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Good defense of Simone
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:39 am
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:39 am
National Review's Philip Klein defended Simone:
quote:
Alexandra DeSanctis has offered a worthy defense of Simone Biles, and as Dan McLaughlin pointed out earlier, she withdrew from the women’s team gymnastics competition when it was clear she was suffering from aerial disorientation. “Toughing it out,” as some were calling for, would not be akin to, say, Willis Reed playing through a leg injury in the NBA finals. Losing track of where you are when attempting to do competitive gymnastics doesn’t just lose you points. It could be deadly. Those who have any doubt should recall the tragic story of Julissa Gomez, a young American gymnast who was a contender for the 1988 Olympics.
As the Los Angeles Times reported at the time:
Julissa Gomez, 15, lies in a coma in a Houston Hospital, her neck broken, her body paralyzed.
More than a month ago, the top-ranked American gymnast and Olympic hopeful boarded a plane with her peers for a meet in Tokyo. She returned, unconscious, by U.S. military transport, surrounded by doctors and her parents, Otilia and Ramiro Gomez, who had flown to Japan to be at their daughter’s side.
She suffered a spinal injury May 5 while practicing a vault at the World Sports Fair in Japan. It was a routine maneuver for a world-class gymnast–a round-off onto a springboard, a back handspring onto the vaulting horse–one Julissa had been executing for three years.
But this time, she missed. Her foot slipped on the springboard and she didn’t get the necessary lift, said her coach, Al Fong. She hit the the vaulting horse with her head.
Julissa lost consciousness and stopped breathing momentarily. When she regained consciousness, she couldn’t move. She was taken to a Tokyo University hospital and when her parents arrived from the United States, was able to communicate only by blinking her eyes. Soon afterward, she slipped into a coma.
The accident left Gomez a quadriplegic and she eventually died in 1991, at age 18, as a result of the injuries she sustained.
Biles is the most daring female gymnast who ever lived, flying 10-feet in the air — spinning, twisting, flipping and turning — and then landing on two feet.
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Those Dunking On Simone Biles Should Remember Julissa Gomez
By Philip Klein
July 28, 2021 10:29 AM
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Simone Biles of the United States at the women’s team gymnastics final at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, Japan, July 27, 2021. (Mike Blake/Reuters)
Alexandra DeSanctis has offered a worthy defense of Simone Biles, and as Dan McLaughlin pointed out earlier, she withdrew from the women’s team gymnastics competition when it was clear she was suffering from aerial disorientation. “Toughing it out,” as some were calling for, would not be akin to, say, Willis Reed playing through a leg injury in the NBA finals. Losing track of where you are when attempting to do competitive gymnastics doesn’t just lose you points. It could be deadly. Those who have any doubt should recall the tragic story of Julissa Gomez, a young American gymnast who was a contender for the 1988 Olympics.
As the Los Angeles Times reported at the time:
Julissa Gomez, 15, lies in a coma in a Houston Hospital, her neck broken, her body paralyzed.
More than a month ago, the top-ranked American gymnast and Olympic hopeful boarded a plane with her peers for a meet in Tokyo. She returned, unconscious, by U.S. military transport, surrounded by doctors and her parents, Otilia and Ramiro Gomez, who had flown to Japan to be at their daughter’s side.
She suffered a spinal injury May 5 while practicing a vault at the World Sports Fair in Japan. It was a routine maneuver for a world-class gymnast–a round-off onto a springboard, a back handspring onto the vaulting horse–one Julissa had been executing for three years.
But this time, she missed. Her foot slipped on the springboard and she didn’t get the necessary lift, said her coach, Al Fong. She hit the the vaulting horse with her head.
Julissa lost consciousness and stopped breathing momentarily. When she regained consciousness, she couldn’t move. She was taken to a Tokyo University hospital and when her parents arrived from the United States, was able to communicate only by blinking her eyes. Soon afterward, she slipped into a coma.
The accident left Gomez a quadriplegic and she eventually died in 1991, at age 18, as a result of the injuries she sustained.
Biles is the most daring female gymnast who ever lived, flying 10-feet in the air — spinning, twisting, flipping and turning — and then landing on two feet. Here she was just two months ago, making history with a dangerous vault:
There’s no way somebody should attempt to compete at the level she does without being in the right head space. Anybody who is demanding she should have just gutted through it hasn’t fully considered what that would mean.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:41 am to prplhze2000
I could careless about Simone Biles and her Olympic journey!
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:41 am to prplhze2000
I sympathize with her circumstances.
However, I cannot go along with the praise being heaped on her by the MSM.
However, I cannot go along with the praise being heaped on her by the MSM.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:41 am to prplhze2000
quote:This is the first time I've heard that was the issue. If aerial disorientation was the problem, why didn't Biles say so in the fist place?
suffering from aerial disorientation.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:42 am to prplhze2000
If this was true I would feel bad for her. But that's not what happened. She quit.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:42 am to L.A.
quote:
why didn't Biles say so in the fist place?
Not as much sympathy...
