Social Media Paris Athletes

[wishfulgoddess]

One of my favorite things about this past week has been seeing legendary figures geek out over other legendary figures on social media. I loved the story about Andy's quest to get a Simone pin.

 

[rlayt]

Well it’s not just about what you have in common.

 

[makam]

The "problem" with starting for a country you are only affiliated with on paper is the following: Let's take Finnegan who got her spot at 23 Worlds. She was able to come through the US system which offers, while extremely expensive, many advantages for young gymnasts. Besides great facilities and coaches, there is a flexibility with schooling that just does not exist in most countries. So Finnegan was able to use all the advantages of the US system and essentially took a spot from a gymnast who had to come up through her country's vastly inferior system. In any case, they both would have been mere participants. But - those spots often decide funding and one should be allowed to wonder how fair it is to let gymnasts change nationalities so easily to get an Olympic spot.

Do not get me wrong - this is not an attack on the gymnasts - they are well within their rights and would be stupid not to try to make use of that option.

I guess if the country has someone who could take the spot, they would. Like no one was signing up for the PHI men's team because you'd have to get past Yulo (though if there are a few decent guys in ncaa with the right family tree, building a team around star Yulo is an idea that intrigues me...) but maybe the imports with actual, if remote, connection to the country will inspire the next generation in a way the "belorussians" wouldn't.

 

[Hatsumomo]

The "problem" with starting for a country you are only affiliated with on paper is the following: Let's take Finnegan who got her spot at 23 Worlds. She was able to come through the US system which offers, while extremely expensive, many advantages for young gymnasts. Besides great facilities and coaches, there is a flexibility with schooling that just does not exist in most countries. So Finnegan was able to use all the advantages of the US system and essentially took a spot from a gymnast who had to come up through her country's vastly inferior system. In any case, they both would have been mere participants. But - those spots often decide funding and one should be allowed to wonder how fair it is to let gymnasts change nationalities so easily to get an Olympic spot.

Do not get me wrong - this is not an attack on the gymnasts - they are well within their rights and would be stupid not to try to make use of that option.

But a lot of those homegrown gymnasts can't make it as far due to money. A lot, if not most, athletes fund going to World Cups (aka, where you can qualify a berth to the Olympics) themselves. Even Jade and her dad had to pay out of pocket so she could do the WC circuit. The Brazilians are barely funded (from what I've been told, if it's not soccer, it gets no money). People from a more funded federation opting to represent a smaller one would be potentially why these smaller federations start getting funding.

Kaylia Nemour did nothing different than what the American Filipinas did. She was born and raised in France; not Algeria. But because of her, a little more money may go into Algerian gymnastics.

 

[irichluck21]

These spots are visible to the World.
Lynnzee Brown showing Haiti that they can do gymnastics at the Olympics inspires the future.

Look at the team from Chad at African Championships, not at the level they need to be YET, but once a gymnast from Chad enters the Olympics it shows hope.
Same with the Kosovo team at Euros.

Egypt improved dramtically as a team over the last few Olympic cycles for example.

 

[makam]

I wonder if any of the NCAA gymnasts were doing a little extra recruiting on the side. Though with the higher average age, maybe there weren't that many prospects. But send Sabrina to NCAA for a few years to give her a break from mum and get her a coach that will help with her form and then send her back home ready for the next olympics.

 

[dweiss324]

Didn't the Philippines invest a lot of effort in finding/recruiting talent within the diaspora community? That seems like a healthy-ish way to start building a program

 

[RAFIKI]

Love this!

 

[MaryClare]

 

[rlayt]

Jordan talks about a former coach who body shamed her.

 

[Memphisgym]

The youngest member of Team USA. Simone and America's niece, Ronni Biles.

 

[Bob]

I don’t think that’s a good thing at all. That’s not the kind of woman I want my daughters to look up to.

You can be assertive and put your point across without being deliberately antagonising and creating drama. It annoys people way more.

This a million times. Thank you

 

[SupportingHerDreams]

Skinner CANCELLED.

Can't wait to see her rebuttle and claim victim.

Here you go...


SMH! You called it, always the victim!!

 

[Bob]

But if she is getting threats against her daughter and husband and herself she is a victim. Of course she has participated in the whole thing that brought it to this point. But this is how it starts to get out of hand.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

If she wanted to address this, I think her best choice would've been to focus on how the federation that abused her as a child joined in the dogpile.

 

[SupportingHerDreams]

But if she is getting threats against her daughter and husband and herself she is a victim. Of course she has participated in the whole thing that brought it to this point. But this is how it starts to get out of hand.

