Gen Z Mental Health Days on the Olympic Stage
Is this what we can expect from the Biles Generation?
"I say put mental health first, because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to. It’s OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and a person that you really are, rather than just battle through it."
Says Simone Biles.
What I'm about to say may not be very popular, but if you have read my stuff for any period of time, you know I tend to say what I am thinking.
I feel sorry for her, but more sorry for her teammates. Her statement just seems to be the antithesis of the traditional American spirit.
Biles is a not a kid, she is 24. She is an adult. She indicated in an interview last night that she was feeling fear. Fear of injury, fear of making a mistake, fear of letting her teammates down.
So, she didn't saddle up. Her mental toughness is gone. I've seen this before in people, they become so paralyzed with fear that they can't even act. It is a from of PTSD or the old version known as "shell shock" - but the Biles situation isn't a life threatening one. This is a sport.
But it isn't just Biles - maybe she is the most famous example of it, but I have known young adults to not show up for work, calling out sick and claiming they had such a stressful week, they needed a "mental health day".
Somehow I can't imagine a Chinese or Russian athlete walking away from a competition and you know, those CIA and US Army advertisements celebrating mental weakness and wokeness as desirable characteristics for intelligence employees and soldiers didn't fill me with confidence.
I know the International Gymnastics Federation made the idiotic decision to penalize the reigning world and Olympic champion for the potential recklessness of others trying to do what Biles can do, but that would have made me want to stick it to them by doing those skills anyway.
This is another example of how the stupid communist idea that nobody should be better that anybody else (even if they clearly are) is seeping into every damn thing.
Biles should not be disparaged for doing what she thought she needed to do for herself, but she damn sure should not be celebrated for it either. She let down her team and an entire country.
I am left to wonder if this is an example of the new America in the hands of the Biles generation, that they just don't think they should "battle through" when things get tough.
May God have mercy on our souls if that what we have wrought.