Vox - Tokyo Olympicshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52517/voxv.png2021-08-01T08:30:00-04:00http://www.vox.com/rss/stream/223442052021-08-01T08:30:00-04:002021-08-01T08:30:00-04:00Hosting the Olympics comes at a massive cost
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<figcaption>Competitors race in the men’s 10,000 m final at the 2020 Olympic Games on July 30, 2021, in Tokyo. | Richard Heathcote/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Tokyo Olympics could cost four times as much as expected. </p> <p id="IKf8wq">The Olympics are a bad deal for host cities. And they’re starting to take notice.</p>
<p id="gza0gX">In 2013, when it bid for the 2020 Summer Games, Tokyo thought it would be spending $7.3 billion. By summer 2020, an Oxford economist <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-virus-outbreak-sports-asia-2020-tokyo-olympics-olympic-games-cfd618b2fba9109d01103bd9ecae33a3">told the Associated Press</a> that Tokyo’s costs had already more than doubled to $15.84 billion. Local organizers have disputed that total — though they <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-ap-top-news-tokyo-sports-general-japan-eb6d9e318b4b95f7e53cd1b617dce123">admitted in December 2019 that costs had risen to $12.6 billion</a>. But competing estimates from a national audit board and national newspapers <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-ap-top-news-tokyo-sports-general-japan-eb6d9e318b4b95f7e53cd1b617dce123">contend it could be nearly $30 billion</a>. </p>
<p id="FSIZYc">To be sure, Tokyo is a special case. The city had to postpone the Games for a year after Covid-19 made hosting the international event a nonstarter, and they won’t receive the local tourism boom that usually accompanies the Olympics. But what happened in Tokyo is part of a larger trend — a <a href="https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=568002118065021078072004126082010066118047006051032007118027117118017117026102075004017058006012005023096082080074120000007091055058054000080073095010124025024080110064018021124125004080022004116105025068029004104113088008029084098077119098072020082084&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE">2020 paper</a> by Oxford economist Bent Flyvbjerg found that “every Olympics since 1960 has run over budget, at an average of 172 percent in real terms, the highest overrun on record for any type of megaproject.” In other words, he found there’s something specifically wrong with the Olympics bidding process, even compared to other boondoggles.</p>
<p id="jMp3sP">And it’s not just the costs; some of the supposed benefits of hosting the Olympics have come under scrutiny by locals and economists alike. Economists Victor Matheson and Robert Baade <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.30.2.201">outlined</a> the potential benefits as “the short-run benefits of tourist spending during the Games; the long-run benefits of the ‘Olympic legacy’ which might include improvements in infrastructure and increased trade, foreign investment or tourism after the Games; and intangible benefits such as the ‘feel-good effect’ or civic pride.” </p>
<p id="nQTScc">Like any major infrastructure project, the Games can provide a brief employment benefit and stimulative effect. But nowhere near what you might expect: “Overwhelmingly, the studies show actual economic impacts that are either near-zero or a fraction of that predicted prior to the event,” Matheson and Baade <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.30.2.201">write</a>. </p>
<p id="kDmdZ4">And when it comes to the long-run economic benefits from improved infrastructure, they often don’t pan out. Those are usually attributed to the sports and general infrastructure that hosting the Olympics requires. </p>
<p id="Vw0GuW">“There are 35 sports, most of which are fairly obscure, and many of which require very, very specific sports infrastructure,” Matheson told Vox. “So the problem is that most cities don’t have this on hand in the first place, and most cities don’t have much use for it afterwards.” </p>
<p id="eRIBEt">Matheson and Baade write that “Many of the venues from the Athens Games in 2004 have fallen into disrepair. Beijing’s iconic “Bird’s Nest” Stadium has rarely been used since 2008 and has been partially converted into apartments ...” They add that there are potentially greater returns for general infrastructure improvements like transportation networks or increased hotel capacity, but it’s a mixed bag. </p>
<p id="K4aQ0M">The intangible benefits are hard to quantify. To be sure, watching the Games is already a delight; doing so in real life — plus the excitement of having international attention on your city — is only more so. </p>
<p id="rYY054">And yet, that alone is a tough sell. It’s become abundantly clear that the financial cost of hosting the Olympics cannot be justified in economic terms. </p>
<h3 id="ctP2N5">What could reform look like?</h3>
<p id="AqXEzP">Cities are taking notice of exorbitant costs that accompany hosting the Olympics and fewer and fewer bids are being made for upcoming games. In 2015, four of six bidders pulled out as countries bid for the 2022 Winter Games. In 2018, during bidding for the 2026 Winter Games, again four countries pulled out during the process, many citing local concerns about the financial commitments required. </p>
<p id="9tA9lU">Los Angeles was the only bid for the 1984 Summer Olympics, and its experience highlights one of the few ways a city can actually profit from hosting the Games. <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/economics-hosting-olympic-games">According to the Council on Foreign Relations</a>, that was partly because LA, as the only bidder, was able to “negotiate exceptionally favorable terms with the IOC.” But “most importantly, LA was able to rely almost entirely on existing stadiums and other infrastructure rather than promise lavish new facilities to entice the IOC [International Olympic Committee] selection committee ... [LA finished] with a $215 million operating surplus,” they write. </p>
<p id="ftMwMg">Following this success, the number of cities bidding trended up — which allowed the IOC to continue a process that encourages expensive plans. The overarching problem is that without reform, the incentives of the IOC and the local host city committee are misaligned. The former makes its money off ad revenue, while the latter needs to care about the exorbitant cost of infrastructure, local governance issues, and ticket sales (the latter of which became increasingly important for Tokyo).</p>
<p id="mefKO0">Pacific University professor Jules Boykoff pilloried the IOC for running itself like a “profit-gobbling cartel” <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-oly-ioc-commentary-20170322-story.html">in a 2017 Los Angeles Times column</a>: </p>
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<p id="ZyyhCV">For too long, the IOC has claimed that the city doesn’t <em>have to</em> build new infrastructure, that it’s the city’s decision. Of course host cities have to build new venues if they actually want to host the Games. Whitewater kayak venues don’t grow on trees.</p>
<p id="jvrIJq">In truth, the IOC chips in for operating costs by essentially laundering money from its lucrative corporate sponsorships and television-rights deals. That’s all well and good, but it’s time the organization stepped up and contributed to infrastructure costs as well.</p>
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<p id="2zA7ar">Cost-sharing could incentivize the IOC to reduce its pressure for bids to contain more and more elaborate items. In an attempt to win a bid, “these cities started to offer so much more than what really benefited them,” University of Colorado Boulder economist Stephen Billings said. “I saw in Tokyo they built a specific venue for 3-vs.-3 basketball. ... It seems like couldn’t we just use the regular basketball venue?” </p>
<p id="u3YZmu">Some have suggested a permanent location for the Olympics. Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist <a href="https://time.com/4396796/olympic-host-city/">laid out his case for this</a> weeks before the Rio Olympics were set to begin and after more than 77,000 favela residents had been evicted: “Why not build the required 35 sports venues, the Olympic village and the broadcasting and media center only once, instead of building them anew in a different city every four years?” He suggests Los Angeles for the Summer Olympics, which he argues has all the necessary infrastructure that would not go to waste in between Games.</p>
<p id="WymA7K">To ensure the benefits of the Games actually accrue and avoid the risks of internal political and economic strife, putting them in a location where the infrastructure is sure to be used and reused could address some of the downsides of hosting. And holding the Olympics in a wealthier country ensures that if there is some unforeseen financial cost to bear, the nation is better positioned to pay it. That might have its downsides too; excluding developing countries from the hosting duties is antithetical to the Games’ global mission<strong> </strong>(though the IOC has never awarded hosting to a truly low-income nation in the global south).<strong> </strong>But it’s worth considering.<strong> </strong></p>
<p id="8De6ue">As the Tokyo Olympics plays out in empty stadiums, the IOC will continue raking in profits from TV ad revenue as the world watches from home. But it’s the Japanese people who will inevitably foot the bill. </p>
https://www.vox.com/22599732/olympics-tokyo-2020-summerJerusalem Demsas2021-07-30T12:50:00-04:002021-07-30T12:50:00-04:00Will the Tokyo Olympics be a superspreader event?
