Simone Biles said she got the 'twisties.' Gymnasts immediately understood.

[Nevilledog]

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Tweet text:
The Washington Post
@washingtonpost
In the Olympic team final, Simone Biles planned to perform a 2½-twisting vault, but her mind stalled after just 1½ twists: “I had no idea where I was in the air. I could have hurt myself.”

This is what “the twisties” are and why they're so dangerous:

Simone Biles said she got the ‘twisties.’ Gymnasts immediately understood.
When Simone Biles mentioned the "twisties" after withdrawing from the Olympics team final, some were confused, while gymnasts gasped. So what are the "twisties" and why are they so dangerous?
washingtonpost.com
4:13 AM · Jul 28, 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/28/twisties-gymnastics-simone-biles-tokyo-olympics/

But then suddenly you’re upside down in midair and your brain feels disconnected from your body. Your limbs that usually control how much you spin have stopped listening, and you feel lost. You hope all the years you spent in this sport will guide your body to a safe landing position.

When Simone Biles pushed off the vaulting table Tuesday, she entered that terrifying world of uncertainty. In the Olympic team final, Biles planned to perform a 2½-twisting vault, but her mind chose to stall after just 1½ twists.

“I had no idea where I was in the air,” Biles said. “I could have hurt myself.”

Biles, who subsequently withdrew from the team competition and then the all-around final a day later, described what went wrong during that vault as “having a little bit of the twisties.”

The cute-sounding term, well-known in the gymnastics community, describes a frightening predicament. When gymnasts have the “twisties,” they lose control of their bodies as they spin through the air. Sometimes they twist when they hadn’t planned to. Other times they stop midway through as Biles did. And after experiencing the twisties once, it’s very difficult to forget. Instinct gets replaced by thought. Thought quickly leads to worry. Worry is difficult to escape.

*snip*

[PoliticAverse]

1. In so many of these extreme sports you lose concentration for 1/2 second and things go very badly...

(but then I am reminded of the time I got briefly distracted and ran into the front of the vaulting horse).

[Blue_true]

3. Yes.

Last week a bungee cord diver in Brazil misheard a minor instruction from the instructor and ended up dead.

If Biles didn’t withdraw, she could have ended up crippling herself for life. She is a very young woman who still has the most important years ahead of her.

[Blue_true]

2. A retired male gymnast explained what the Twisties is.

His point is that when a Gymnast get that sensation, two things happen. First while in the routine, the Gymnast loses spatial awareness and is lucky to not get seriously injured. Second, even if the Gymnast doesn’t get hurt, the person loses confidence and starts thinking instead of instinctively doing a routine, at the speed of the routine, the thinking can lead to serious injury.

[LudwigPastorius]

4. It's like the "yips" in golf, except...

instead of just hitting a bad shot, you could break your freaking neck.

Simone Biles owes us nothing.

[Cracklin Charlie]

7. Same with tennis.

Only you just miss a few, or a lot, of serves, and maybe lose a match. I have a niece, run dozens of marathons, one race she hits the wall at mile 14, just can’t go on. These things happen.

Neck and other body parts intact.

[IcyPeas]

5. That's always boggled my brain...

...that they know where their bodies are in the air and how many twists they've done.

Same go for some of the dives.

[localroger]

6. It's actually thinking too much

When you are executing a physical maneuver like this, you have to rely on muscle memory. Conscious thought over-interpreting the situation interferes with that. You have to be able to let go, and if you can't because you're distracted it can prevent all that skill from coming out when you need it. There are many other situations in other occupations where something like the "twisties" can endanger you.

[ZonkerHarris]

11. this is correct

[TexasBushwhacker]

15. The Twisties is when the muscle memory forgets

Yes, it is more likely to happen if the gymnast is under a lot of pressure, but it can happen to any gymnast at any time.

Once I read about it I understood. I once had something like the Twisties while driving. I believe it was a reaction to some new medication I was taking at the time. It was a couple of years ago and I had been driving for over 40 years. Everything that was normally automatic, like pressing on the accelerator or the brake pedal, suddenly wasn't automatic anymore. I had to consciously think about everything, for every split second. It only lasted a few days, but I couldn't quit that medication fast enough. No bueno!

[thenelm1]

8. I haven't seen this mentioned at all, and it's likely a totally unrealistic expectation, but...

the press really needs to lay off all of these athletes a lot. They build up these crazy expectations and literally put so much pressure on the competitors to succeed that it amazes me that any of the athletes can function at all. I guess it's a silly expectation to think that the press might lay off at some point and allow the athletes to mentally prepare for their competitions.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. Such a perfect example of how two ideas can converge

at the same time. "Suck it up" (because that's what we are used to sports performers doing) and "Great and sane choice" converge!!!
.

[moondust]

10. CNN discussion last night.

Don Lemon had on Nadia Comaneci and husband Bart Conner, also a gymnast (two gold medals). At about 2:30 in this clip Bart talks about the twisties.

[IronLionZion]

12. A bad fall can easily break your neck

there's a reason most grade schools don't have gymnastics teams anymore.

[LeftInTX]

14. Yep, Julissa Gomez and Elena Mukhina both broke their necks.

Elena broke her neck in 1980 after being pushed to train with an unhealed leg fracture. She lived in the USSR. This was 2 weeks before the Olympics started. She died in 2006 at age 46 due to complications

In 1988, Julissa Gomez struggled with a mount and ran head first into a vault. She broke her neck and could not breathe without a ventilator. She died three years later.

Dominique Moceanu had a close call:

Link to tweet

[Jon King]

13. Except with the yips you can't break your neck.

As a long time coach of several sports, the yips happens. Seen baseball players get a mental block and can not throw a ball straight and tennis players whose forehand all of a sudden goes from world class to terrible.

But totally different level than what Simone is dealing with. In her case her mental block could cause her to get seriously injured.