Two vaults, two outcomes

On July 23, 1996, American gymnast Kerri Strug, competing in the Atlanta Olympic Games, sprinted down a vault runway and launched herself into the air.

When she landed, she badly injured her foot.

Believing that she needed to vault again for Team USA to win the team gold medal -- and told by her coach, Bela Karolyi, that she needed to "shake it off" -- she sprinted back down that runway, launched herself in the air, and this time, landed, held her balance on one foot, and saluted the judges.

Then she collapsed onto the mat in pain. 

Team USA had the gold medal, the first team gymnastics gold ever.

Hooray for the USA!  Hooray for Kerri! What grit, courage, and bravery, to push through the pain for her team! 

Fast forward 25 years. 

On July 27, 2021, American gymnast Simone Biles, competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games, sprinted down a vault runway and launched herself into the air.

While in the air, she realized that she didn't know where she was. She had what in gymnastics is called "the twisties." She had no idea of her body position in the air, and when you're a gymnast, that is dangerous.

Through sheer grit and athleticism, she landed her vault.

Then she had a conversation with her coaches. 

Then she took off her bar grips, which she'd put on to compete in the uneven bars, hugged her teammates, and sat down. 

The news broke moments later:  Simone Biles, the best gymnast in the world, had withdrawn from the team competition. 

The remaining gymnasts, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Grace McCallum, stepped up and won the silver team medal for Team USA. The Russian team, competing under the name "Russian Olympic Committee" due to a doping scandal by other Russian athletes, took the team gold for the first time since 1992.

Afterwards, Biles explained that she was not in the right head space and feared that she would cost Team USA any chance for a medal, so it was best for her to withdraw. She also said that she trusted her teammates to do the job. 

And instead of leaving the arena, she stayed in her sweats, gave chalk to her teammates, gave hugs and encouragement, and was the first one to go and congratulate the Russian team for winning the gold medal.

Immediately, the social media sphere lit up, with both commendation and condemnation.

"Simone did the right thing."
"Simone let her team down."
"Simone could have seriously injured herself." 

"Simone should have stayed home and given someone else the chance to compete!"

Many condemners trotted out Kerri Strug's 1996 vault as an example of grit, courage, and pushing through. "Kerri didn't let her team down like Simone did!"

A Twitterer commented that "the team lost". To the reply, "The team won a silver medal without her; that speaks to their talent," the Twitterer answered, "Silver medal. The first loser." Then he posted a video of Kerri Strug's 1996 vault with the comment,"Now that's bravery. That's putting the team first. Your 'silver medal stance' is a loser attitude. The US Olympic team didn't go there to 'win' second. Anything short of gold is failure."

I'm very glad that this person is not Simone's coach. 

In 1996, Kerri Strug felt that she had to push through to win a gold medal. It turned out that Kerri didn't need to do that vault. The US would have won gold without it. 

What the general public didn't know at the time was that Kerri Strug, and the rest of the Magnificent Seven, the Fierce Five, and the Final Five (the nicknames given to Team USA in 1996, 2012, and 2016 respectively) were the products of an abusive coaching system where injuries were either ignored or not taken seriously, emotional abuse was rampant, and their team doctor was a child molester.

In fact, a photo from the 1996 Olympics shows an injured Kerri Strug being helped off the floor by Bela Karolyi . . . straight into the arms of Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexual assault in 2018. 

I don't know if Nassar abused any of the team members in 1996. We do know that he abused the team members of the 2012 and 2016 team, along with nearly two hundred other women. Simone Biles is one of the women he abused. She stated in an interview that she's the last survivor of Larry Nassar's abuse to be competing, and as long as she's around, USA Gymnastics, the governing body of the sport, would not be able to sweep abuse under the rug. 

Kerri Strug probably felt that she could not say "no" to her coach, that she had to push through for that gold medal. For all intents and purposes, she didn't have a choice.

On July 23, 1996, Kerri Strug didn't have a choice but to run on an injured ankle lest she risk the wrath of her coach.

On July 27, 2021, Simone Biles had a choice, and she said, no. It is not safe for me to compete. 

Those that believe she let down her team, that she is a "quitter", she is "selfish", she is "a sociopath" (that latter comment is from Charlie Kirk, president of Turning Point USA), let me ask you: are you willing to pay her medical bills if anything happens to her? If she breaks her neck like Russian gymnast Elena Mukhina did in 1980 and American gymnast Julissa Gomez did in 1988?  

Elena Mukhina lived as a paraplegic until her death in 2006.

Julissa Gomez lived as a quadriplegic in a coma until her death in 1991.

The day after Simone Biles withdrew from the team competition, she also withdrew from the all-around. It's uncertain whether she will compete in the individual apparatus events. 

I'm disappointed that I will not see her compete in the all-around. I'm sad that she did not compete in the rest of the team competition.

But Simone Biles does not owe me or anyone else an explanation or justification for her decisions. Simone Biles is not obligated to display herself for our entertainment. If she does not feel safe competing, whether it be for physical reasons, mental reasons, or both, she has the absolute right to say, "No, I'm not going to do it."

Sometimes, a coach may need to give gentle encouragement or a dose of tough love to an athlete so that they can compete. 

Sometimes, a coach needs to empower the athlete to make the choice whether or not to compete. 

Kerri Strug did not have that choice in 1996.

Simone Biles had it in 2021, and exercised it.

The outcome for Kerri's vault was a gold medal, and a serious injury.

