Olympics 🏅

Djoko 6-4, 6-3 in his 2nd round match .......ruthlessly efficient.........

Um

There is an unreal comic quality to someone who had the total lack of shame to wear leotards with goats stitched into them choking hard on the grandest stage of them all.

Some idiot somewhere said this would be like the Chicago Bulls losing Michael Jordan in game 7 of the NBA finals. I can't be the only one who finds the notion itself so absurd you can't do anything but laugh your ass off. "Jeez, guys. I'm not feeling up to this, I'm going to have to sit this one out".

(and Osaka crashing out on the same day too. Rough times)

A lot of people seem to be insinuating that she's being picked on or that it's somehow sexist that people aren't happy about this. If a male athlete did something like this on this big of a stage he'd get killed, it's like if Tom Brady decided he was too nervous to play in the Super Bowl in the middle of the game.

There are people saying this is a "good example" or whatever but the better example is doing your best even when you lose, as will happen to virtually all of us in life who aren't world class at whatever it is we do. This isn't putting athletes on a pedestal, most of the responsibilities we all have in life aren't things we can abandon because we're feeling bad

The optics certainly won't look good if she comes back and wins gold in the individual after quitting on her team.

I remember all of those people upset because she wasn't included in the sportscenter GOAT photo with Brady/Babe Ruth/Jordan/LeBron/Tiger/Fed/Nadal/Serena/Ali/Messi/Ronaldo. I don't recall any of those people doing something like this on such a big stage in their sport. Mentality is part of evaluating an athlete. 



The equivalent to what Jordan did would be if she had announced in advance of the Olympics that she wasn't feeling right and was pulling out. She wouldn't be catching 1% of the flack she is now if she did that. Jordan didn't decide he was going to take time off in the middle of a playoff game.

If she doesn't wanna compete then she doesn't wanna compete. Mental stress weighs heavy and is very taxing to your mind to the point where you feel like you can't perform to the best of your abilities.

Besides, McKayla needs to come back. For obvious reasons but still reasons that involves pleasing me aesthetically. Tho I understand she must be damaged goods by now.

Ariane fucking Titmus. At this point it just seems like she likes toying with her competitors until she decides to turn it the fuck on in the last 50-100. 2/2 baby, 2/2.

Some people forget that athletes are humans, not machines. Not to mention that they also had to compete during a pandemic that even stresses the host country right before the games got started (which probably didn't help matters). Some other athletes already dropped out of going to the games or forfeited because of restrictions like Becca Meyers, Castor Semenya, and the aforementioned Nick Kyrigos. I'm also particularly curious why Kyrigos wasn't being attacked for his choice compared to Biles when one of his reasons was because of empty stadiums? I mean, that part can make him sound a little silly and selfish out of context when there's more to the story related to his minor injury and mental health too. But that doesn't make them weak or quitters for wanting to look after themselves either. I'm also with urbanpatrician on this one.

I don't think anyone considers any of those people you mention other than maybe Semenya (whose issues seem very different, no?) to be in a conversation for the greatest of all time. Kyrgios is a clown. Simone Biles is supposed to be an all time great, she's played into that hype herself, and being able to deal with the pressure at the most immense moments contributes at least as much if not more to that than being able to jump higher or flip more in the air than anyone else ever has, surely?

That's the end of the issue for me. Obviously she has to do what is best for herself, and anyone who expects otherwise is an asshole. Just don't pretend like this means nothing, legacy wise, as if she's the first athlete in the history of the world who ever had to deal with pressure, or with pressure coming off a pandemic, or with pressure in the age of social media.

Again, more than once she's played up to the GOAT hype, people shouldn't act like this conversation is a media/social media invention forced upon her that she wants nothing to do with. Maybe she should get the hell off social media before game time the way Lebron used to do before the playoffs.

Well if she's out of the individual she's probably not doing well and should have skipped the Olympics. I really was picturing her coming back for the individual which is part of why my reaction was what it was.




Yeah, I was not suggesting that she be "forced" to compete, just that a high level athlete in any other sports would also face criticism for doing something like this so the backlash is not really "unfair".

My only real complaint is that there is someone else out there who could have had a chance to compete. Somebody who isn't on the team because of this.

And I don't really buy that you will suddenly feel "unwell" in the middle of a competition and have to pull out. Call me backwards - please do, it will fill out my insult bingo card - but I have always been taught that if you are doing a job, in sports, work or anything else in life, you don't just bail if you're not feeling it. You suck it up and do the job. That doesn't mean that you can't take time for your mental health, it means that you don't take that time after you have made a commitment to participate.