[Farm93]

P.S.  Wonder if a race car driver ever sat one out because the head wasn't right?  Wouldn't blame him/her - and neither would their competitors I suspect.  Talk about life-threatening.

Stirling Moss retired when he was 32, while regarded as one of the best Formula One drivers in the world. He was involved in a horrific accident and after he returned he tested a few times and stated that he didn't feel that he was at his previous level and wasn't comfortable resuming his career. Not exactly what you asked, but it was clear that even though he had recovered he felt that even a slight drop-off in performance was too dangerous.

Formula One used to be a bit riskier than it is today.  Many drivers raced, crashed and even died when they probably should not have been back on the track.    To the question...last year Pierre Grosjean was in a massive accident.   Though he was lucky to be alive he escaped with rather minor burns to his hands and decided not to race the next week.   In prior generations racers probably would have done more to get back into the car even if it meant long-term health issues.    Niki Lauda comes to mind as he almost died and then raced a few weeks later with yet to heal burns on his scalp.

For gymnastics things rarely go wrong at the elite level, but gymnasts have the potential to literally kill themselves if their routines go wrong.   Perhaps in the 80s if Simone Biles was on a Romanian or Russian team she would find a way to quickly get over her twisties, but I don't blame her for not wanting to risk long-term injury so that Mother USA could have a better shot at gold.

Given that ROC won the competition it would not shock me to find out in a few years that Biles and the others ultimately get gold medals given Russia's history with Olympic cheating.

[Farm93]

P.S.  Wonder if a race car driver ever sat one out because the head wasn't right?  Wouldn't blame him/her - and neither would their competitors I suspect.  Talk about life-threatening.

Stirling Moss retired when he was 32, while regarded as one of the best Formula One drivers in the world. He was involved in a horrific accident and after he returned he tested a few times and stated that he didn't feel that he was at his previous level and wasn't comfortable resuming his career. Not exactly what you asked, but it was clear that even though he had recovered he felt that even a slight drop-off in performance was too dangerous.

Formula One used to be a bit riskier than it is today.  Many drivers raced, crashed and even died when they probably should not have been back on the track.    To the question...last year Pierre Grosjean was in a massive accident.   Though he was lucky to be alive he escaped with rather minor burns to his hands and decided not to race the next week.   In prior generations racers probably would have done more to get back into the car even if it meant long-term health issues.    Niki Lauda comes to mind as he almost died and then raced a few weeks later with yet to heal burns on his scalp.

For gymnastics things rarely go wrong at the elite level, but gymnasts have the potential to literally kill themselves if their routines go wrong.   Perhaps in the 80s if Simone Biles was on a Romanian or Russian team she would find a way to quickly get over her twisties, but I don't blame her for not wanting to risk long-term injury so that Mother USA could have a better shot at gold.

Given that ROC won the competition it would not shock me to find out in a few years that Biles and the others ultimately get gold medals given Russia's history with Olympic cheating.