irritated with USAG and Simone crew

[Agymnast]

Simone has left it totally open - she hasn't said anything about her future other than her tour

 

[nocoolusername]

I'm seeing a lot of re-tweets in support of her teammate winning gold today. And before today some retweets in support of her. What is wrong with that?

All we know is that she has a a mental health problem which impacted her ability to safely compete. That can mean so many different things! A lot of people hear mental health and immediately go to an image of someone sitting in a padded room wearing a straight jacket or someone who is so fragile that everyone around them needs to wear kid gloves. Sure, sometimes that's what a mental health crisis looks like but you know, people can be quite functional during mental illness. I wish people would lay off the criticism.

"Losing a skill" and "having fear issues" are common problems for gymnasts.
I think it would be more honest for her to say that is what happened to her. Those things aren't a disgrace, but I don't think they are mental health issues.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

"Losing a skill" and "having fear issues" are common problems for gymnasts.
I think it would be more honest for her to say that is what happened to her. Those things aren't a disgrace, but I don't think they are mental health issues.

Anyone who has been around this sport long enough knows these issues usually arise when the athlete is under pressure/stress - so it is also mental health related. There are numerous posts on this forum about kids loosing skills prior to the first meet/state championships or a gyms move up assessment date.

 

[Deleted member 26718]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/olympi...s-gymnastics-struggle-tokyo-olympics-n1275460

Simone Biles said she was still suffering with "the twisties” Friday and "literally can not tell up from down,"

Biles, who appeared to become disorientated while performing a vault Tuesday before she stumbled on her dismount, said she had “no idea” how she landed on her feet.

“If you look at the pictures and my eyes, you can see how confused I am as to where I am in the air,” she told her followers.

Biles said that “the twisties” had “randomly started happening” the morning after preliminary competition, adding that it was “the strangest, weirdest feeling.”

She said she “literally can not tell up from down," which meant she had no idea how she was going to land or what part of her body she was going to land on. “It’s the craziest feeling ever," she added.

Getting rid of them “varies with time” and they had lasted for about two or more weeks in the past, she said, adding that they had “never transferred to the bars and beam before for me" but this time it had affected her for every event “which sucks… really bad.”

Oops! So much for the claims of "she had this before"!

 

[bogwoppit]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/olympi...s-gymnastics-struggle-tokyo-olympics-n1275460



Oops! So much for the claims of "she had this before"!

She has publicly said she has had this before. A few months back she tweeted she was dealing with the twisties.

 

[skschlag]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/olympi...s-gymnastics-struggle-tokyo-olympics-n1275460



Oops! So much for the claims of "she had this before"!

"Getting rid of them “varies with time” and they had lasted for about two or more weeks in the past, she said, adding that they had “never transferred to the bars and beam before for me" but this time it had affected her for every event “which sucks… really bad.”"

THat statement right there indicates that she has had them before. Just because they had never transferred to bars and beam does not mean she had never had them. They were just worse this time.

 

[Really]

Anyone who has been around this sport long enough knows these issues usually arise when the athlete is under pressure/stress - so it is also mental health related. There are numerous posts on this forum about kids loosing skills prior to the first meet/state championships or a gyms move up assessment date.

"Mental Health related" and "Mental Health issues" are different things. If it was truly a mental health issue, then sports mental blocks would appear in the DSM-5. That being said, I agree that gymnastics mental blocks are stress-related. In Simone's case, they might even be potentially PTSD-related. However, I don't think it's accurate to characterize "the twisties" as a mental health problem. I also think it's inaccurate to characterize them as "mental health issues". And-- this is not directed towards you, Pineapple Lump, but the mainstream media-- I don't think that "the twisties" or other gymnastics mental blocks should be compared to Naomi Osaka's depression and anxiety leading her to pull out of the French open because she doesn't want to deal with the requisite and exacerbating media interviews.

 

[Flippin'A]

"Mental Health related" and "Mental Health issues" are different things. If it was truly a mental health issue, then sports mental blocks would appear in the DSM-5. That being said, I agree that gymnastics mental blocks are stress-related. In Simone's case, they might even be potentially PTSD-related. However, I don't think it's accurate to characterize "the twisties" as a mental health problem. I also think it's inaccurate to characterize them as "mental health issues". And-- this is not directed towards you, Pineapple Lump, but the mainstream media-- I don't think that "the twisties" or other gymnastics mental blocks should be compared to Naomi Osaka's depression and anxiety leading her to pull out of the French open because she doesn't want to deal with the requisite and exacerbating media interviews.

"Mental health issue" isn't a technical term for diagnosable disorders, it's just a descriptive phrase which means an issue related to mental health. There's no reason to put such strong limits on what can or can't be described as a mental health issue. I agree that the media largely ignored the physical dangers associated with the twisties which led to some confusion, but I'm not sure why you feel the need to claim that only diagnosable disorders appearing in the DSM should be classified as "mental health issues." This is one of those cases (and they are incredibly common, in my opinion,) where physical and mental health can't be pulled neatly apart. Simone had a mental injury which could very well have led to a physical injury. She very smartly stopped before it got to that point.

 

[amiandjim]

Kayla has one more year of high school and is committed to Florida.

 

[Beks]

I actually think Skinners husband’s post was about Grace.

But I saw an interview with a Canadian gymnast who said in actuality maybe Simone should have been the individual athlete and Skinner on the team.

Her point wasn’t about who was the better gymnast but that maybe mentally Simone was close to burn out and so maybe it would have been smarter for USAG to let her focus on the individual events.

I heard that there was an interview with Simone where apparently there was a freak out when they lost qualifications they were given an extra practice and she was blamed for them losing. That she wasn’t comfortable with the idea that it was her responsibility to carry the team.
I think questions can be asked about Simones mental readiness for awhile she did seem burned out.

But I also think she is also a human being who deserved some Grace. Hindsight is 20/20

 

[beckfree1]

yeah good point. the abuse should never happen but would have saved anyone from abuse for withdrawing and could have helped the team. Guess thought was she could always compete in individual events and she did and won bronze so heyho.