Oh I agree, threats of violence are totally uncalled for but she still takes no responsibility for her part in this.
Again, I do not condone violence in any way but MyKayla chose to go online and say extremely controversial things while also living a life of placing herself, her husband and her child on public social media regularly.
I’m sorry, but someone that makes a public instagram for their baby has totally lost my respect… much less then she goes on a knowingly stirs up drama?!

 

[rlayt]

Skinner’s best move would have been to move on and let it all die down. Every time she opens her mouth she causes trouble.

 

[Big_rock_show]

It doesn't bode well with me that she's still not taking responsibility. She will say "I take full responsibility for my words" but still says that people weren't understanding the point she was trying to make. She's not saying "it was a stupid thing to say and obviously not true" or admitting that watching from this outside this time around stings when her old teammates are in there making the Olympic team yet again, but instead she puts most of the blame on the people who do not understand her. If people continually are not understanding the points you're trying to make, maybe it's time to stop publicly trying to make points and deal with your stuff.

 

[brg09]

I wanted to say I'm sorry for the wording of my thoughts concerning Biles statement, after winning team final.

I'm not looking for confrontational situations, and I didn't mean to annoy people. Which means that I should've worded my ideas much differently, probably just not post them at all.

The reason things went this way is that I'm bitter, sad and scared.

For the past thirty years, western countries (not all the them to the same degree) have been busy transfering resources from the many to the few.

The main mean that has been used to achieve that, is war. But there are others, all of them orrible.

And to be able to do so, societies have to bend as a whole.

Consequences have to be deactivated, rules have to be breakable, standars have to be double and quadruple, the information business has to lie, values have to be redefined.

People that have economic and political power, are percieved as deserving of it. And the other way around. Masses unite behind supporting the ones that don't need it. This is dangerous for the way the vast majority of individuals.think of themseves, their rights, their possibilities.

When I read "I want this for Biles so badly", it worries me.

Biles had an incredible oppurtunity when she won her first gold olympic medal after Tokyo, and she could have made a useful statement. She could have said they were over the moon they had won, they just wished they could have had the chance to beat the former olympic champions.

She chose (and I am of the opinion she planned it all along), to speak about something completely inconsequential, she chose to think about the non existing pebble in her shoe, and forgot about substance. The olympics are not the stage for that. But as I said, we are redefinig values.

I see all things connected, tied together by the same thread. Which is why I feel invested, I feel what Biles does concerns me.

Out of sadness, worry and fear, for life not for the specific situation in isolation, I reacted badly. And I apologize.

I'm really confused.

Why am I married to an ice hockey obsessed financial trader that’s headed for an international sanctions list and not someone who wants to eat doughnuts and watch gymnastics?

Your life sounds pretty interesting at least

I wonder if any of the NCAA gymnasts were doing a little extra recruiting on the side. Though with the higher average age, maybe there weren't that many prospects. But send Sabrina to NCAA for a few years to give her a break from mum and get her a coach that will help with her form and then send her back home ready for the next olympics.

Is Daniela Silivas still living in georiga? I need to see her orchestrate Voinette wearing a Gymdog leo.

But if she is getting threats against her daughter and husband and herself she is a victim. Of course she has participated in the whole thing that brought it to this point. But this is how it starts to get out of hand.

Yeah, I agree. Not with the desire to be a victim for marketing purposes, but the idea that young-ish people seem to have these days (and we see it played out often on social media) that it's ok to break a few eggs to make an omelet. The whole Alexis Jeffrey thing at UCLA a few years back is a good example. Could you argue that she said something racist? Sure. Does that mean it's totally OK to put sardines in her gym bag and laugh about it on Instagram? No. But maybe "kids these days" aren't raised with the same values we were, or something.

 

[MaryClare]

I'm really confused.


Your life sounds pretty interesting at least


Is Daniela Silivas still living in georiga? I need to see her orchestrate Voinette wearing a Gymdog leo.


Yeah, I agree. Not with the desire to be a victim for marketing purposes, but the idea that young-ish people seem to have these days (and we see it played out often on social media) that it's ok to break a few eggs to make an omelet. The whole Alexis Jeffrey thing at UCLA a few years back is a good example. Could you argue that she said something racist? Sure. Does that mean it's totally OK to put sardines in her gym bag and laugh about it on Instagram? No. But maybe "kids these days" aren't raised with the same values we were, or something.

The majority are not kids though, they are adults