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<figcaption>Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Japan’s pandemic problems are bigger than the Olympics, experts say.</p> <p id="5pl3nQ">The <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021-olympics-tokyo-japan">Toyko Olympics</a> appear unlikely to be a “superspreader” event, experts say — but that may be little comfort to people in Japan, where a combination of the delta variant and low vaccination rates is driving a new surge in <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">Covid-19 cases</a>.</p>
<p id="6n7WjA">Japan is currently living through its fifth wave since the start of the pandemic, while the Summer Olympics are finally being held after a one-year delay. The average number of daily new cases <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&pickerSort=desc&pickerMetric=total_cases&hideControls=true&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=false&Align+outbreaks=false&country=~JPN&Metric=Confirmed+cases">jumped</a> from 1,400 in late June up to more than 5,700 as of July 29, nearly matching the previous peaks in May and January.</p>
<p id="35cBVZ">Those rising rates likely reflect a new wave of cases around the world, and in Asia especially, rather than anything specific to the Olympics. In fact, adjusted for population, Japan’s latest wave tracks quite closely with new cases across Asia. The infections currently being reported were also contracted up to two weeks ago, before the start of the Games, though personnel had begun to arrive.</p>
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<cite>Our World In Data</cite>
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<p id="2HvCag">“I think what is going on in Japan right now is more reflective of the global picture of increased case numbers,” Andrew Nelson, a University of Minnesota pathologist who contributed to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6947e1.htm#contribAff">a CDC study</a> on the Sturgis motorcycle rally told me in an email. “Related in part to the delta variant and importantly related to rates of vaccination in specific locales.”</p>
<p id="mOh62u">The August 2020 rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, is generally thought of as an example of a superspreader event. It drew 460,000 people from around the US, and the CDC’s study linked it directly to clusters of cases in neighboring Minnesota, an example of how the rallygoers may have spread the virus elsewhere. But superspreader events are hard to quantify or define. Some experts <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7229875/">have questioned</a> how much we should focus on them, worrying they may distract from the many different ways Covid-19 spreads. Nelson called the term “problematic.”</p>
<p id="YZP8kI">And for the Olympics to actually become a quote-unquote superspreader event, a few things would have to go wrong. That’s not impossible, but it seems unlikely at the moment.</p>
<h3 id="pWNeKe">Japan isn’t a world leader in vaccination, but it has some other things going in its favor</h3>
<p id="nCtoqO">With the Olympics underway, Japan has administered about 81 million shots, enough for roughly one-third of its people. That puts the country well behind the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other wealthy nations in its vaccination drive. Japan is currently averaging about 1 million shots per day; at that pace, it would take another 4 months to reach 75 percent of the population, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/#global">the Bloomberg vaccine tracker</a>.</p>
<p id="gXQG92">In the meantime, the Olympic Games probably don’t pose much of an additional threat to the rest of Japan, relative to the global trends they are already contending with. </p>
<p id="MkMHc3">The Olympians and people working at the Games have big advantages in reducing spread. Access is tightly regulated and tests are conducted regularly to catch cases early. The athletes themselves have high vaccination rates, with <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/team-usa-tokyo-olympics-vaccinated-athletes-11627366786">most teams reporting that 80 or 90 percent of participants</a> got their shots. </p>
<p id="PeZdrq">An estimated <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2021/07/22/olympic-village-athletes-tokyo-olympics/7989739002/#:~:text=Coronavirus%20fears%20will%20dictate%20the,are%20estimated%20to%20pass%20through.">15,000 competitors</a> are expected to stay in the Olympic Village at some point. Since July 1, 169 people affiliated with the Games have tested positive for Covid-19. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/28/1021663868/japan-covid-19-coronavirus-cases-record-tokyo-olympics">No new cases were reported</a> among athletes on Tuesday, even as Tokyo itself set a record for daily cases, one sign of disconnect with the surrounding area.</p>
<p id="noD6vm">There is reason to be optimistic about the virus being contained at the Games themselves. A lot of precautions are being taken to do exactly that, starting with the public being barred from attending the events.</p>
<p id="WKrdKC">“Given the restrictions on movement, testing, masking, separation of the public from the official events, and other measures being taken, we can hope that any spread is limited somewhat,” Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said over email.</p>
<p id="vxu9G9">But the Games are still deeply unpopular with the Japanese public, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3141041/tokyo-2020-ipsos-poll-finds-78-cent-japanese-against-olympics">surveys have found</a>. People say they are worried about the effect on the current outbreak. And that worry isn’t necessarily unreasonable. </p>
<h3 id="qiAkK4">There are still risks to manage </h3>
<p id="WnbLSZ">Even if the risk of the Olympics being a superspreader event is relatively low, that doesn’t mean it’s zero. As Wafaa El-Sadr, director of the Global Health Initiative at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, put it to me: “Any time there are large numbers of people coming and mixing together, there is reason for concern.” </p>
<p id="n8yUMM">The athletes are going to socialize. They are performing rigorous physical activity, often near one another, without masks. Some of them are still unvaccinated. Workers are also entering and leaving the grounds.</p>
<p id="RjRnSG">The theoretical risk from the Games to Toyko and Japan at large would be, for starters, a cluster of cases among a group of athletes or workers. That is one thing experts say they’ll be watching for. While the Olympics are being closely monitored for Covid-19, it’s still possible to imagine a scenario in which the virus leaks into the community, exacerbating the surge already underway. There could be indirect effects as well.</p>
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<cite>Carl Court/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>A steward holds a sign telling people to observe social distancing outside the Olympic Caldron in Tokyo on July 24.</figcaption>
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<p id="8drlin">“Rates rising in Japan could also be impacted by the Games through more social mixing, bars and other venues being open, and essential workers having to increase front line and public facing work,” Chris Beyrer, a Johns Hopkins global health professor, said over email.</p>
<p id="ecDsGR">If rates increase in Japan more than would be expected from the delta variant alone, that would be an indicator the Games played a role. </p>
<p id="ztAuaH">Showing any direct link could be difficult, however, though Michaud said Japan has been “very good” with contact tracing so far. (He also pointed out that any spread associated with the Games would be “a politically sensitive issue,” which could hamper transparency.)</p>
<p id="qcJzSn">In the end, the experts I spoke with thought Japan’s lagging vaccination rates and the increased spread globally from the delta variant posed more of a risk to the nation than the Olympic Games.</p>
<p id="07jtnU">“Given the infection control protocols in place around the Olympics and Japan in general,” Nelson said, “I think there is a very low probability that this observed increase is due to the Olympics and there is a very low probability that the Olympics will serve as a superspreader event.”</p>
<p id="1hnyZ1">What’s not in doubt is that, as the rising cases in Japan already show, the coronavirus still poses a threat.</p>
https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22598422/tokyo-olympics-2021-covid-19-cases-japan-delta-variantDylan Scott2021-07-30T08:30:00-04:002021-07-30T08:30:00-04:00America’s mental health moment is finally here
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<p>There’s a mental health moment in America, and athletes are leading the way.</p> <p id="vuFBFo">On Tuesday, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22596910/simone-biles-withdrawal-olympic-gymnastics-team-finals-results">Simone Biles</a> did something revolutionary: She walked away.</p>
<p id="pIieDR">“I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being,” Biles explained when she <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/sport/simone-biles-tokyo-2020-olympics/index.html">pulled out of the women’s team gymnastics final</a> at the Tokyo Olympics. It was a move that surprised fans who had expected the 24-year-old gymnast, widely regarded as the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/27/simone-biles-mental-health/">greatest of all time</a>, to lead her team to the gold.</p>
<p id="AY2VvK">Biles’s decision is part of a larger cultural moment. In recent months, multiple high-profile athletes — many of them young Black women — have been open about prioritizing their mental health over someone else’s definition of success. Before Biles, the most prominent was <a href="https://www.vox.com/22534957/naomi-osaka-french-open-wimbledon">tennis star Naomi Osaka</a>, who stepped away from press conferences and then from tournaments earlier this year out of a need to protect her mental health. “It’s O.K. to not be O.K., and it’s O.K. to talk about it,” she wrote in <a href="https://time.com/6077128/naomi-osaka-essay-tokyo-olympics/">a July essay at Time</a> explaining the move.</p>
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<cite>Jean Catuffe/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Simon Biles speaks to IOC President Thomas Bach after the gymnastics artistic women’s team final on July 27.</figcaption>
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<p id="Jd8VH5">Athletes like <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/young-black-athletes-are-launching-mental-health-revolution-rcna1490">sprinter Noah Lyle and swimmer Simone Manuel</a> have also spoken publicly about mental health treatment or challenges. So have other public figures like Meghan Markle, who <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a35747520/meghan-markle-mental-health/">said in an <em>Oprah</em> interview</a> earlier this year that she experienced suicidal thoughts as a result of media scrutiny but was told by the royal family that she couldn’t seek help. </p>
<p id="mUgOnn">And it’s not just famous people who are done staying silent. Record numbers of workers from retail to restaurants to offices have <a href="https://www.vox.com/22545398/jobs-quitting-retail-workers-pandemic-sales">left their jobs this year</a>, often <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/24/workers-are-quitting-their-jobs-to-prioritize-their-mental-health.html">citing mental health</a> as a factor. In <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2020/10/08/mental-health-leadership-survey-reveals-80-of-remote-workers-would-quit-their-jobs-for-this/?sh=274bffdc3a0f">one 2020 survey</a>, 80 percent of workers said they would consider quitting for a role that offered better support for mental well-being.</p>
<p id="550o4p">Some of this new drive to be proactive, and public, about psychological wellness may be a generational shift. Generation Z — the cohort <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/">born after 1996</a> — “is more open than prior generations to both seeking mental health care and disclosing their experiences,” psychologist B. Janet Hibbs told Vox in an email. Some of it may also stem from the pandemic, a time that inspired many Americans to reevaluate their lives and focus on what was really important to them. The events of the past year and a half “allowed people to sit with themselves” and “assess how to make things right in a way that is true to them and not just please everyone else,” Elyse Fox, founder of the mental health nonprofit Sad Girls Club, told Vox. </p>
