![]() ![]() “The other flight attendant gave me a mimosa so we’re in the clear,” wrote Biles. I’m crying at the thought of a flight attendant giving simone biles the most decorated gymnast in history a coloring book because she is 4’8” /s03QHpUUH8īiles later shared that after the coloring book confusion, she was offered an adult beverage by another crew member. ![]() The gymnast shared the story via her Instagram story, which was later captured and shared by Twitter user “Not the flight attendant trying to give me a coloring book when I board….I said “no I’m good I’m 25,”‘ Biles wrote, along with a selfie. after accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom last week, was offered a coloring book by a flight attendant who assumed the 4-foot-8 Olympian was a child. It doesn’t absolve her of her obvious mistakes or make everything right, but she’s no villain.25-year-old Simone Biles has made a career of standing tall on the big stage, winning seven Olympic medals, but she apparently wasn’t tall enough to be recognized as an adult during a recent flight.īiles, returning home from Washington, D.C. So instead of inflicting more damage to her teammates and their Olympic hopes, she stepped aside. You can sometimes help your team the most by stepping aside. The other fact is that had she continued with her historically (by her standards at least) bad performances, Team USA would not have finished as well as they did. However, like Adams said, whatever the “dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” The facts are that Biles had already destroyed Team USA’s chances at gold. It’s very tempting to follow the next logical step and conclude that Biles’ dereliction of duty in preparing herself for competition and her lame “emotional stress” excuse makes her a quitter, a bad teammate, selfish, and a destroyer of Team USA’s chances at Olympic gold. “Facts are stubborn things,” John Adams once said, “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Gymnastics’ doping rules barred her from taking proper pain medication. If that continues on bars, then the silver is in jeopardy. She left hospital in the small hours of the morning, still in agony, yet still determined to compete. At that point, Simone, best of all time, was one of the worst gymnasts there. It was so pedestrian, only one other gymnast (out of 48) attempted an easier vault and only three scored lower. To put into perspective just how bad Biles vault performance was, consider this: US can't win silver if she's scoring like that. Russia took a commanding 1.067 lead because of it. It was 0.534 below her teammates and 0.700 below the lowest Russian score. In fact, scratch that, she definitely would have cost Team USA their chance at Silver. The fact is that Simone Biles was performing so badly that had she not withdrawn from the competition, she could have well cost Team USA their chance at a Silver medal. It’s a narrative I myself spread throughout much of the day. However, it’s also a narrative that is dead wrong. ![]() That she left them in the lurch when she could have or should have continued the fight and seen the tournament through. A narrative that claims Biles quit on her team. Though, a narrative has formed since her no good, awful vault performance and subsequent withdrawal in the middle of a battle for gold with Russia. So, all that being said, nothing that follows these words is meant to excuse Simone Biles for withdrawing in the middle of competition or for not upholding her solemn obligation to herself, her teammates, or her country, to be at her best. Plus, hiding behind stress and mental health is big-time weak sauce, and everyone who uses that excuse – unless they have a clinically diagnosable condition – should immediately do us all a favor and stop it forever. In fact, athletes really don’t have much responsibility other than ensuring their peak physical and mental preparedness when it’s their time to compete. Critics want to relegate Biles who announced Saturday she was skipping at least two individual competitions after pulling out of the team and all-around finals to being a quitter. Let’s get a few things out of the way here right off the bat: An athlete’s number one responsibility is to ensure that they are mentally and physically prepared to perform on the day of competition. ![]()
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