Sport 2020(/1) Tokyo Olympics

Aoami

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The point of mental health issues is that it's in the eye of the beholder and just as serious for that specific person.

If a poor person breaks their arm you can see it, just as well as with an elite athlete. This person is making a qualitative assessment on the type of pressure a person is allowed to be under before you can start taking their mental health issues seriously.

That's exactly what is being said there.

Which is why it's extremely important that people are open and honest about their mental health, and that people are praised for being open and honest - to change attitudes towards it. Which was the point of the original article you posted.
 

Jupitus

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Which is why it's extremely important that people are open and honest about their mental health, and that people are praised for being open and honest - to change attitudes towards it. Which was the point of the original article you posted.

This TBH. Simone has a public platform and voice. When SHE stands up and says she has mental health issues the world notices.... and THAT is important. It shows her as a role model prepared to 'come out and discuss it' (bad phrase but tbh I think it carries some weight). Many years ago, when I was diagnosed, I sat and cried in my car for 25 minutes because of the supposed stigma of the situation. People with a public platform using it to expose mental health issues as 'normal' (which in reality they are) is to be applauded by all. Some youngster who looks up to her might see this and say to themselves 'hey, maybe it is ok' and then not go for the highest ledge or train platform or belt around the neck. Someone mocked the Gary Speed comparison earlier and I don't like that for exactly these reasons.

Mental health problems are still massively misunderstood by an unacceptably large proportion of society, and ANYTHING to help people realise it isn't 'oh I'm knackered' or 'can't be bothered' is very worthwhile.

@Scouse you champion a few topics which you feel strongly about - how do I persuade you to champion this one?
 

Embattle

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To me it's more important the majority of people have easy access to help, rather than hearing about more of it from people who probably are going to be able to easily access it.
 

Aoami

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Christ alive. People don't have easy access to help because it's criminally underfunded. Every time a high profile person like Simone Biles brings some publicity to mental health awareness, this can only be a good thing as it may make people who can change the underfunding do something about it.
 

dysfunction

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Completely agree. I can't imagine the pressures.

But then I don't have to. That's part of their job description - to be both physically and mentally fit to win. And we praise the winners, not praise those who quit.

So you agree then that if you are not mentally fit then you shouldn't be participating.

In a "normal" year I think you *may* have a point but what with Covid etc the pressure isn't a normal year. Other athletes and the likes of that tennis player that also resigned from Wimbledon on the same grounds is on the rise.

You prefer they don't quite and have a mental breakdown?

I think for a top tier athlete to stop participating in the Olympics isn't something taken lightly.
 
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Scouse

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Someone mocked the Gary Speed comparison earlier and I don't like that for exactly these reasons.
Nobody mocked the Gary Speed comparison. I just pointed out that mental health issues don't necessarily lead directly to suicide (if they did then suicide would probably be the leading cause of death). I was trying inject a bit of calm and balance.
@Scouse you champion a few topics which you feel strongly about - how do I persuade you to champion this one?
I already do Jup. My posting history shows that IMO.

The reason it doesn't get posted on a daily basis by me is that mental health issues are something the human race will have to deal with for generations - whereas if we focus on solving topics like inequality and the environment that will mean that we continue to exist to have mental health issues. (And both of those topics are definitely related).

Personally, I don't find that focussing on the mental health issues of other people is particularly healthy for me either. To bring about real change to mental health, real change, we first must modify our economy.
 

Scouse

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*sigh*
So you agree then that if you are not mentally fit then you shouldn't be participating.
That depends on the person. I bet there are plenty of athletes who wouldn't consider themselves mentally fit who remain in competition. That's 100% a decision for them, not anyone else, certainly not me.

How could it be otherwise?

In a "normal" year I think you *may* have a point but what with Covid etc the pressure isn't a normal year. Other athletes and the likes of that tennis player that also resigned from Wimbledon on the same grounds is on the rise.
Correlation isn't causation. There could be a lot of factors why people quitting sport is "on the rise". Or it may not even be on the rise - it might just be an unusual blip. It might have fuck all to do with Covid. It might be because of the use of twitter (she specifically mentioned how when everyone was tweeting her that she felt the weight of the world was on her shoulders (in which case, get the fuck off social media)).