<p id="Fa5Y8F">Whatever the cause, it’s become more mainstream in recent months to prioritize self-care rather than self-denial. For decades, Americans have been laboring under a play-through-the-pain mentality — “there’s this overall sort of ethic in our society around grinning and bearing it, taking it on the chin,” Michael A. Lindsey, the executive director of the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, who also studies mental health, told Vox. But in recent months, more and more people have hit their breaking point and are committing to caring for themselves — even if it means stepping away from something as big as the Olympics or the Grand Slam. For Biles and Osaka, “although this was a move for themselves, it’s also a step for the entire world,” Fox said. </p>
<h3 id="dkc3yE">Gen Z is taking a lead on mental health</h3>
<p id="T0kXAq">America asks a lot of its athletes. They train, often from very young ages, at sports that risk their health and sometimes their very lives — just prior to the Olympics, Biles <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/sports/olympics/simone-biles-yurchenko-double-pike.html">completed a vault</a> so dangerous that no other female gymnast had even tried it. They endure constant pressure to win, and constant scrutiny when they falter, even for a moment. They also have to show up at press conferences and be personable and relatable, all while holding themselves to a different standard of behavior than ordinary people — by, for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22565419/shacarri-richardson-olympics-marijuana-ban-war-on-drugs">never smoking marijuana</a>. During the pandemic, they’ve also had to travel without family and friends and submit to a life in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-sports-tennis-health-coronavirus-pandemic-1eca0e1a9fe0606e45853be137ccae9e">a series of isolated bubbles</a>, making a difficult situation all the more stressful.</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="miH7we"><q>It’s become more mainstream in recent months to prioritize self-care rather than self-denial</q></aside></div>
<p id="4aG29x">And the requirements for Black female athletes, historically, have been even more taxing, with <a href="https://www.vox.com/22534957/naomi-osaka-french-open-wimbledon">players like Serena Williams</a> subjected to endless body-shaming, racism, and disparate treatment by sports’ governing bodies. These athletes are still expected to be stand-ins for American greatness on a world stage, even when America — from <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/us/simone-biles-usa-gymnastics-one-job/index.html">sporting officials</a> to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/3/11/8189679/serena-williams-indian-wells-racism">media</a> — has often been far from great to them. Such factors make it all the more remarkable — or perhaps all the more overdue — that Black female athletes have been some of the first to stand up on a national stage and say: enough.</p>
<p id="RkfS91">In many ways, Osaka jump-started the current national conversation around mental health when she announced in May that she would not participate in mandatory press conferences ahead of the French Open. She later withdrew from the tournament, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22534957/naomi-osaka-french-open-wimbledon">explaining</a> that “I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media” and that she had faced “long bouts of depression” since 2018. In order to care for herself, she said, “I’m gonna take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right, I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press, and fans.” </p>
<p id="67zCi9">While she faced <a href="https://www.insider.com/naomi-osaka-hit-back-megyn-kelly-criticism-media-appearances-2021-7">some criticism</a>, she was also met with an outpouring of support, with <a href="https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/why-naomi-osakas-french-open-withdrawal-is-a-mental-health-win/">experts</a>, commentators, and even <a href="https://apnews.com/article/meghan-markle-naomi-osaka-osaka-french-open-tennis-ff9a4ed6166c3845efc14e3e6152804a">corporate sponsors</a> praising her honesty. Other athletes have spoken out about mental health in recent months, too, from Lyle, who <a href="https://twitter.com/LylesNoah/status/1290032724992876544">described taking antidepressants</a> as “one of the best decisions I have made in a while,” to Manuel, who <a href="https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/07/13/simone-manuel-tokyo-olympics-50-freestyle-overtraining">missed three weeks of training</a> earlier this year due to overtraining syndrome, which can cause fatigue and depression. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/sports/olympics/shacarri-richardson-suspended-marijuana.html">sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson</a>, who was suspended in June after testing positive for marijuana, said she’d used it to cope with grief after her biological mother’s death. “It sent me into a state of emotional panic,” she <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/sports/olympics/shacarri-richardson-suspended-marijuana.html">said in an NBC interview</a>, “I didn’t know how to control my emotions or deal with my emotions during that time.”</p>
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<cite>Patrick Smith/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Sha’Carri Richardson seen after winning the Women’s 100 Meter final on day 2 of the US Olympic Track & Field Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon. </figcaption>
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<p id="wgSCtj">Then came Biles, who withdrew from the team final and from the <a href="https://www.espn.com/olympics/gymnastics/story/_/id/31902290/simone-biles-withdraws-individual-all-competition-tokyo-olympics-focus-mental-health">individual all-around competition</a> in Tokyo this week. “This Olympic Games, I wanted it to be for myself when I came in — and I felt like I was still doing it for other people,” she <a href="https://www.vox.com/22596910/simone-biles-withdrawal-olympic-gymnastics-team-finals-results">told reporters</a>. “At the end of the day, we’re human too so we have to protect our mind and our body rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do.”</p>
<p id="CtxdhL">The movement among athletes to prioritize caring for their health above competing at all costs — and to share their mental health challenges openly — is emblematic of something bigger, many say. Between athletes like Osaka and Biles and ordinary Americans on social media, we’re seeing “more people speaking openly about mental health issues and how they’re impacting their work,” Betty Lai, a professor of counseling, developmental, and educational psychology at Boston College, told Vox.</p>
<p id="o5QRQq">Most visibly,<strong> </strong>that change is being driven by Black<strong> </strong>women in their 20s or younger — Osaka, Biles, Manuel, and Richardson are all under 25. “Black women have always had a sort of leading presence” when it comes to social change “in a way that they have not been historically given credit for,” Lindsey said. The young Olympians speaking out today about their need to care for themselves are “yet another example of how Black women are leading.”</p>
<p id="z7rlPo">It’s also not surprising that young people are at the forefront of a mental health revolution, since they appear more adept than their elders at recognizing mental health problems. Members of Gen Z in general report worse mental health than their elders, with just 45 percent saying their mental well-being was good or very good in <a href="https://www.wgu.edu/blog/stress-mental-health-generation-z1906.html#openSubscriberModal">a 2019 survey</a>, compared with 56 percent of millennials. The pandemic has also taken an outsize toll on young people, with 62.9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/well/family/young-adults-mental-health-pandemic.html">a 2020 CDC survey</a>, the highest of any age group.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Recently I decided to get on antidepressant medication. That was one of the best decisions I have made in a while. Since then I have been able to think with out the dark undertone in mind of nothing matters. <br>Thank you God for mental Health </p>— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) <a href="https://twitter.com/LylesNoah/status/1290032724992876544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2020</a>
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<p id="XiTw9k">At the same time, people in Gen Z are also more likely than their elders to seek help for mental health problems, with 37 percent saying they had gotten therapy or other professional treatment in <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/gen-z">a 2019 survey</a>, compared with 35 percent of millennials, 26 percent of Gen-Xers, and 22 percent of boomers. </p>
<p id="i3kTBw">This is likely because<strong> </strong>Gen-Zers have been exposed to more outreach on mental health by colleges and universities, as well as more awareness of these issues among parents, than older generations, Hibbs said. “They’ve been encouraged to talk about their feelings more,” she added. “There’s much more self-awareness of what’s going on for you.”</p>
<p id="qFNOp8">Peers and social media likely play a role, too — mental health has emerged as <a href="https://www.mic.com/p/mental-health-tiktok-is-vast-daunting-here-are-5-actually-helpful-accounts-to-follow-68026714">a popular topic on TikTok</a>, for example, where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/well/mind/tiktok-therapists.html">professionals</a> and ordinary people share experiences and advice. “I learn so much through TikTok,” said Fox, who launched Sad Girls Club as a way to provide mental health resources to underserved communities, especially women of color and young people. The rise of mobile therapy options like Talkspace may also have helped, allowing young people to get help on their phones without going into an office.</p>
<p id="qTotGV">Overall, among younger Americans, “everyone’s kind of awakened” when it comes to mental health issues, Fox said. “It’s like, ‘We know this exists. Why are we living like this? We can’t live like this anymore.’”</p>
<h3 id="PvqJQI">The pandemic has brought mental health challenges — but also raised awareness</h3>
<p id="EvMohM">In addition to the influence of high-profile people, the pandemic has sparked a larger interest in mental health across society. In her work with school administrators on supporting students during this time, for example, Lai has noticed that “talking about mental health has really been at the forefront of people’s minds.” </p>
<p id="oicqg1">“More people are raising these issues and are raising them earlier,” Lai explained. “Ten years ago, we really had to make the case that we should be thinking about mental health outcomes for kids after disasters.” Today, it’s more of a given. </p>
<p id="zB3f4p">And that awareness around mental health extends to adults as well, with more people recognizing the importance of caring for themselves during a time that has been traumatic for so many. The pandemic has led many people to <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/22188641/life-changing-decisions-2020-pandemic">reevaluate their lives</a>, which can include prioritizing what’s best for themselves rather than living up to external demands. For some, that can extend to walking away from a job, with many of those quitting as part of the so-called <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/29/more-people-plan-to-quit-as-return-to-work-plans-go-into-effect-.html">Great Resignation</a> doing so at least in part for their psychological well-being. Twenty-one-year-old Stephanie Becker, for example, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/24/workers-are-quitting-their-jobs-to-prioritize-their-mental-health.html">told CNBC</a> in June that she left her job at a dog boarding facility after the stress started to make her physically ill. “If [work] is affecting you so much, it’s not worth working yourself so hard and not feeling good that you aren’t able to enjoy yourself at home,” she said.</p>