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:44 am to prplhze2000
Quitters quit and shitters shite
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:46 am to L.A.
quote:
If aerial disorientation was the problem, why didn't Biles say so in the fist place?
Multiple different excuses have been made on this, and with each new one, credulity continues to be strained.
Everyone has been scrambling to try to show how virtuous they are in defending her for quitting on her teammates and country. And it's funny to watch them alter their arguments in response to her latest excuse.
This post was edited on 7/29/21 at 11:47 am
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:46 am to L.A.
quote:
This is the first time I've heard that was the issue. If aerial disorientation was the problem, why didn't Biles say so in the fist place?
This x 100
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:46 am to jimmy the leg
quote:
I sympathize with her circumstances.
However, I cannot go along with the praise being heaped on her by the MSM.
Reasonable take
Unless you're genuinely invested in gymnastics at the olympics, I have no idea why you'd have an entrenched position on this (other than, as you say, on the media reaction).
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:47 am to ChexMix
quote:
Quitters quit and shitters shite
What a retarded take.
Why is this board that allegedly does not care about the Olympics and actively roots for basketball and women's soccer to lose care that Simone left the games?
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:48 am to L.A.
quote:
This is the first time I've heard that was the issue. If aerial disorientation was the problem, why didn't Biles say so in the fist place?
Watch the replay of the vault that was scored. This explanation lines up. I noticed it the other night. She had a look of panic on her face while she was in the air.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:48 am to prplhze2000
I could care less whether SB competes or not, why is this even a topic of conversation? She is the only one who knows how she feels, her decision.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:50 am to Pettifogger
quote:
Unless you're genuinely invested in gymnastics at the olympics, I have no idea why you'd have an entrenched position on this (other than, as you say, on the media reaction).
It's a broader issue here. What she did was largely embarrassing to the U.S. Our country is exceptional in many ways, and grit/determination, are part of what drives that.
And, she could in some sense encapsulate a coddled, self-absorbed generation. Some of her quotes after the fact about it being for her were pathetic. The media and public figures trying to defend her or even praise her for quitting are further evidence of that.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:50 am to prplhze2000
So an 18 yr old girl died as a result of an accident and that applies to SB? SB is fricking 'hey look at me drama queen' and Julissa Gomez wasn't.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 11:51 am to tenderfoot tigah
quote:
This is the first time I've heard that was the issue. If aerial disorientation was the problem, why didn't Biles say so in the fist place?
This x 100
My guess...this was made up as an excuse post quitting.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 12:07 pm to The Maj
quote:
Not as much sympathy...
EXACTLY!
If she were experiencing vertigo like symptoms or disorientation (somewhat like those that result from a concussion) then most people would have accepted that as just a tough break similar to every other time an athlete suffers a physical injury that prevents them from competing. There would be no criticism. NONE. If Tom Brady took a hit to the head in the Super Bowl and had to leave the game with concussion like symptoms, even though he was physically able to perform otherwise, no one would criticize him.
She could have easily come out right after and said something along the lines of "I did the vault and became disoriented and continued to feel disoriented. I tried to regain my composure and couldn't. After speaking with the team doctor we all felt it was best to withdraw for my safety. I'm heartbroken to have to withdraw and let my team down. But, I don't think I had much of a choice."
But instead, she gives some stupid rambling press conference response about being stressed out and her "mental health" not being there because there were no fans/family at the event and they weren't having fun, etc. etc.
It is a slap in the face to her teammates. Were they not also stressed by competing in the biggest event of their lives? This may be their last or only shot to compete in the Olympics, something for which they have also worked their entire lives. Their families weren't there. No crowds were cheering them. They had to live in the same restrictive conditions.
I don't think I've ever seen a more vigorous and pathetic display to defend and CELEBRATE a person quitting on their team which, by their own admission, was not the result of an injury.
Make no mistake. I'm not saying she didn't or shouldn't have had the right to withdraw. That's completely her call. But it is pathetic to think you should somehow be above any criticism for doing so when ANY honest person knows a male athlete wouldn't receive the same kid gloves treatment. He would be excoriated by the media rather than the media bending over backwards to tell you why you should question her decision to quit.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 12:10 pm to prplhze2000
quote:
it was clear she was suffering from aerial disorientation
First time I did a static line jump, I suffered from aerial distortion.
I still hit the arch to assume proper position, then successfully pulled the dummy cord. At least that is what the jump instructor told me, based on his observations. For me it was one blur until I felt the canopy open. It is called training.
If the routine was too difficult, scale it back, and compete.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 12:12 pm to prplhze2000
This whole ordeal is a failure on the coaching staff. She clearly wasn’t ready before that vault, the commentators were saying how she was absolutely in her head and hadn’t landed a thing in warmups, practice, qualifying, or in the trials. They should have removed her from competition after that morning during warmups, at the latest, and they should have been the ones after the vault to pull her, not herself.
I am not celebrating her like the media, but after watching the whole thing I can confidently say that it was a coaching failure.
I am not celebrating her like the media, but after watching the whole thing I can confidently say that it was a coaching failure.
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