Producer for “Golden: The Journey of USA’s Elite Gymnasts” on @peacocktv. Former @UCLAGymnastics Team Videographer. @emilyklee14 stan 
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One former US elite gymnast I talked to said that if it was someone other than Simone Biles who had made that same error, they would have certainly blown a knee, at minimum. Another said if it had happened to her instead of Simone, “I probably would have ended up paralyzed.”
Most non-gymnastics fans do not understand the seriousness of what happened because she landed on her feet. Every elite gymnast I’ve talked to has said that Simone Biles’s vault was TERRIFYING and it’s a miracle she put that vault to her feet & avoided seriously injuring herself.
It’s not that she made a silly mistake and landed poorly - her mind & body betrayed her in the air while doing one of the hardest vaults in the world, and it’s only due to her extreme athleticism that she was able to land safely.
Imagine being driven into the ground directly onto your head/neck/back from 10 feet in the air, with the force of 15x your body weight. THOSE are the stakes here. People need to understand that before they run their mouths.
Simone is an elite athlete and the greatest of all time - she would not take pulling out of two Olympic finals lightly. This is NOT comparable to other sports. Proud of her selfless decision and wishing her the time and space she needs to rest and recover 
Thank you to UCLA gymnasts @emilyklee14, @norah_flatley & @kcomforte (now Associate Head Coach) for providing the enlightening perspectives I relayed in my thread! All of them are former US elite gymnasts & US National Team members.
I mean she did 2019 worlds while passing a kidney stone right? If there was any way she could safely go I have total faith that she absolutely would have. And I can’t say enough how in awe I am of the whole team being able to pull it together and win silver the way they did
As someone who has now passed four kidney stones….all I can say is holy shit.
There is a reason why so few gymnasts do an Amanar vault.
In slow motion during her last vault, you can see her eyes looking all around. Always the gymnasts have their eyes focused on the ground like a cat. Something was definitely off with her balance and sense of where she was in the air.
I noticed that too. It was scary sitting in my living room - I can’t imagine how she felt!
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