Who did not love the summer Olympics? I know I did! I recorded countless hours of live footage and stayed up late at night to catch all of the action in prime time! Being an athlete myself, all I have to say about these athletes are good things. Running a marathon in two hours and 22 minutes? I only ran my half marathon in about thirty minutes faster than that! How about the Americans dominating in swimming? I am happy if I can get a semi straight hand stand in the water. My favorite to watch is probably gymnastics. I’ll never understand how anyone can do anything that those athletes do! However, not everyone had something nice to say about these athletes. Some people did not even seem to be phased or impressed by what the athletes accomplished, and instead decided to criticize, especially the women athletes. The 2012 Olympics may be over and the torch may be extinguished, but the discussion of the female athletes portrayal in the media is long from over.
When I saw Gabby Douglas compete in women’s gymnastics all I could think was how flawless her gymnastics was. She had been nicknamed “the flying squirrel” because of how much height she can get when performing on the uneven bars. She even won two gold medals, and is the first African American to win the overall! But all some people had to say about her is…. What is up with her hair? (What?) Many people, especially in the African American community, have looked past her flight in the air and looked at her “unkempt” hair. All I have to say to that is: Really?! Get a life! All she needs to be worried about when it comes to her hair is whether or not it’s in the way of her sight in the air. Plus, she is 16. I’m pretty sure my hair was not always looking great when I was 16 either. When I work out, I pay attention to my workout, not my hair, and I hope the athletes representing my country feel the same.
Even before these Olympics, Serena Williams was a well-known name in athletics. After she won the gold medal this year in tennis, she did a dance called “the crip walk.” I had no idea what this dance was, so I looked up a video on YouTube of her doing it. Okay so…. She is overly ecstatic that she won (and should be) so she does this dance…cool, right? Well I guess it is not that simple. Many people criticized this because the dance is “gang related.” Well, I highly doubt that Williams is related to a gang or even has time to know anything about one. She told USA Today that the dance was not planned, it just happened when she was so happy. If I won anything, let alone a gold medal, I’d probably dance too, and I would not look as good as Serena doing it!
The Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen won two gold medals including a 200 meter individual, where one of her splits was faster than U.S. Ryan Lochte’s time, who also won a gold medal. Many people immediately starting saying that this was impossible, and she had to have been doping. Well, obviously not because all athletes go through many drug tests. In fact, many Chinese athletes have refrained from eating meat during the games because they are afraid it could be laced with a chemical called clenbuterol that could show a positive drug test. Hey people…. Ever heard of girl power?
A lot of the criticism of these female athletes has come from social media, so I decided to ask my facebook friends and twitter followers what they thought about the criticism. Here is what I learned:
1. Long hair, don’t care
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2. Athletic clothes are for looks, not performance?
When I asked people on Facebook, I was informed of an athlete I had no heard about yet. Her name is Sara Robles and she is ranked number one in weightlifting for the U.S. team. She lives on only $400 a month from the IOC and has absolutely no sponsorship. The reason is thought to be that unlike other Olympic athletes, she is huge or “not sexy.” What that tells me is no one wants to sponsor her and show that their clothes can make anyone look great and perform great. They only put their clothes on people who already “look good” to American standards. Hmm….guess I am only buying athletic clothes now that are on sale.
3. Dope or no dope…that is still the question.
“I honestly don’t think that that’s possible without doping…I watch and enjoy all the women’s events in the Olympics but I don’t see how that’s possible…” –Earl Kidwell
“I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, I think she’s just trained for her whole life and that girls can be faster than guys. Even though China has been through a lot of doping scandals through the years, I believe Ye Shiwen didn’t dope. “ –Dylan Mogavero
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“I think that part of this hype is due to the fact that she is from China… As Americans, we wouldn’t mind if China did miserably at the games. Thus, we look for a reason to be critical of this swimmer… I do think it is possible for a female swimmer to be faster than a male swimmer…It is the Olympics, so there will be “unknown” female swimmers (unknown to the American public) who can, at the least, keep up with their male counterparts.” –Ross Horstkamp
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