and bail. But she didn't. That's the mark of a champion, whether you medal or don't. You fight through and you do your best for your teammates, your country and yourself.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
She is a multi medal world/olympic champion already, I don't think there should be any question to her drive/ability.
You're darn straight we won gold, and I'm glad Suni Lee had that chance because they showed her family on TV watching her and they were estatic and proud, and I'm proud and I'm pumped up man, I'm pumped up!
^^^^^this guy gets it.
I understand when an athlete has to either get pulled out of competition by coaching staff or even themselves due to injury.
for an athlete who trains day and night for a once in 4 year competition on a worldwide stage having to pull out due to whatever injury/ailment i would expect him/her to not be shown in the stands laughing and joking with her teammates afterwards. the optics are just terrible.
she is a quitter. plain and simple. she should not be championed. i see no difference between her and Roberto Duran.
this is just her version on "no mas"
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
The world's greatest athletes perform best under pressure. They elevate their game, and separate themselves from their competitors. Maybe she's one notch below this level. Nothing to be ashamed about. In any event, she's a class act, and I wish her nothing but the best going forward.
Dave
this will be me at work if andy dalton quits on the bears
paid professions. huge difference. these are games, not life or death situations.
No sir, you're not getting off that easy, Andy Dalton isn't going anywhere, you're not getting rid of him!
And then when Andy Dalton retires, a Chicago Bear, he'll become the Bears head coach!
how did Biles net worth get to 6MM if not for her athletic career? no, she may not be getting paid by the US Olympic committee, but she certainly wouldn't be getting her endorsement deals without the notoriety of being a superstar Olympic gymnast.
i would agree there is a huge difference between a "paid profession" like a surgeon or a pilot. Biles is getting paid WAY more than those "paid professions" and she is only 24.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
No, it couldn't. They were basically locked into the silver. The gold medalists had an insurmountable lead.
Lots of people did exactly that a decade ago when Jay Cutler had a sprain that turned out to be an MCL tear. He was mercilessly ripped for not continuing to play with what is a severe injury.
One persons set back is another's opportunity. Congrats to American Suni Lee. All-Around Olympic Champion!
The US Women team in general have been rock solid
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
guessing hard work and being one of the best in the world at what she does. and if she messes up or pulls out, no one dies, suffers brain damage or crashes into a fiery ball of debris.
“dont hate the player, hate the game”?
and why is this scene funny? because we expected him to save the day as a pilot? of course not.
Imagine the mental health of the person sitting at home who missed out on an Olympic spot only to have someone waste it.
THANK YOU.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
One women's struggles have become another woman's dreams.
Simone Biles doesn’t owe us anything. But she sure does owe her team, her sponsor and the network to show up for work. Why is it so hard for this generation to admit she quit? It absolutely is the definition of the word quit.
Remember Vontae Davis? He quit at halftime. His teammates at the post game press conference said. “He absolutely quit. He quit on US”
Do we owe him an apology?
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.