<aside id="VHzUPj"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"America took Simone Biles for granted ","url":"https://www.vox.com/22596910/simone-biles-withdrawal-olympic-gymnastics-team-finals-results"}]}'></div></aside><p id="eXZTgD">“This past year was definitely the hardest for so many people, but what’s coming out of it is very beautiful” when it comes to “the voices that are speaking up in support of mental health and taking time,” Fox said.</p>
<p id="Rg66yp">“I don’t want to be a gymnast,” she added, “but I’m also very inspired by someone actually ditching the biggest game or the biggest thing in their career to focus on their mental health.”</p>
<h3 id="hU5vIS">America has a long way to go to support people</h3>
<p id="O2vy87">Biles’s stepping away is especially inspirational since the stigma around mental health still prevents too many Americans from getting help. “The person who is ‘experiencing a mental health problem’ is sort of cast aside or thought to be different,” Lindsey said, when “the reality is, we all are struggling with mental health issues and challenges in our lives.” Black Americans can experience disproportionate stigma around getting help for mental illness, which may help contribute to the fact that just <a href="https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/news/why-mental-health-care-stigmatized-black-communities">one in three Black people experiencing mental health problems</a> ever get appropriate treatment. Men can also feel <a href="https://www.nami.org/blogs/nami-blog/march-2018/5-myths-that-prevent-men-from-fighting-depression">stigma around mental health issues</a>, making them less likely than women to get help.</p>
<p id="VwLV9V">But even if Americans are ready to prioritize mental health, it does not mean they will come by support easily. As of 2019, <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20201007.502559/full/">14.5 percent of non-elderly Americans</a> lacked health insurance, and that number has likely <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20201007.502559/full/">risen during the pandemic</a>. Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Americans are <a href="https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/health-coverage-by-race-and-ethnicity/">disproportionately likely to lack health insurance</a>, as are young adults, making it especially hard for many people in these groups to get treatment for mental health needs.</p>
<p id="Co3thF">Even with insurance, therapy can be unaffordable and therapists difficult to find. Moreover, the country needs more culturally competent therapists who understand the needs of people from historically marginalized groups, from Black Americans to LGBTQIA people, Lindsey said. Without such competence, therapy can end up “creating an experience whereby someone feels further villainized or marginalized because of how they identify.”</p>
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<cite>Joe Giddens—WPA/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Prince Harry visits a community recording studio in in Nottingham, England, to mark World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2019.</figcaption>
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<p id="VddgU6">Meanwhile, companies aren’t always understanding about their employees’ psychological well-being. “I’ve done a lot of consulting with brands and companies” whose employees’ mental health is suffering — “but then they have a full-on campaign on World Mental Health Day,” Fox said. It’s not enough just to talk about the issue on corporate social media channels. Companies need to let workers know that “there are no repercussions if you need a mental health break,” Fox said. That’s especially important since many workers today say they don’t feel comfortable <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/well/mind/mental-health-day.html">asking for a mental health day</a>. </p>
<p id="mhKhtm">And if people do decide to leave a job to care for their psychological well-being, there’s not always a safety net to help them. With health insurance tied to a job, many Americans risk losing access to therapy if they quit. Many say that bigger systemic changes, such as a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22321909/covid-19-pandemic-school-work-parents-remote">universal basic income</a> and universal health care, are needed to truly decouple people’s well-being from their jobs.</p>
<p id="wnQHIN">These are big asks for a country more accustomed to telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps no matter how bad they’re feeling. But the time may be ripe for a revolution in American mental health and greater well-being — and the generation represented by Biles and Osaka may be the best one to push for it. Young people today have “a more balanced ability to use the leverage of their generation to ask for changes,” Hibbs said, “and I think that will be healthier for an entire generation.”</p>
https://www.vox.com/22596341/simone-biles-withdrawal-osaka-olympics-mental-healthAnna North2021-07-28T17:48:55-04:002021-07-28T17:48:55-04:00Why Simone Biles withdrew from the Olympic gymnastic women’s team finals
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<img alt="Gymnast Simone Biles, wearing a mask." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/n4GvZMUZbkCDMJQ2eGfMjqXnhFA=/0x0:3128x2346/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69641714/1330936747.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Simone Biles, the GOAT. | Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Simone Biles stepped back from the Olympic gymnastic women’s team finals. Here’s why. </p> <p id="W8MdhN">The only way that an Olympic silver medal, a token signaling that you’re second best out of all of planet Earth’s 8 billion inhabitants, is considered a disappointing shock is if you’re on the United States gymnastics team. For nine years, the team and their American fans have grown accustomed to relentless dominance. </p>
<p id="Zpzwqe">On Tuesday, the United States Gymnastics team did not succeed in its bid for a third consecutive gold medal in the<a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/artistic-gymnastics/event-schedule-women-s-team.htm"> Olympic women’s team final</a>, losing to Russia by<a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/artistic-gymnastics/results-women-s-team-fnl-000001-.htm"> a score of 166.096 to 169.528</a>. As huge as this news is, the result, the mistakes the US couldn’t overcome, and the resurgent Russian team were all footnotes to a bigger story about the well-being of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/8/9/12411966/simone-biles-olympics-gymnastics">Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast</a> and arguably the greatest athlete of all time.</p>
<p id="xc9eGg">After shakily completing one vault, Biles briefly left the arena and then took herself out of the competition. Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Grace McCallum had to finish without her. The move was unusual, particularly because, in a sport riddled with unpredictability and risk, Biles’s greatness had taken on the force of inevitability. Since first competing at the senior level in 2013, Biles has never seemed to let anything — rivals, difficult moves, even harrowing <a href="https://www.vox.com/22585637/gymnastics-tokyo-olympics-2021-abuse-larry-nassar">abuse</a> — keep her from winning. This year’s delayed Games weren’t going to be an exception.</p>
<p id="Z3xmh7">And then they were.</p>
<p id="Vqossx">Initial reports from the arena speculated it might be an injury, but Biles told reporters she didn’t feel right mentally going into the day’s competition. She said her health was more important than going through with the day’s events and more important than a possible gold medal.</p>
<p id="DYeKVu">“This Olympic Games, I wanted it to be for myself when I came in — and I felt like I was still doing it for other people,”<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/27/sports/gymnastics-olympics-results?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes"> Biles told reporters after the team event</a>. “At the end of the day, we’re human too so we have to protect our mind and our body rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do.”</p>
<p id="iLVfre">Biles’s withdrawal immediately impacted the American team, which heavily relies on her — but it also made a powerful statement about the importance of mental health.</p>
<h3 id="ROnXHA">What happened to Simone Biles</h3>
<p id="nvm6zU">At the start of the competition, which took place on July 27, the Americans and Russians, who were in the top two spots, were both on vault, one of the Americans’ signature events. Traditionally, going back to 2012 (<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/how-us-gymnastics-team-crushed-russians-gif-guide/325165/">see: Maroney, McKayla</a>), Americans have thrived on vault. Biles was set to go second and perform an Amanar — a vault that consists of a layout flip and 2.5 twists, which she’s hit over and over throughout her career, including at the 2016 Olympics. This time, Biles unexpectedly bailed out of the vault early, not completing the full skill, and barely saved the landing.</p>
<p id="C3Bej3">Biles scored a 13.766 for her vault. At the 2019 world championships, Biles scored a 15.233 on the apparatus. Gymnastics is a sport that’s usually scored to tenths and hundredths of a point — full points represent a big difference.</p>
<p id="8pgop5">After her vault,<a href="https://twitter.com/nrarmour/status/1419978908145909761?s=20"> Biles left the competition floor</a> and did not warm up on the uneven bars, the Americans’ next event. This was a surprise, and cause for concern. Biles eventually returned to the arena, and it was announced that she would not compete for the rest of the night. </p>
<h3 id="tH5QjC">How Biles’s withdrawal affected the Americans</h3>
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<img alt="Gymnast Sunisa Lee hugging a teammate." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3551naJMD3tNWGIXIR7kws_cV4A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22744355/1330919301.jpg">
<cite>Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Sunisa Lee was one of the American gymnasts who continued on after Biles’s withdrawal.</figcaption>
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<p id="RsWEFU">Obviously, losing the best gymnast of all time is going to adversely affect a team. It’s akin to a Bulls championship basketball team not having Michael Jordan suit up. The team just isn’t going to have the same firepower. But gymnastics’ scoring makes a withdrawal especially difficult.</p>
<p id="RrFGWQ">In the Olympics team finals, teams have a pool of four gymnasts. From those four, teams pick three gymnasts to compete in each of the four apparatuses. Those three gymnasts’ scores — 12 in total across the four events — will count no matter what, but the wrinkle is that you don’t have to submit the same three gymnasts across all events. You can theoretically use the fourth gymnast as a substitute (again, see McKayla Maroney’s vault in 2012) to cover for a gymnast who might be weaker or to really play to your strengths.</p>
<p id="Ru2gYT"><a href="https://twitter.com/Gymnastics_Now/status/1419674011802423298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1419674011802423298%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=about%3Asrcdoc">Biles was slated</a> to compete in all four events for the team, and losing her meant that her teammates had to make up for Biles’s scoring, 33 percent of the team total. Logistically, it also meant that teammates Jordan Chiles and Suni Lee would have to compete across all four events. Initially, Chiles was going to skip the uneven bars and balance beam and Lee would skip the floor exercise.</p>
<p id="Uu437v">Lee and Chiles having to adjust and prepare last minute is a huge blow. But they’re both extremely talented gymnasts.</p>
<p id="Bbanle">Even without Biles and with an unusually slow start, the Americans were within striking distance after three rotations, having outscored the Russian team 41.232 to 39.532 on the balance beam. The problem came in the fourth rotation as the team suffered mistakes on the floor exercise, an event that’s traditionally been an American strong suit and one of Biles’s best events. It’s difficult to say whether mistakes were “unusual” as international competition was put on pause because of the pandemic and Biles’s withdrawal was an extraordinary circumstance, but the Americans’ final tally was some three points behind the Russian team.</p>
<h3 id="VHUKdD">The US gymnastics team took Simone Biles’s greatness as a given</h3>
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<cite>Jean Catuffe/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Simone Biles and the US gymnastics team accept their silver medals.</figcaption>
