Monday Feb 24, 2025

Ep 8 The Fly Girl and The OPV

In this episode we cover:

Simone Biles: Rising - Netflix 2024

and

Call the Midwife Christmas Specials from 2013 and 2016

The Fly Girl Spritzer using Black Girl Magic wines - https://www.mcbridesisters.com/blogs/eat-drink/cocktail-recipe-fly-girl-spritzer?srsltid=AfmBOopqq5eAw0oOZBjYHlyhHAVlM3GebvzMwJPbzWvXvAbVOsWwxksl

Simone Biles: Rising - Netflix 2024

https://www.netflix.com/title/81700902

Black excellence overcoming trauma/hardship vs. media focusing solely on trauma as a definition aspect of the Black experience

Summer 2020 Tokyo Olympics drama - context: COVID-19, no crowd, no family, daily testing and worry about infection

The “Twisties” - https://time.com/7004666/what-are-the-twisties-gymnastics-cause-treatments-simone-biles-condition/
https://www.snexplores.org/article/simone-biles-twisties-gymnastics-olympics-explainer
- Baseline danger of the sport, no protective equipment, feeling “in jail in my body, deaf”, add the speed and power of her athleticism
  - Try not to die
- “Invisible” problem
- 1 ½ yrs before returned to full training
Optimal anxiety - https://www.healthline.com/health/yerkes-dodson-law#stress-performance-bell-curve
Social negativity and media pressure before, during, and after
- Abandoning team, loser, quitter, making excuses, “doesn’t feel like it,” a failure, a drop out, a disappointment, life lessons not to give up
  - Pressure, mental, and physical stress
    - For team, for the country, other countries rooting for her
  - Still won Bronze on Balance Beam
- Male response vs. female response differential?
History of gymnastics in the USA
- Older athletes until Nadia Comenici and the Karoli Era of training
  - Kerri Shrug
  - Push through injury - long term effect
  - Sexual abuse scandal
    - Trauma response
  - Limited diversity
  - Youth and diversity in the sport vs. other sports
    - https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/08/06/nx-s1-5064419/womens-gymnastics-ages-simone-biles-olympics
    - https://static.usagym.org/PDFs/Events/24olympics/diversity.pdf
      - First american black woman to complete was in 1992 and 1996 - often in the shadows of white competitors
      - First american black woman to win a gold - 2012
    - https://www.suzansong.com/fieldnotes/the-resistance-amp-repair-of-simone-biles
  - Retirement due to career ending injury vs. on own terms
  - Work-life balance for athletes
Mental health
- Courage, certainty vs. doubt, emotional/mental strength, confidence, fear, trust in self and abilities, trust in coaches, in equipment
- Post-competition depression - adrenaline
- Sports psychology - https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/sports#:~:text=Sport%20psychology%20is%20a%20proficiency,with%20sports%20settings%20and%20organizations
- Positive self talk, visualization, optimal levels of anxiety
- Social support
- Limits on social media, interviews, etc
History of trauma
- Foster care, mother’s substance abuse, separation from 3 siblings
- Adoption by grandparents
2020 and 2024 GOAT controversy
- When is it enough
- 5 skills named after her, only one has been able to be performed by another athlete
- Skill level difficulty - can make mistakes and still outrank others perfect performances
  - First “true competition” in Rebecca Andraje from Brazil - good sportsmanship - tension and competition but also cheering each other on
- Expectations to always win, then always finding fault - if not performance than in appearance, relationship, attitude, etc