I'm not in this world
To live up to your expectations
Neither are you here to live up to mine. -Peter Tosh
Here I am, jumping on the bandwagon regarding Simone Biles, the greatest gymnasts that will probably exist in our lifetimes. I am a former competitive gymnast. While I was never even close to the level that Olympic gymnasts are, I still have a better understanding of the sport and the idiosyncrasies that go along with it than some of you fat-ass armchair warriors who believe you are experts do. The only gymnastics you all understand is when you get out of your lounger to get some more chips and you fall and twist your ankle. Difficulty-.7, Execution-.5. Score-1.2. Yeah, you even suck at that.
Gymnastics is a tough sport. Only the strongest, both physically and mentally, can excel. Even then, there are myriad ways to destroy that equilibrium. Everyone thinks they know what is going on with Simone Biles, but no one, other than the GOAT herself, actually does. If it is what I believe it to be, a mental block gymnasts call the twisties, she is being incredibly intelligent to make the decision to say no. Twisties definition- when a gymnast gets lost while performing a twisting skill and has no sense of where she or the ground is. Every skill Biles performs has multiple twists. She would literally be risking her life to perform any of her routines. Others in the sport have not said no when they should have and are maimed for life. Look up Sang Lam, Wang Yan, and Elena Mukhina, to name a few. How many of you would be willing to be paralyzed or die for an Olympic medal? Yeah, that's what I thought...
Get in your Wayback machine and travel with me to a faraway place, long, long ago- one day at high school gymnastics practice while I was running full force toward the vault, I had the tiniest feeling that something was wrong. My feet hit the springboard, my knees buckled, I slammed into the vaulting horse, my body wrapped around it, I slid off and fell to the floor, and my back landed on the edge of the springboard. I couldn't breathe and my back felt like a knife had been shoved into it. I rolled sideways onto the floor and laid there for a while. One of my coaches, the wonderful Bill Stewart (RIP), asked if I was okay and when I grunted and gave him the thumbs up, he continued coaching around me. This is the norm in sports. 'You dead? No? Can you move? Yes? Okay, move out of the way and shake it off.' Should it be the norm? Good question.
For the next three weeks, I ran full force at that damn vault, and at the last minute, I would pivot and run right by it. No amount of pleading, yelling or shaming me changed the outcome, and that was just what I said to myself. My coaches tried their best too. Then one day, I hit the springboard, vaulted, and survived. Shit happens and then it doesn't and then it does again. Life is weird. Maybe it's just me that's weird. That would explain a lot.
Gymnasts regularly deal with bruises, sprains, shin splints, torn tendons and ligaments, and broken appendages; and that's just in practice. No one sees what adversities a gymnast deals with every day and keeps going. Strength is not always measured in how much weight you can lift. I remember walking into the college training room during practice, blood dripping from my callused hand that had ripped open during an uneven bar routine, and the football players there cringing and dry heaving over the puddle of blood I was creating. It was funny, this tiny female dwarfed by hulking men and being the strongest one in the room. Damn straight. Suck it up, boys, and move aside for the tiny terror!
No athlete should ever have to explain to anyone why they know their own mind or why they know the repercussions of ignoring what their body or mind is telling them. If you think Biles is a 'quitter', try saying it to her face; then you will learn what true strength is.
She is not here to live up to your expectations.
I present the legend, Peter Tosh-
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