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<p id="p6pDDp">As the dust settles on the results, one of the lingering <a href="https://meaww.com/fire-tom-forster-says-internet-after-us-womens-gymnastic-team-comes-2nd-tokyo-olympics-simone-biles">criticisms</a> from commentators and fans of gymnastics is that US team coordinator Tom Forster failed to make the best, most strategic choices for the team. Instead of assembling the team by highest scoring potential, he went by team rank and results. And the gist of the criticism is simple: Forster did not bring the highest-scoring team he could have to the Olympics.</p>
<p id="HEkcx9">“We’re so, so fortunate that our athletes are so strong that I don’t think it’s going to come down to tenths of a point in Tokyo,” Forster told reporters after the Olympic trials. “We didn’t feel like it was worth changing the integrity of the process simply for a couple of tenths.”</p>
<p id="R36dlT">Forster was referring to selecting Grace McCallum over MyKayla Skinner. Though she was outscored by McCallum in the all-around competition at the trials, Skinner’s specialties, especially in vault, would have given the US a higher potential team score. With the way the current scoring system favors difficulty, the highest potential scores are something coaches have to seriously consider if they want to win.</p>
<p id="S5eqpT">Observers also say it’s curious that Forster used that language: the “integrity of the process.” Back in 1996, Forster coached a gymnast named Theresa Kulikowski who finished sixth at trials and would have made the team that would go on to be known as the Magnificent 7. But Kulikowski was bumped from the team for Shannon Miller and Dominique Moceanu, which<a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-07-sp-21956-story.html"> drew Forster’s ire</a>. Forster’s lack of flexibility and insistence on maintaining “fairness” and standings seems to be a reaction to his disappointment with the ’96 decision, even though critics believe that kind of thinking is outdated. </p>
<p id="yR2LNd">“All-around standings aren’t a process. They’re just results. What you do with those results, how you interpret them, that’s the process,” wrote<a href="https://defector.com/tenths-do-matter-even-when-youve-got-simone-biles/"> Dvora Meyers at Defector</a>, explaining that scoring during trials is just one consideration rather than the end-all and be-all. Meyers’s article puts into words a lot of criticisms voiced against Forster: that he didn’t do his job to scout his athletes, assess who was peaking or slumping, figure out the competition with the thoroughness of someone determined to win gold. </p>
<p id="bX52c5">Forster’s comments also, as <a href="https://twitter.com/PettyOkino/status/1417545726524116996">critics pointed out</a>, showed how much he was taking Biles for granted, unintentionally or not. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">After trials, US national team coordinator said a few tenths wouldn't matter in finals, so he didn't need to pick the highest scoring team. The implicit idea was that Simone would carry the team to victory <a href="https://t.co/VVXQgENeOx">https://t.co/VVXQgENeOx</a></p>— Elle Reeve (@elspethreeve) <a href="https://twitter.com/elspethreeve/status/1419985188994617345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2021</a>
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<p id="02Pqe1">That mentality puts a lot of pressure on Biles who, despite appearing superhuman, has talked openly about the toll of mental stress and injuries.</p>
<aside id="cigVdJ"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"The Simone Biles scoring controversy, explained","url":"https://www.vox.com/22575301/simone-biles-olympics-scoring-explained-gymnastics-yurchenko-double-pike"}]}'></div></aside><p id="hpMIcK">Forster didn’t seem to consider what would happen and what did in fact happen if Biles wasn’t herself or worse, if she was taken out of the equation. During the<a href="https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/artistic-gymnastics/results-women-qual-000001-.htm"> qualifying portion of the competition</a>, in which all the US gymnasts compete, the best-performing US gymnasts who weren’t Biles or Lee were actually Jade Carey and Skinner — both of whom outscored McCallum and Chiles.</p>
<p id="mug45W">That said, with the way the competition played out and silver medal shock, it’s temptingly easy for Team USA fans to fantasize about all the “what if” possibilities. At the same time, though, there’s a group of young women who performed under chaotic circumstances and still won silver.</p>
<p id="BGbwzL">And then there’s Simone Biles and how we appreciate her greatness. </p>
<p id="DMkhCo">“Today it’s like, you know what, no, I don’t want to do something stupid and get hurt,” Biles told reporters after the team event, alluding to a feeling of mental stress and fatigue. “And it’s just it’s not worth it, especially when you have three amazing athletes that can step up to the plate and do it, not worth it.”</p>
<p id="rYldhQ">Biles <a href="https://www.today.com/news/simone-biles-says-physically-she-feels-good-it-varies-emotionally-t226561">added</a>, “Coming here to the Olympics and being the head star isn’t an easy feat, so we’re just trying to take it one day at a time and we’ll see.”</p>
<p id="0IW8NE">Biles’s withdrawal is a wake-up moment for anyone who’s watched her become the greatest gymnast of all time. She’s achieved it so effortlessly and gracefully that it’s easy to forget the massive amount of pressure she faces day in and day out or the adversity and abuse she’s endured. Every time Biles steps into the arena, she’s expected to dominate. If she’s anything short of dominant, there are whispers about what went wrong.</p>
<p id="vsR77Z">Not participating in the team finals was a decision by Biles to step away, but also a moment for all of us to reflect on the importance of mental health. Similarly, in tennis, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22534957/naomi-osaka-french-open-wimbledon">Naomi Osaka</a> has also been having forthright conversations and addressing mental well-being. Despite spots of sour <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/piers-morgan-faces-backlash-over-comments-about-mental-health-issues-what-joke-1613605">backlash</a>, there’s been an outpouring of support for Biles from Olympic athletes like figure skater and Olympic medalist <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamRippon/status/1420011455152275457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1420011455152275457%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fnews%2Folympics%2Fathletes-offer-support-after-simone-biles-withdraws-olympics-team-final-n1275186">Adam Rippon</a>, former teammates <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/olympics/athletes-offer-support-after-simone-biles-withdraws-olympics-team-final-n1275186">Aly Raisman and Laurie Hernandez</a>, and 1996 gold medal gymnast <a href="https://twitter.com/kerristrug96/status/1420063374721703939?s=20">Kerri Strug</a>. </p>
<p id="W6cps5">Biles will not participate in the <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/simone-biles-out-tokyo-olympics-team-gymnastics-final.html">individual all-around finals</a> and may not join the event finals, which she’ll need <a href="https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2021/07/27/japan-olympics-team-usa-simone-biles-gymnastics/3851627386020/?spt=su&or=btn_tw">medical clearance</a> for. But it’s not as though she needs to do anything more to prove her greatness. </p>
<p id="D9kWML"></p>
https://www.vox.com/22596910/simone-biles-withdrawal-olympic-gymnastics-team-finals-resultsAlex Abad-Santos2021-07-26T15:00:49-04:002021-07-26T15:00:49-04:00Why the 400m hurdles is one of the hardest Olympic races
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6-Ujsn4vl4hlOB_cwKbjfV6ff38=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69634833/VDC_XES_009_hurdles_2020_olympics_CLEAN.0.png" />
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<p>Running the 400-meter hurdles requires strategic rhythm, but it’s over so quick you just might miss it.</p> <p id="E6kqIv">There are few single events that demand as much skill as the 400-meter hurdle race. It’s not as simple as just running and jumping. Olympians need to have the speed of a 200-meter dash runner, the endurance of an 800-meter runner, an understanding of rhythm, and, of course, the ability to efficiently clear a hurdle. </p>
<p id="b0DJEB">Various techniques can make or break a race. For one, hurdlers don’t “jump” — they sprint right over the barrier. If you hurdle too high, you’re wasting time and energy; too low and you collide with a hurdle. Even if your technique over the hurdles is perfect, you can’t win if you don’t have the speed — but starting too fast could lead to burnout later in the race.</p>
<p id="4mqlL2">Former Olympic hurdler and (until very recently) world record-holder Kevin Young helps us break down the rhythm of the 400-meter hurdles.</p>
<p id="v3bKNx">You can find this video and all of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXo7UDZvByw2ixzpQCufnA">Vox’s videos on YouTube</a>.</p>
<p id="R291L8"><strong>Correction</strong>: Karsten Warholm broke Kevin Young’s record at a Diamond League meet in Oslo, Norway on July 1 — not at the Olympic trials. </p>
https://www.vox.com/22594610/400-hurdles-kevin-young-olympicsKimberly Mas2021-07-26T06:00:00-04:002021-07-26T06:00:00-04:00Our bodies can adapt to hotter conditions — but there’s a limit
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zxPEVNyhZn0Gtn8PvZVKWRi6P98=/0x0:1707x1280/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69631865/GettyImages_1234063594__1_.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>An athlete runs through a sprinkler, cooling down in the Tokyo heat. | Michael Kappeler/picture alliance/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Here’s what Olympic athletes can teach us about coping with heat waves.</p> <p id="z8uAPc">This summer’s Olympic Games could be the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/17/weather/olympics-heat-forecast-climate/index.html">warmest in decades</a>. Tokyo, where the Games will be held, may see <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/19/22583913/summer-olympics-danger-zone-extreme-heat-tokyo">dangerously high</a> temperatures, in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/17/weather/olympics-heat-forecast-climate/index.html">excess of 90 degrees</a>. </p>
<p id="DiTQRQ">The athletes will likely be prepared. Scientists like <a href="https://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/oliver-gibson">Oliver Gibson</a>, an exercise physiologist at Brunel University in the UK, have spent decades studying how athletes can adapt to extreme heat conditions. He says that with training, the human body has a remarkable capacity for cooling itself when the temperature rises.</p>
<p id="VOASxF">These days, though, Gibson is less worried about the athletes. While running a marathon in 90-degree heat can be dangerous, even with preparation, there’s a much larger threat for everyday people coping with the new realities of climate change. “A lot of what we’re doing now is taking the decades’ worth of insight that we’ve gathered from the athletes and starting to apply it to the general population,” Gibson says. </p>
<p id="clrc1s">Coping with heat stress is a growing issue that “will affect more than just your dozen or so Olympic finalists,” he says. “Millions, billions of people are undoubtedly going to be affected by climate change.” Heat emergencies are already the deadliest weather events, and are likely <a href="https://www.vox.com/22538401/heat-wave-record-temperature-extreme-climate-change-drought">to keep getting worse</a>. To beat the heat, we’ll need to confront it, Gibson says. He believes that research into elite athletes could help make our bodies more resilient in a warming world.</p>
<p id="jWfU9Q"><em>This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. </em></p>
<h4 id="hxrf6F">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="5kFntX">Can anyone adapt to the heat, or is this just top athletes?</p>
<h4 id="d0TeMP">Oliver Gibson </h4>
<p id="cZiHK2">Yes, anybody can adapt to heat. We’ve <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244021001444">recently published work</a> on elderly UK residents who had very little heat exposure. We asked them to do exercise on the treadmill for a short period of time. And then [they sat] in a warm bath, to keep their body temperature high. What we’ve shown is, within five days, they can adapt to the heat [under the supervision of medical professionals]. </p>
