As I said in the general thread, if she got the yips or the twisties or whatever name you want to call it, it was the right call to stop. The sport is too dangerous otherwise. What I am tired of are all the columns and thinkpieces and whatnot like that Atlantic article.
Yeah…I agree.
My impression is that sure…if you think you cannot safely perform then you absolutely should withdraw. No question. Right move.
But is that “laudatory”? I’d say no. It is the smart move but she has been competing most of her life and her team relies on her.
If Biles felt she could not safely perform then she 100% made the right choice for herself but I do not know that she deserves praise for that. Likewise she should not be ridiculed. More of a neutral, “Ok, you have to do what is right for you” and leave it at that.
Because…
Confused
I’ll hazard the guess that there’s the factor of having the entire competition be all about Biles and nobody will notice or remember anything about this other than Biles?
Alas the Olympics coverage got turned into a Human-Interest reality show decades ago by the networks so it was going to happen.
I didn’t realize she was 24 years old. Even if she never competes in another Olympics, it’s better that she withdrew from this one rather than risk injury. She has nothing to prove to anyone.
Right wing media isn’t very accepting of Miss Bile’s choice (3:15):
As usual, they are pissed because they feel they are entitled, this time to Miss Biles’ talents.
Yeah, well, as a black woman I don’t imagine “conservative media” was ever kind to Ms. Biles.
Yet another day to be ashamed to be a Texan.
WASHINGTON — A deputy Texas attorney general called Simone Biles a “selfish, childish national embarrassment” in a tweet as some Texas conservatives have piled on the Olympic gymnast for pulling herself out of events this week.
…
Aaron Reitz, Ken Paxton’s deputy AG for legal strategy, shared a tweet praising Kerri Strug for competing with an ankle injury in 1996.
“The great ones find a way,” the tweet said, to which Reitz added: “Contrast this with our selfish, childish national embarrassment, Simone Biles.”
As Reitz’s remarks were covered by news outlets Wednesday, Attorney General Ken Paxton called them “insensitive,” the Dallas Morning News reported. The tweet was taken down.
…
I guess Reitz felt she should have gone for the posthumous gold medal.
Geez, even Mr. Sensitive Ken Paxton thought Reitz’ remarks were too much. That’s saying something. 
I don’t think she’s married. Wikipedia says she’s “in a relationship” with some football player.
And does even Wimbledon use the title Mrs to address players any more. Not being snarky or even questioning whether it is good or bad. My impression is that almost no one is referred to as Mrs Anything in any sporting context any more.
Even in a social context I rarely hear it, except from really old people (I’m moderately old myself now). Though I see that on our school website the teachers are referred to my Mr, Miss or Mrs. So perhaps it hasn’t fallen away quite as much as I imagined.
It seems to have turned into a political thing.
On the left, OMG she is so brave on the right ha ha ha, quitter, knew she was overrated.
My own view is what I expressed in the Pit thread, She let her team down, and one can be critical of her for that, otherwise she has had a glittering career and this should be a footnote.
Unfortunately because of the polarisation alluded to above, she might be remembered more for that than her absolutely dazzling highs.
Like a “Zidane’s career ends in disgrace”.
It would be a lot easier for people to move past Biles dropping out of the competition if she wasn’t featured in half of the commercials aired during it.
As a black (and a woman, no less) conservatives have a say on what she can and can’t do with her body.
If she were a white male athlete and HE dropped out for the same reasons she did, would there be this huge flap? Would right-wingers be calling him weak and a disgrace?
Yes; they would.
They’re entitled to his efforts, you see.
It would depend, if he was openly gay, or a liberal, yup.
She has no more let her team down than she would have if she had sustained a physical injury in training that left her unable to compete. Just because the problem she’s suffering is psychological doesn’t make it not real.
You mean among people who don’t really follow football, and in this case gymnastics, right?
I remember for years after the Materatzzi incident, you could not mention Zidane without someone bringing that up.
Then he went to RM and won a bunch of titles and now I have to deal with a couple fo young relatives who apparently don’t know he was a player.
I saw Biles at Rio and she made Raisman look like an amateur in the Floor Exersise.
No, but it can absolutely feel that way, even when your coaches and teammates are telling you to listen to your body and heal. I’ve pushed myself too hard for sports with stakes so low that they can’t even exist on the same scale as the Olympics; I can barely conceive of the sheer mental badassery required to walk away like she did.