Who knows?

You prefer they don't quite and have a mental breakdown?
See the answer to 1 above. It's nothing to do with me. I don't particularly want to see anyone have a mental breakdown - but if some athlete pushes themselves across the line and then has a mental breakdown then maybe that'll be worth it to him/her/they/penguin.

I think for a top tier athlete to stop participating in the Olympics isn't something taken lightly.
Never said it was. In fact, I explicitly said otherwise.
 

Jupitus

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Nobody mocked the Gary Speed comparison. I just pointed out that mental health issues don't necessarily lead directly to suicide (if they did then suicide would probably be the leading cause of death). I was trying inject a bit of calm and balance.

I already do Jup. My posting history shows that IMO.

The reason it doesn't get posted on a daily basis by me is that mental health issues are something the human race will have to deal with for generations - whereas if we focus on solving topics like inequality and the environment that will mean that we continue to exist to have mental health issues. (And both of those topics are definitely related).

Personally, I don't find that focussing on the mental health issues of other people is particularly healthy for me either. To bring about real change to mental health, real change, we first must modify our economy.

Appreciate the response and also the engagement from all who have commented. It's taking too much out of me though, so I am gonna go back to sitting on the sidelines. Cheers.
 

Gwadien

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Absolutely smashed it, what a legend.

This is just like gymnastics and shit for me.

I don't have a clue what's good, so i'm just watching people do stuff I don't understand. :D

I watched some of the cross country horse riding stuff last night, the commentators were getting so excited over stuff and I was like I don't get it.
 

Aoami

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Weird in the high jump where they just gave 2 golds out rather than let the competition carry on. BMX was amazing.
 

Aoami

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Some incredible talent on display in the gymnastics
 

Scouse

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The article he claims is about "cultural appropriation", is more about how the monitisation of surfing has taken it away from it's roots. Sounds like a familiar argument about another sport to me.
He makes a lot of arguments in that piece - including the very pertinent evidenced argument about the left running a stalinist purge and being far from the "liberal" value holders they scream they are.

@Job used to complain about liberals and got shat on for it - but it was this sort of "liberal" he was complaining about. I.E. the completely illiberal sort.

On the surfing thing - maybe you can argue that monetisation of everything "takes things away from it's roots". But it doesn't wash with me - the roots of anything like this are a hardcore of people who do something for the love of the thing, ignoring all the bullshit that builds up around it. I've seen it first-hand in kayaking and mountain biking which both exploded in popularity (and therefore profitability) during my active-in-the-sport lifetime.

It hasn't taken mountain biking or kayaking away from me. It just brought a load of wankers to the party*. But I can still get in my kayak, or get on my mountain bike and paddle what I like, ride what I like, when I like - and not pay a penny of attention to anything I don't want to.

But coming back to the original point - the left do make claims of cultural appropriation. They whine incessantly about this sort of shit all the time and they gain a lot of traction because of it. Ultimately, this illiberality is the fertilizer in the soil, the enabler, if you like, of the Maos, the Stalins and the fucking Tony Blairs.



Edit:
*Arguably I'm one of them - canoeing being ancient, biking being ancient (and people have been taking bikes offroad since bikes were invented). But fuck, what an absolute crock of shit people talk. Like in some why things have been stolen because more people do them - people who don't feel the same way. Maybe we should legally restrict the ability to go surfing only to people who live on polynesian islands eh? Or maybe only those who can prove a thousand-year genetic ancestry?

Or anyone can play any sport they like, in whatever way they like, and fuck anyone who thinks they shouldn't be allowed?