<h4 id="vS0Bcn">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="xTSrOM">When you say “adapt to the heat,” what do you mean? </p>
<h4 id="R1O3ZD">Oliver Gibson </h4>
<p id="PxySjM">What we look to do with heat adaptation is improve the baseline of the body. If an athlete trains in the heat for two weeks, we know that their core body temperature will be reduced by perhaps about 0.5 degrees Celsius, as an average. Some a little more, some a little less.</p>
<p id="Ikz2GX">What that’s doing is dropping the existing body temperature so that when they invariably heat up, they’ve got a bigger window. They can exercise for however much longer it takes for them to increase by that amount.</p>
<p id="kssUVV">And then, a body will start to sweat sooner. Only a small change in temperature will start the sweating. And the signal to sweat will also come with a greater magnitude. So it won’t be to sweat minimally later; it will be to sweat maximally sooner. The rates of dehydration will be higher and quicker.</p>
<h4 id="Sctkvz">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="JxWKHK">Are athletes better at adapting to the heat? </p>
<h4 id="XoZo2S">Oliver Gibson </h4>
<p id="04f4qi">Athletes have earned their advantage by years and decades’ worth of training. They have more blood, so they can pump that blood around the body more effectively. So they’re not limited in that regard; they have a larger heart that will generally beat more frequently, so that their cardiac output can respond to the heat. </p>
<p id="Oktg7p">For the general public, it takes perhaps three or four exposures to the heat to even really start to see the signs that they’re adapting. Whereas an athlete who exercises regularly, the adaptation is right there.</p>
<p id="CCu1Qt">People with prior exposure to heat stress are able to more rapidly induce the same amount of adaptation. So if they already resided in a warm environment, they’ll adapt a little bit more quickly.</p>
<h4 id="Dg3X1E">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="1BfZgG">I’m curious to learn some of the basics here. How does the human body usually cope with heat?</p>
<h4 id="PwaIr8">Oliver Gibson</h4>
<p id="V65Y5a">The human body is really effective at dissipating heat. We are the very best mammals — the best beings — for sweating on the planet. So if someone’s exercising in very cool conditions, or even temperate conditions, they can sweat sufficiently to lose any heat. As long as they’re not exposed for too long or become very dehydrated.</p>
<h4 id="AQ6anR">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="u2Vd0o">What happens if they <em>are</em> exposed for too long?</p>
<h4 id="DZCn8z">Oliver Gibson</h4>
<p id="WGOXim">Once body temperature starts to increase, what we then see is a greater distribution of blood to the skin. Blood vessels open up. When someone’s getting warm, you see that red flushing of the skin.</p>
<p id="GKuV3c">And as a sweat droplet evaporates off the skin, the space underneath, the blood, is then cooled. Cooler blood circulates and cools down in the body. </p>
<h4 id="6xCYG7">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="Nq0QR2">But that system sometimes fails.</p>
<h4 id="xYIOk1">Oliver Gibson</h4>
<p id="qyx2tL">We don’t have this infinite capacity to increase our cardiac output or the amount of blood pumped by the heart. We get to a point where there’s just an insufficient cardiovascular response to cool us down optimally. And it’s at that point where the body temperature is going to start to rise.</p>
<p id="TnCkEk">For lots of people, the challenge comes when both exercise and heat combine. The challenge of exercise is you’ve got competing demands for that blood supply: from the skin from cooling down, but also from the muscles for that activity in the movement.</p>
<p id="RwmppG">It gets worse when the environment is warm and humid, such that when the sweat leaves the body, it’s leaving at a slower rate, so there’s not as much cooling. If the area is 100 percent saturated, if the humidity is very high, then all that sweat drips on the floor and doesn’t provide that evaporative cooling.</p>
<h4 id="yhtYK2">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="LRuxP4">What’s the worst case?</p>
<h4 id="JhqeYS">Oliver Gibson</h4>
<p id="YDUPwQ">A clinical diagnosis of hyperthermia comes from high body temperature and neurological dysfunction — effectively, the brain becoming too warm. We have this region of the brain, the hypothalamus, which is our thermostat. And the high temperature can actually disrupt that processing system, so actually our bodies would go in reverse and we would actually stop sweating. The signal is confused by extreme heat. That is a near-fatal condition.</p>
<h4 id="iyAgeM">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="9Nxy9s">Something I’m hearing here is maybe: Good cardiovascular health will be important for people adapting to a warming world, to deal with worse heat waves. </p>
<h4 id="V6buJ1">Oliver Gibson </h4>
<p id="1XkEam">Absolutely. Someone — particularly in a mid- to late stage of life — who has a more robust cardiovascular system will have a generally more robust body, whether that’s to the challenge of temperature or any other thing that’s thrown at it. </p>
<h4 id="HvbNoL">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="txKSZZ">Often during a heat emergency, the public health message is that we need to stay inside as much as possible. And I imagine that’s helpful because a lot of people aren’t adapted to the heat. </p>
<p id="90ppet">But seeing how heat waves are becoming more common, might we benefit from confronting it a bit more, trying to adapt? </p>
<h4 id="Gporon">Oliver Gibson </h4>
<p id="rUUkZd">I think my philosophy is that the body can respond to heat stress. So as long as we embrace it in a measured way and we’re clever with how we approach the heat, we shouldn’t be in a situation to just avoid. To embrace the stress is absolutely the right approach. </p>
<h4 id="QgtcPT">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="71rf2i">Could it be dangerous to try to get adapted to the heat? There’s a bit of a conundrum here: To get better at dealing with heat, we need to train in the heat, but the heat is dangerous if we’re not trained. </p>
<h4 id="esjhIg">Oliver Gibson </h4>
<p id="1n6ZX3">If you are looking to adapt to the heat, it’s important to listen to your body, to do things progressively and slowly. We would never say that you <em>shouldn’t</em> try and adapt to the heat. But to go out and be a bit gung-ho or blasé about it, I think, would put you at great risk. So what we always suggest is to do things in a measured way. If you aren’t exercising already, regularly, probably that’s the very first step before you start adding heat into the mix.</p>
<p id="SteHNJ">But if someone’s used to exercising — even if that’s brisk walking — doing that in a warmer environment shouldn’t come with any great risk, as long as you listen to your body. And the moment you start to feel like you’re overheating — if you feel any lightheadedness, if you start to feel unwell in any regard — then dial it back immediately, seek shade, make sure you’re hydrated.</p>
<p id="Qwb5HH">We’d be comfortable with saying for recreational athletes, perhaps go for the same duration of running in the heat, but dial back the intensity a little bit. Recalibrate your expectations, until you start to see the adaptations. So once you start to see that you’re sweating more — and if you’re measuring your heart rate, when that’s looking like it might look in the cooler conditions — that’s a good cue that your body started to respond. You can push a little bit harder. </p>
<h4 id="MBRK8D">Brian Resnick</h4>
<p id="htl7Y3">Do you have any general tips for helping people cope with the heat, perhaps when they’re less than well adapted to it? </p>
<h4 id="yq7h17">Oliver Gibson </h4>
<p id="u9nwcH">Drink frequently. Have a planned drinking strategy and a cool drink with you. Then the other thing is to make the skin cool. To do that, of course, you can seek shade and air conditioning. Even if that’s not available, don’t be afraid to rub exposed parts of the body — the arms, legs, face — with very cold water. That’s something incredibly simple.</p>
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https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2021/7/26/22529970/olympics-heat-science-climate-change-exercise-physiologyBrian Resnick2021-07-24T17:00:01-04:002021-07-24T17:00:01-04:00The Simone Biles scoring controversy, explained
<figure>
<img alt="A gymnast on the uneven parallel bars, seen from above." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9blmHXvocpw0ytVe5AIGVHIk1N8=/267x0:4516x3187/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69627862/GettyImages_1330002847.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Simone Biles trains on uneven bars ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. | Richard Heathcote/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Simone Biles is performing the most complicated feats women’s gymnastics has ever seen — and not being fully rewarded for it.</p> <p id="0Esby6">As children, we’re often told that we can do anything we put our minds to. I guess we’re okay with deceiving children because this is a complete lie. No matter how hard we try, there are things <a href="https://www.vox.com/22596910/simone-biles-withdrawal-olympic-gymnastics-team-finals-results">Simone Biles</a> can do that none of us will ever achieve. </p>
<p id="HhwuBm">Over the past eight years, Biles has dominated the competition, winning four Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship medals and getting four maneuvers named after her. She hasn’t lost a major competition since her debut in 2013, a time when Barack Obama was still president. Her talent at strong tumbling combined with execution has made her a transformative and unsurpassed gymnast — she’s taken a sport that is judged to the decimal and won by full points. </p>
<p id="Vqj4Jw">At this year’s Olympics, she’ll be the heavy favorite again. Barring injury or getting locked in her hotel room by a jealous rival, little could stop Biles from adding to her gold medal total. </p>
<p id="eMsP1z">Hence, Biles’s storyline this year isn’t about whether she’ll win, but whether her skills will be fully appreciated. Specifically, the controversy is that Biles is doing moves that few, if any, gymnasts can do, including her male colleagues. But instead of getting full points for her moves, she and those who watch the sport feel that the judges aren’t scoring her fairly and are not giving her moves their proper value. With Biles’s overall dominance, missing a few tenths here and there can feel trivial. But try to imagine the absurdity of shortchanging greatness and why it’s happening to arguably the greatest athlete of all time. </p>
<aside id="bcVzm1"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Why Simone Biles withdrew from the Olympic gymnastic women’s team finals","url":"https://www.vox.com/22596910/simone-biles-withdrawal-olympic-gymnastics-team-finals-results"}]}'></div></aside><h3 id="s7xG2O">Simone Biles performs two extremely difficult, underscored skills</h3>
<p id="eOX7DQ">To understand the controversy over Biles’s score, you have to understand how scoring in gymnastics works. A <a href="https://usagym.org/pages/gymnastics101/women/scoring.html">gymnast’s score</a> on any apparatus is the combination of an execution score graded out of a perfect 10 and a difficulty or starting value score. The latter is the important thing when it comes to Biles. </p>
<p id="2QSZFh">A routine’s difficulty score is the sum of all a gymnast’s moves in a routine: the higher the difficulty of the move, the more it’s worth, and the higher the total value goes. Provided you attempt those elements, that difficulty score value is yours to keep. What sets Biles apart from mortals is that her difficulty scores are much higher than those of her competitors. </p>
<p id="FFHMCe">For example, here’s the scoresheet from the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart. Take note of the figures next to the (D) from each competitor. That’s the difficulty score, and look how Biles is consistently tallying scores of 6s and above on all four apparatuses. Her competitors don’t have the difficulty. </p>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TtjsxWwdVpRhchDr5mGLpCgUUik=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22714765/Screen_Shot_2021_07_13_at_10.48.05_AM.png">
