But at the end of the day if shes going to go out there and screw up because she cant handle the pressure its better she lets the alternate thats ready to handle it go. Its easy to say, just go out there and suck it up, but if she determined she couldnt then would we prefer she goes out there and chokes? We can all sit her and dog her for what she did, but why? whats the point.

edit: Maybe this means shes not the "goat" afterall

Kerri Strug is probably smiling and shaking her head some where out there.

Ol Jones said it pretty good. Who's gonna fill their shoes?

I don't even know where my headspace is...or if I ever had one.

Being great in Athletics is often as mental as physical. Any Champion or amateur athlete can tell you that.

She is not mentally strong enough...so not the goat and not OT hard.

If she wanted to opt out of the individual competitions I would say that's just fine, but she let her team down... Not because of a injury or because she gave her very best and came up short. She quit her team. The Russians got gold because of her selfish choice.

I guess when you have celebrity and millions of dollars quitting is always an option. Most of us regular guys who have some success in life don't consider quitting an option. Especially if quitting means giving up on your team. Whether your team is your coworkers, employees, friends, family, your community you don't quit on them. She quit on her team and on her country and on her fans.

It's shameful and embarrassing. Honestly I thought she was a cool person, a tremendous athlete in an excellent role model. Not sure that's all true anymore.

Very well said!

Her therapist must have missed his flight so she was a mental mess! give me a break! This is what she worked for all these years!

If it doesn't have an offense and a defense, it's not a sport. What you have there is a hobby. Skateboarding, power walking, shot put, gymnastics, fishing, these are hobbies people have. Solo Synchronized Swimming was on the docket back in the 90's. Say what?

I've never understood the economics or the the time and effort that goes into who's the best at jumping around on a balance beam. Sometimes entertaining to watch though.

What about golf? and competitive wanking?

Exactly. She's sitting there thinking.... Sweat dries, blood clots, bones heal. Suck-it-up buttercup.

It’s a little more complicated than that.

She was going to retire, but she stayed on the team to see the Larry Nassar case through, because she felt it would lend more credence if an active gymnast was testifying against him.

The judges are sandbagging her scores by not giving her the difficulty scores she should receive. One guess as to why is because she is doing things that are so complicated they’re afraid other competitors will try things they’re not good enough to do, just to be competitive, which could have terrible results. Another guess is, she’s so much better than everyone else and the stunts she’s attempting are so complicated, that are trying to make it more interesting by having her scores be somewhat close to the competition.

And yesterday, something was clearly wrong with her. She almost missed the vault and almost ran off the floor during her floor routine. She cost the team a gold yesterday, and by stepping down, she allowed them to at least win silver. It would be similar to a pitcher knowing he doesn’t have his stuff and telling his coach as such after giving up three runs in an inning.

Now, I will say that “I’m not in the right headspace” sounds ridiculous. I wouldn’t call her a snowflake, but I’m not exactly sure how the most dominant gymnast probably ever doesn’t have her A game in the Olympics. But I’d rather her step back for the good of the team, especially when she could easily end up paralyzed based on how bad she was yesterday.

Yes it was and much better explained that I did when I called her a quitter.

I didn't know there were so many Olympians here that knows what it feels like to be in her shoes.... Now I know

Unless this is sarcasm, it’s the silliest post I’ve seen in a long time she hasn’t lost since like 2013. She was the heavy favorite by far and is doing things male gymnasts can’t even do. She’s in another stratosphere.

Well, that’s the outcome of giving AF what other people think of you. If she’d abandon all sense of worthiness and dignity...just be herself and let her freak flag fly, she’d be fine.