The outcome for Simone's vault was a decision not to risk serious injury, physically or mentally.

I honor Simone for her choice.

It's time we give it to our athletes.

They deserve it.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

Too high a price

Nearly 150 women have asked to speak at the sentencing hearing of Dr. Larry Nassar, a former Olympic team doctor who pled guilty to a number of counts of sexual assault. 

Over 20 years as a team doctor at Michigan State University and also as a doctor to the United States women's gymnastics team, he sexually assaulted women under the guise of medical treatment.

(Warning:  The following sentences contain descriptions of sexual assault.)

When female athletes would visit Larry Nassar for treatment, he would often digitally penetrate them with ungloved fingers. 

Translation:  He stuck his ungloved fingers into a girl's vagina for the sole purpose of his own sexual gratification, and he did it while explaining that it was a type of medical procedure.

He did it when he was alone with them in his office.  He did it even when others were present.  He even did it in the presence of SOME PARENTS. 

(End of description)

 (This particular procedure is sometimes used with women experiencing pelvic pain.  I've had it done.  However, the person doing it was a woman, she used gloves, and explained what it was she was doing while she was doing it.)

When the girls complained, they were either told to be quiet, or they weren't taken seriously.  One victim, Kyle Stephens, even shared how, when she told her parents, they didn't believe her, and even took her back to Nassar to make her apologize to him.  It took years before her parents finally believed her.

The message they got was very clear:  Larry Nassar's reputation was more important than their well-being. 

This week, Larry Nassar's victims are finally getting a sliver of justice. 

They are coming forward, one by one, and they are detailing exactly what happened to them.

When Larry Nassar complained that listening to his victims was a form of mental cruelty, the judge listened, and then responded that he might find it harsh, but nothing was as harsh as what his victims had endured at his hands.

Not only has Kyle Stephens spoken, so has Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman.  She gave a scathing rebuke to Nassar which was reprinted the next day in the New York Times.

Raisman is not the only Olympic gymnast stating she was abused by Nassar.  Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, and others have all stated they were abused.  And serious questions about the role of the United States Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics have arisen.  Apparently, carting home Olympic gold was more important to both organizations than the sexual abuse of their athletes.

I'm tired.  I'm tired of seeing the same song, first, second, third, fourth, and fifth verses:  Men using their power to sexually abuse women, and people stand around and do nothing.  Women aren't believed, they're told to shut up, and the culture around them stacks the deck against them. 

The United States Olympic Committee should refuse to field an Olympic women's gymnastics team until and unless USA Gymnastics cleans house, now, and puts policies in place where the number one priority is protection of the athlete.  If it means that there will be no women's gymnastics team at the next Olympics, well . . . so be it. 

When you are an athlete who has been abused, and the message given you is that you have to put up with it in the name of trophies, ribbons, and Olympic gold medals . . . that is too high a price to pay.

Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Jordyn Wieber paid too high a price for Olympic glory.  The gold medals that hung around their necks are not worth the physical and emotional suffering that they have had to endure. 

The other 100+ women who have spoken against Nassar have also paid too high a price for any athletic accomplishment that they may have achieved. 

It needs to stop.

I don't know how, but this abuse needs to stop.

The price is just too high.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

Leave the girls alone!

You never do anything right

You never put anything in its place

No wonder everyone calls you

Failure Face.

From "Failure Face", from "A Boy Named Charlie Brown". 

Gymnast Simone Biles is predicted to win five--yes, five--gold medals in this Olympics.  As I write this, she's competing in the all-around event of women's gymnastics.  

She is 19 years old and considered the best female gymnast of all time.

But predicting five gold medals for her is setting her up to be a failure face.

Because, no matter what she does, no matter how many gold medals she wins, no matter how many Olympic medals she wins, the story is not going to be what she won.  The story will be, why didn't she win the five gold medals she was predicted to win?  

Gabby Douglas is having a similar problem.

Four years ago, in London, she became the first African-American gymnast to win the all-around gold medal.  

Within 24 hours, the Internet was abuzz about. . . . Her hair.  

Apparently, something was wrong with Gabby because she was using hair gel on her hair.  

Tuesday night, the American girls became the first American team to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in team gymnastics.  Because this is Martha Karolyi's final Olympics, they have named their team the "Final Five".  

The Internet is now abuzz about not only Gabby's hair, but the fact that she didn't put her hand over her heart during the National Anthem.   

I did check the US Flag Code, and the code does say that non-military people, during the playing of the National Anthem, should face the flag and put their right hand over their heart.  

While researching the Flag Code, I came upon a mention of Barack Obama's failure to put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem in a now-infamous picture that has since circulated the Internet to show his supposed lack of patriotism.  He was quoted as saying, "I was taught that you put your hand over your heart during the Pledge of Allegiance, but during the National Anthem, you sing."

I'll give Gabby the benefit of the doubt.  Perhaps that was how she learned it as well.  I will say that she stood at attention and was respectful.  

As for her hair . . . I'm a white woman, and I don't completely understand the fuss over the hair.  I will say that she has to keep her hair out of her eyes when she's performing.  Her hair gets in her eyes, she can't see; she can't see, at the least, she makes a mistake on her apparatus; at worst, she gets hurt on her apparatus!

Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas are in an impossible position.  No matter what they do, someone is not going to be happy with them.

Gabby is 20.  Simone is 19.  They are at the pinnacle of their gymnastics careers.  They have achieved what only five women in the United States can achieve every four years.

Give them a break.

Leave the girls alone!

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.