<cite>USA Gymnastics</cite>
<figcaption>2019 World Championships scoresheet.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="obS3KA">This means that Biles’s potential scores are much higher than her competitors. You’ll also notice that in terms of execution (the “E” scores), she’s executing her harder skills at a similar clip, if not better (e.g. the vault in the first column), than her opponents. So she’s not only performing more difficult routines, but also executing them well. That leads to, as it did at the World Championships, a win by more than 2 points in a sport that — until Simone Biles — was decided by tenths and hundredths of a point. </p>
<p id="KUDJ6x">The current controversy surrounding Biles is that she’s added new, more difficult skills but isn’t getting what should be the full credit reflected in her difficulty score. One of those moves is her vault, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/sports/olympics/simone-biles-yurchenko-double-pike.html">which has the difficulty value of 6.6.</a></p>
<div id="HkEdYr">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Simone_Biles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Simone_Biles</a> successfully completed a Yurchenko double pike in vault at last night's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USClassic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USClassic</a>.<br><br>She is the first woman in HISTORY to perform the move in competition. <a href="https://twitter.com/OnHerTurf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OnHerTurf</a> <a href="https://t.co/j07ZweTA0f">pic.twitter.com/j07ZweTA0f</a></p>— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1396458393645187078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p id="VJr5Wj">“Simone does something that’s called a Yurchenko double pike, which is misleading because she’s actually doing three complete flips during the vault,” said Dave Lease, who runs the gymnastics and figure skating site The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSkatingLesson">Skating Lesson</a>. “This is something that only a handful of men can do without serious bodily harm. She actually did the vault extremely well. But the judges went conservative on the score.” </p>
<p id="8tp4Ag">The other element, as Lease points out, is her dismount off the balance beam: a double-twisting, double-back. </p>
<p id="7rlJjf">“The double-twisting double on the floor is what Shawn Johnson and Jordyn Wieber were mounting their floor routines with. Ending this off the balance beam is truly mind-boggling,” Lease said. </p>
<p id="RDPlTC">Johnson and Wieber were Olympic gold medalists in 2008 and 2012, respectively. At their peak, both were considered two of the best gymnasts in the world and, like Biles, they shined in events like the floor routine, which showcases a gymnast’s power and tumbling skills. Biles has taken their best floor routine move and is performing it on a completely different apparatus, a 4-inch-wide platform. </p>
<div id="SDowSX">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">There you have it, folks! <a href="https://twitter.com/Simone_Biles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Simone_Biles</a> successfully landed her signature double-double dismount on beam today and the element will be named the "Biles" from now on. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Stuttgart2019?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Stuttgart2019</a> <a href="https://t.co/BO38BaCQ8g">pic.twitter.com/BO38BaCQ8g</a></p>— Team USA (@TeamUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1180614998650785793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2019</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p id="7gEFBW">Regardless of how mind-boggling or death-defying her elements appear, some gymnastics insiders say that both elements deserve to be scored higher. Lease says that he would score her around two-tenths higher on both elements and that even her floor routine is underscored. Biles herself said she believes that the International Gymnastics Federation (IGF) and judges are underscoring the elements.</p>
<p id="WngBkl">“They’re both too low and they even know it,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/sports/olympics/simone-biles-yurchenko-double-pike.html">Biles told the New York Times</a> in May. “But they don’t want the field to be too far apart. And that’s just something that’s on them. That’s not on me.”</p>
<h3 id="Lpm8EG">Simone Biles and American dominance in gymnastics have some haters</h3>
<p id="psq23I">The IGF has no explanation for why Biles is scored the way she is, but as the New York Times pointed out, one of the reasons inferred was a safety issue. By underscoring Biles, it could have a chilling effect in which other gymnasts don’t attempt those skills and decrease the risk of harming themselves. </p>
<p id="jOpzU1">A problem with this argument is that there are a lot of skills in gymnastics that aren’t safe. Underscoring some moves doesn’t necessarily make sense in a sport where risk is inherent and handsomely rewarded. </p>
<p id="3AtCEk">What Biles told the New York Times seems to be a more believable explanation: that by underscoring Biles, the IGF can keep the competition closer and Biles less dominant. </p>
<p id="5zDEde">The last time Biles lost a major competition was in 2013 when she first started competing at the Senior level. Since then, it’s been gold medals in every all-around (the individual portion of a competition) and team finals. She’s arguably the most dominant athlete in any sport. But the bonkers thing about her dominance is that Biles turned gymnastics into a sport defined by the slimmest of margins and absolute drama into blowouts. Adding more points to her difficulty would mean even bigger demolitions. </p>
<p id="Cx3z5x">And while she is currently the apex athlete in gymnastics, she’s part of an American dynasty that goes back to 2012. After nabbing silver in the 2008 team competition, the US clinched gold in 2012, thrashed the competition in 2016, and are heavy favorites to win again in 2021. </p>
<p id="tSDc3F">Lease told me that in 2016, the American team was so stacked that they could have invited anyone as the fourth member and they still would have won. That team won by an astronomical 8 points. </p>
<p id="gPxdff">For 2021, “it remains that your next-door neighbor could have been the last person on the team. With Simone, Jordan Chiles, and Sunni Lee, it doesn’t really matter,” Lease said. </p>
<p id="x8NjRu">Biles was a huge part of that 2016 win and will be a huge part of 2021’s competition. But the US’s key to winning has been to outscore teams in power events like the vault (e.g. McKayla Maroney and the rest of the US team landing the “Amanar” vault in 2012) and floor exercise (e.g. Biles, Wieber, and Aly Raisman’s powerful, high-scoring routines) and to keep pace on their traditionally weaker event, the uneven bars. American dominance has proven that highly difficult, well-executed power gymnastics is a winning formula, but it’s drawn criticism from purists who say the current scoring system is robbing artistry from the sport. </p>
<p id="f7PyIr">“What happened is that the gymnasts who are good at tumbling and doing really difficult skills wound up being more rewarded than they would have been in the past,” Lease said. “I think that there is some potential backlash from other countries about the athleticism of Americans racking up so many points with tumbling. Yeah, but that’s the way the rules are written. And they pushed through those rules do not have judging scandals, and the Americans are just better at it!” </p>
<p id="O2xH19">Sometimes that ire manifests itself in explicitly racist ways, like in Biles’s 2013 debut: Italian gymnast Carlotta Ferlito made a comment that she and her teammates should have donned blackface to win. Ferlito’s federation backed her up, with its spokesperson <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-xpm-2013-10-09-chi-italian-gymnast-federation-spokesman-apologize-for-racial-insensitivity-20131009-story.html">David Ciaralli saying at the time</a>: </p>
<blockquote><p id="ZlUSDV">Carlotta was talking about what she thinks is the current gymnastics trend: the Code of Points is opening chances for colored people (known to be more powerful) and penalizing the typical Eastern European elegance, which, when gymnastics was more artistic and less acrobatic, allowed Russia and Romania to dominate the field</p></blockquote>
<p id="8Q53rF">Valeri Liukin, who is the former coordinator of the US women’s gymnastics team and current coach of Brazil’s women’s team, said in a <a href="https://eng.gymnovosti.com/valeri-liukin-im-more-proud-of-nastias-medals-than-my-own/">2019 interview</a> that the current scoring system favors black athletes because they’re more “explosive”: </p>
<blockquote><p id="POXymi">But yes, gymnastics is changing. In the Code of Points, difficulty is very valued now. Of course, this suits African Americans. They’re very explosive — look at the NBA, who’s playing and jumping there?</p></blockquote>
<p id="bwpPe6">Yikes! </p>
<p id="9oqm2s">What these generalizations missed are extremely talented white athletes like Wieber and Raisman who preceded Biles and benefited from the current scoring system as well as 2012 all-around gold medalist Gabby Douglas, who beat out the likes of Wieber and Raisman and is considered a finesse gymnast. The comments fit a pattern of how transcendent Black athletes (see: the Williams sisters) are spoken about in crude and pseudoscientific terms — that their greatness stems from blackness as a kind of physical advantage rather than greatness being a product of talent, hard work, and practice. </p>
<p id="sbM8xt">Biles’s underscoring is something that we’d find ridiculous in any other sport, Lease notes. He covers figure skating primarily, a close cousin of gymnastics because it’s also a sport whose elements are subjective and graded. The equivalent would be penalizing skaters for landing “quads” (jumps with four revolutions). And it’s even more absurd when you compare the situation to other sporting events. </p>
<p id="NUUlAs">“It’s telling Michael Jordan to score 20 points per game and no more,” he said. “You watched the Michael Jordan documentary, right? This is like <em>Justice for John Stockton</em>, who’s just not as good. It’s like if in the early 2000s, we told Venus and Serena [Williams] ‘let’s not break 100 miles per hour, please.’ Could you imagine that?” </p>
<p id="fLPkHh">I, for one, couldn’t imagine that. But as the gymnastics competition begins, we may all see it for ourselves. And see if and how Biles perseveres. </p>
https://www.vox.com/22575301/simone-biles-olympics-scoring-explained-gymnastics-yurchenko-double-pikeAlex Abad-Santos2021-07-24T09:00:00-04:002021-07-24T09:00:00-04:00Gymnastics still hasn’t fully reckoned with its abuse problem
<figure>
<img alt="A gymnast’s feet balance on a balance beam, which reads “TOKYO 2020.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/a4fj8e8TGSiZVvuhNPIezFMNuTI=/187x0:3187x2250/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69626209/GettyImages_1329975243.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>An athlete trains on balance beam ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 22, 2021. | Patrick Smith/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Allegations of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse go way beyond Larry Nassar.</p> <p id="PH4ghS">Three years ago, more than 150 women testified in court that <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/1/19/16897722/sexual-abuse-usa-gymnastics-larry-nassar-explained">Larry Nassar</a>, a former doctor for USA Gymnastics and sports medicine physician at Michigan State University, had subjected them to sexual abuse in the guise of medical care.</p>
<p id="FuQ9Dn">Since then, he has been sentenced to more than a century in jail, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/4/30/18287522/larry-nassar-usa-gymnastics-bankruptcy-usag-assault">USA Gymnastics</a> has filed for bankruptcy, and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/sports/olympics/gymnastics-abuse-athlete-a.html">reckoning around the abuse of gymnasts</a> has swept the world. </p>
<p id="sbp0UO">But that doesn’t mean the problems in gymnastics have gone away.</p>