I realise I'm guilty of slight hypocrisy here - I detest ebikers because it puts people in places using motorised transport that they would never otherwise have been. But ultimately, they're still biking and I can still go out by myself on my analogue bike and ride (though if I get hit by another noob on an ebike one more time the fucker is going off the nearest cliff and I'm throwing his bike down after him).

:)
 
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Gwadien

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He makes a lot of arguments in that piece - including the very pertinent evidenced argument about the left running a stalinist purge and being far from the "liberal" value holders they scream they are.

@Job used to complain about liberals and got shat on for it - but it was this sort of "liberal" he was complaining about. I.E. the completely illiberal sort.

On the surfing thing - maybe you can argue that monetisation of everything "takes things away from it's roots". But it doesn't wash with me - the roots of anything like this are a hardcore of people who do something for the love of the thing, ignoring all the bullshit that builds up around it. I've seen it first-hand in kayaking and mountain biking which both exploded in popularity (and therefore profitability) during my active-in-the-sport lifestyle.

It hasn't taken mountain biking or kayaking away from me. It just brought a load of wankers to the party. But I can still get in my kayak, or get on my mountain bike and paddle what I like, ride what I like, when I like - and not pay a penny of attention to anything I don't want to.

But coming back to the original point - the left do make claims of cultural appropriation. They whine incessantly about this sort of shit all the time and they gain a lot of traction because of it. Ultimately, this illiberality is the fertilizer in the soil, the enabler, if you like, of the Maos, the Stalins and the fucking Tony Blairs.

Difference is, Stalin conducted the purges.

I'm not buying into your idea that deep state hard leftists are running the show.

That's the difference, when you see cuntish Right wing behaviour, it's quite easy to point at those responsible; as they're all in political power, where are these hardcore leftists that you bleat on about?
 

Scouse

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Difference is, Stalin conducted the purges.
Oh, so purges are OK, as long as they're popular purges conducted by the mob?

I'm not buying into your idea that deep state hard leftists are running the show.
I never said it was "deep state hard leftists". I said it was cunts.

There's a fucking lot of cunts about. They're all over the shop. Stalin wouldn't have been able to conduct his purges without being able to rely on a steady stream of cunts who'd fall for (or rather, agree with) his arguments. People who don't believe in freedom of speech and thought. That sort of cunt - which makes up a sizeable proportion of the population.

The left is synonymous with this sort of cunt, unfortunately. And that's why they're struggling to get elected. Because the economy can go to shit, the poor can remain poor and all the unfairness in the world is almost worth persevering with as long as we don't have to get ruled by those sorts of cunts.


Until the left - and by the left I mean everyone with left-leaning politics - take a good hard look at themselves and ditch their deep-seated desire to control what other people are allowed to think - then they're always going to be marginalised and the capacity they undoubtedly have to bring about much-needed fundamental changes to justice and equality for all is going to be limited.
 

Raven

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Great interview with the equestrian team. 11th gold.
 

Scouse

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Oh god, just stop.

#sports
I feel your pain but balls to #sports - this thread is about the Tokyo Olympics. And whilst I will admit to a tiny passing interest in the accomplishments of largely middle-class genetic outliers I'm way more interested in the fact that the director of the opening ceremony who was fired for a holocaust joke in a comedy sketch he did years ago and that the the music director had to resign because he admitted to bullying a few kids whilst he was at school. This IS about the Tokyo Olympics :)
 

Deebs

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I feel your pain but balls to #sports - this thread is about the Tokyo Olympics. And whilst I will admit to a tiny passing interest in the accomplishments of largely middle-class genetic outliers I'm way more interested in the fact that the director of the opening ceremony who was fired for a holocaust joke in a comedy sketch he did years ago and that the the music director had to resign because he admitted to bullying a few kids whilst he was at school. This IS about the Tokyo Olympics :)
Go start a new thread if you want to talk about this subject at the Olympics.

Let's keep this thread about the accomplishments of the atheletes.
 

Deebs

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That is some rain at the athletics stadium and the fucking officials trying to dry the discus ring with towels whilst still pissing it down, LOL
🤡🤡🤡
 
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