<p id="QQSAB6">In the wake of Nassar’s arrest and trial, many current and former gymnasts were clear that his actions were part of something bigger: a widespread culture of physical and emotional abuse in the sport that left young athletes “conditioned to accept any and all treatment,” in the words of Jennifer Sey, a former elite gymnast and producer of <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81034185">the 2020 documentary <em>Athlete A</em></a>. </p>
<p id="yRVL9g">Gymnasts “are constantly belittled and berated” by coaches, Sey told Vox. “They’re stretched to the point of injury, they’re denied food, they’re fat-shamed. The child is really just beaten down.”</p>
<p id="rTepQF">The Safe Sport Authorization Act, passed in 2018, has helped by authorizing a centralized body to investigate complaints across all Olympic sports. And gymnasts’ personal stories — detailed in court, in documentaries like <em>Athlete A,</em> and in the recent social media campaign <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/sports/olympics/gymnastics-abuse-athlete-a.html">#GymnastAlliance</a> — have helped raise awareness, too. But as athletes from around the world prepare to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, many say American gymnastics has a long way to go before athletes are truly safe. The culture of a sport “doesn’t change instantly when laws change,” Sey said. “And this culture is so deeply embedded that it’s almost invisible.”</p>
<h3 id="WFtXF0">The culture of gymnastics has long supported and perpetuated abuse</h3>
<p id="nhSWNw">The problem of sexual abuse in gymnastics first came to widespread public attention in 2016, when <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/09/12/former-usa-gymnastics-doctor-accused-abuse/89995734/">the Indianapolis Star</a> reported that two former gymnasts had spoken out about abuses by Nassar. One of them, Rachael Denhollander, told the paper that Nassar had repeatedly abused her over five treatments ostensibly for lower back pain.</p>
<p id="4YlHam">“I was ashamed,” she told the Star. “I was very embarrassed. And I was very confused, trying to reconcile what was happening with the person he was supposed to be. He’s this famous doctor. He’s trusted by my friends. He’s trusted by these other gymnasts. How could he reach this position in the medical profession, how could he reach this kind of prominence and stature if this is who he is?”</p>
<p id="G1Pqgh">In the wake of the Star investigation, more and more gymnasts came forward to report abuse and assault by Nassar, and he was eventually arrested, tried, and convicted after pleading guilty to sexually abusing seven young athletes. His sentencing hearing in 2018, during which dozens of women <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/24/sports/larry-nassar-victims.html">delivered searing statements</a> on the harms of his abuse, was a watershed moment for the sport.</p>
<p id="X64Zcy">But Nassar is only one person. He would not have been able to abuse young people for so long, many said, if sports authorities, including USA Gymnastics, had taken their duty to protect athletes more seriously. Indeed, even before the allegations against Nassar became public, USA Gymnastics had been accused of mishandling or dismissing reports of abuse, including a warning about a Georgia coach who went on to abuse gymnasts for seven years, <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2016/08/04/usa-gymnastics-sex-abuse-protected-coaches/85829732/">according to the Star</a>.</p>
<p id="SZQtcq">“You had one job,” four-time gold medalist Simone Biles <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/us/simone-biles-usa-gymnastics-one-job/index.html">said of USA Gymnastics in 2019</a>. “You literally had one job and you couldn’t protect us.”</p>
<p id="ptF8zJ">Established in 1963, USA Gymnastics has grown to represent more than <a href="https://usagym.org/pages/aboutus/pages/about_usag.html#:~:text=Today%2C%20more%20than%20200%2C000%20athletes,are%20members%20of%20USA%20Gymnastics.">200,000 athletes and clubs</a>. Before Nassar’s abuse came to light, the organization was one of the most high-profile governing bodies of any Olympic sport, boasting sponsorship deals with big companies like AT&T and Hershey’s, <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2016/08/04/usa-gymnastics-sex-abuse-protected-coaches/85829732/">according to the Star</a>. But as far back as the ’90s, the group was getting reports of sexual abuse that it failed to act on, the paper reported.</p>
<p id="ooVK4a">And beyond failing to investigate reports, many gymnasts have also said that the culture of gymnastics perpetuated physical and emotional abuse. Athletes have described <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/sports/gymnasts-coach-abuse.html">being hit by coaches</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/sports/maggie-haney-gymnastics-abuse.html">being pushed to train while injured</a>, and being repeatedly insulted, berated, and ridiculed. And many gymnasts have said they were subjected to constant body-shaming in a sport where being small and having little body fat is prized.</p>
<p id="f78Mtm">Across the sport, there has long been “an acceptance that this cruelty is what’s necessary to make champions,” Sey said. “It wasn’t, for many years, identified as abusive.”</p>
<p id="iM2zdc">But physical and emotional abuse by coaches has taken a toll, even causing some gymnasts to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/sports/gymnasts-coach-abuse.html">contemplate suicide</a>. It has also made the athletes less likely to speak up when they faced sexual abuse by Nassar or others.</p>
<p id="7AWcq7">“If you have been starving yourself, and you feel really hungry, and you’re 18, and you’ve yet to menstruate because your body fat is so low, but you’re told every day that you’re a fat pig, you don’t trust your own perception of the world,” Sey said. And if you’re then subjected to abusive treatment by a respected doctor, you’re more likely to “accept that treatment, even if you think there might be something wrong or off about it.”</p>
<p id="tiARhr">Moreover, cruel treatment by coaches also enabled Nassar to ingratiate himself with athletes by promising them kindness and empathy, some say. </p>
<p id="zRfYVX">“He comforted me and rubbed my leg and said everything was going to be O.K.,” Morgan White, a former gymnast, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/sports/-usa-gymnastics-scandal-.html">told the New York Times</a>. “He was the good guy in a sport of cruel people. He had already assaulted me by then.”</p>
<h3 id="6EfCm5">The sport is changing, but progress is slow</h3>
<p id="2dvcq0">Since athletes began speaking out about Nassar, legislators and sports authorities have instituted some reforms to help prevent abuse and hold perpetrators accountable. The 2018 Safe Sport Authorization Act, for example, gave one central governing body — the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/sports/olympics-sexual-misconduct-safesport.html">US Center for SafeSport</a> — power to investigate reports of abuse across sports, including USA Gymnastics. </p>
<p id="0C2krB">The idea was to stop letting USA Gymnastics and other sports organizations police themselves — and potentially look the other way to protect coaches who win medals — instead creating an independent group to do the job. SafeSport has the power to ban coaches and others from sports, and had issued 149 lifetime bans between 2017 and September 2018, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/sports/olympics-sexual-misconduct-safesport.html">according to the New York Times</a>. The organization also maintains a database of people it has banned or suspended, as well as links to lists of those banned by individual sports federations like USA Gymnastics. </p>
<p id="5b9P31">But SafeSport isn’t perfect. The center doesn’t have the same resources or legal authority as a prosecutor’s office, so it doesn’t have as much power to do things like gather evidence, Jodi Balsam, a professor at Brooklyn Law School who studies sports law, told Vox. And some say investigations have been drawn-out or ineffective. A <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-128r">report on SafeSport</a> released in December by the Government Accountability Office found that most of the 3,909 cases it handled between February 2018 and June 2020 had been closed due to lack of jurisdiction, insufficient evidence, or other administrative reasons, rather than a formal finding. “You can set up the best protocols, the best policies, the best rules and standards, but they actually have to be implemented and effectuated in a way that serves the mission,” Balsam said.</p>
<p id="XIv74R">Some have called for more resources to help SafeSport do its job better. But beyond that, some advocates say “there will never be adequate protections for these vulnerable athletes until the athletes themselves are empowered in some way,” Balsam explained. Otherwise, they have no leverage to push back on abusive behavior since their whole careers depend on “displaying total obedience to these coaches.”</p>
<p id="v7f33G">One way to take back some power would be unionization, something <a href="https://onlabor.org/olympic-athletes-explore-collective-power-options/">Olympic athletes have been exploring</a> in recent years. But that remains, for now, a far-off goal. In the meantime, athletes and their advocates have been working to change the culture of gymnastics so that abusive coaching is no longer tolerated.</p>
<p id="RiaUDU">For some, that starts with speaking up. Sey, who experienced an abusive coaching culture as an elite gymnast in the 1980s, helped spearhead the production of <em>Athlete A.</em> “I was really interested in not just exposing what happened in the Nassar case, but in connecting it to the larger culture of abuse,” Sey said.</p>
<p id="SgR9tB">Last year, the film helped inspire <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/sports/olympics/gymnastics-abuse-athlete-a.html">a wave of gymnasts</a> around the world posting about their experiences on Instagram with the hashtag #GymnastAlliance.</p>
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<p id="iiXx0O">In the wake of the hashtag, abuse investigations or inquiries were launched in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, and Belgium, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/sports/olympics/gymnastics-abuse-athlete-a.html">according to the New York Times</a>. “We have a great chance at changing the sport because so many of us are finally being heard,” Lindsay Mason, a former Olympic gymnast from Britain, told the paper.</p>
<p id="Ajvfo6">The Nassar case also inspired grassroots advocacy within the US, including the organization Army of Survivors, started in 2018 by survivors of Nassar’s abuse. The group has pushed for reforms across sports and at all levels, not just the most elite, including required background checks for coaches and supervision requirements so that coaches and doctors aren’t alone with young athletes. They are also encouraging gyms and clubs to disseminate a <a href="https://thearmyofsurvivors.org/empower/">child athlete’s bill of rights</a>, including the right to say “no” in unwanted situations and the right to speak up if something doesn’t feel right.</p>
<p id="qyUGEE">The goal is “to help athletes feel that they can speak up, that they have rights, and that they have to be centered, first and foremost,” Julie Ann Rivers-Cochran, executive director of the Army of Survivors, told Vox.</p>
<p id="VXxGy1">Advocacy by athletes is helping to change the sport’s culture, some say. The Nassar case, as well as athletes’ testimony in <em>Athlete A</em> or #GymnastAlliance, have led some coaches to reassess their own approach to the sport, Sey said. But still, “we’re a long way from where we need to be.”</p>
<p id="lvfBNn">Indeed, Biles, one of the most high-profile athletes at this year’s Tokyo Olympics, said earlier this year that if she had a daughter, she would not allow her to train with USA Gymnastics. </p>
<p id="40tzC3">“I don’t feel comfortable enough, because they haven’t taken accountability for their actions and what they’ve done,” she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/15/simone-biles-usa-gymnastics-daughter-larry-nassar-abuse">said in a February interview</a>. “And they haven’t ensured us that it’s never going to happen again.”</p>
<p id="2wBgs6">To truly ensure that, advocates and experts agree that gymnastics needs to shift from a win-at-all-costs mentality to one that prioritizes the needs of the young competitors who make the sport what it is. “Athlete well-being has to be more front and center,” Balsam said, “even if that sacrifices money and medals.”</p>
https://www.vox.com/22585637/gymnastics-tokyo-olympics-2021-abuse-larry-nassarAnna North