History of Feminism
Related: About this forumMcKayla Maroney isn’t a “mean girl”... American women dominating medal standings
Maroney, who came into the games as the reigning queen of the vault, has, in the short space of Olympic competition, become something else a full-blown meme. And not a very flattering one. Her frequently stern face has already been captured in a million little unhappy ways. Theres Maroney rolling her eyes. There she is throwing down the kind of look that would normally transport one directly into the corn. And never has that expressiveness been more on display than it was on Sunday, when she landed flat on her butt on her second vault during the womens finals. After Maroney blew her all-but-in-the-bag shot at the gold, she did not even try to look happy about her silver. Instead, she stiffly accepted a hug from the victor, Sandra Izbasa of Romania, and appeared to flat-out rebuff the affections of the bronze medalist, Maria Paseka of Russia. Later, at the medal ceremony, she looked like she was winning the prize for Person Whose Dog Just Died, twitching her lips grimly and shifting her gaze. That face, that tough, steely look, has been a wide-open opportunity for would-be comics to poke fun at Maroneys Oh, hell no countenance, and to riff on her mean girl persona. Shes had entire galleries devoted to her bitch face, which also serves as her unofficial nickname. Shes been a fool and a brat and a baby, a snobby, pissy diva. Well, what do you expect from the same civilization that also brought you the endless ragging on Gabby Douglas hair?
Maroney isnt the naturally smiling, ebullient Olympian. She doesnt exude the warmth of Sanya Richards-Ross or outdoorsy ease of Kerri Walsh. Nothing about her serious, controlled persona says, Hey, world, love me! Thats a difficult thing for a lot of people in the world to accept in a female. Its even more difficult for fans to grasp that an Olympic gymnast, a girl in the sport thats historically given us sweethearts like Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strug and Shawn Johnson, could be so flinty.
So when I wrote Monday of Maroneys grace in defeat, it was not because, as one reader suggested, I was high when I was watching the womens finals. It was because I saw something different. Yeah, I saw a girl who looked furious, too. But I also saw one who, to quote Moonrise Kingdoms Suzy Bishop, was losing her temper with herself. Was she really snubbing her Russian competitor? Maybe, but did you notice how she barely let her own coach touch her? The girl who just a few days ago could confidently refer to her vault routine as like, autopilot had become, in a split second, the girl who fell on her ass. This was a move shed executed perfectly 33 times in a row. And the one time it counted, she fell. She looked utterly stunned. As she said frankly afterward, I didnt deserve to win gold if I landed on my butt. Im not disappointed about the silver; Im disappointed about my performance.
Thats the face I saw Sunday the face of a fierce, tough girl whose fiercest, toughest competitor is herself. A girl who lost to herself and was tremendously disappointed. A girl who was mad, not at her medal or her competitors, but with McKayla Maroney. On Monday, no doubt in response to all the bitch face criticism out there, Maroney said on Twitter that For anyone who thought I didnt want to hug Maria and Sandra thats not the case (: They are my friends, and Im proud of them both! I wasnt thinking straight and I totally forgot what to do, but dont worry. I gave them both hugs after!! <3 Sportsmanship is so important to me and I hope you know i would never do that intentionally!! Please forgive me!! Shes a 16-year-old who got up from the kind of shocking, public, humiliating disappointment that few of us can even imagine, and, with every camera in the world trained on her face, couldnt plaster on a fake smile. That doesnt make her a sore loser. It makes her real and human. No forgiveness required.
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/mckayla_maroney_isnt_a_mean_girl/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews
Women. Can't live with 'em, wouldn't have a prayer in the medal race without 'em.
Through Wednesday, the USA had won 34 gold medals at the Olympics. The women accounted for 23 of them. Take away swimming, and the American men had three. They went medal-less in boxing (an historical first) and put nobody in the men's 400-meter final (ditto).
But the women have dominated, from the halls of gymnastics to the shores of beach volleyball. Because Wednesday figured to be another highlight reel, a diary seemed in order. A day in the life of American Olympic women on a roll.
http://m.usatoday.com/article/sports/56890294
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this is quite an accomplishment for our women and it says something very strongly about title IX and what the U.S. has accomplished for female athletes. yea.
i also really liked the take the author has on McKayla Maroney. instead of trashing or seeing the worse of her, she saw other possibilities. i just thought it was nice. so often we get the worst.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)And she IS an Olympic gold medalist, so I would allow her a little attitude anyway.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)to be honest, lol
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)and it's been depressing and shallow more often than not. Thanks for posting this. And for what it's worth, if anyone checks out Maroney's Twitter account, she doesn't seem very steely outside a competition environment. Lots of tweets about having fun with the other gymnasts. Comparing that to a bunch of petty people picking apart teenagers...like I said, it's been eye-opening.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)this article so much.
thanks.
ismnotwasm
(42,014 posts)I didn't get it either. She's a kid, she's one of the best in the world in her field, and she has the spotlight focused on her. Good on her for natural expressions.
It's her sport, her art that inspires, not her cover girl look.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)redqueen
(115,103 posts)Thanks so much for posting this. So good to see something besides the usual.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Helen Reddy
(998 posts)regarding only amateurs should be in the Olympics. Watching PROFESSIONAL tennis players who are multi millionaires dueling each other is watching Wimbledon...we just saw ya.
So many Division I players, club pros, satellite players who would flourish, if given half a chance.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Moses2SandyKoufax
(1,290 posts)just a fiercely competitive athlete.
All the great ones, no matter what sport they participate in have one thing in common... They hate losing! Losing feels worse than winning feels good.
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser".
- Vince Lombardi
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)I didn't know what all of the snarky comments I heard about McKayla were referring to.
I haven't paid any attention to the Olympics this year hardly at all.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)and once i did, i really appreciated someone pointing it out.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)One of the gals referred to their group that way, calling themselves "The Fierce Five."
Letterman was very gracious to them and he acted like a gentleman while he interviewed them on his program.
Later in the interview, Letterman asked McKayla about the picture that became such a big deal when she was on the award stand receiving a silver medal, and he asked her how she felt about it, and she said "it was silly".
All of the young women said they thought it was silly, too.
And then, as a sign of group strength, all of those young women made that face, where their lips are pursed, and off to the side a little bit, all at the same time.
It was GREAT!!
These young women were so graceful, so cute, so endearing, and pretty cotton picking humble, considering what they did at the Olympics this year, it was amazing to watch them talk on his program.
They're going on a tour together as a team to 40 different cities to speak at colleges, to help inspire other young women and younger girls (as well as young men and boys) to go out and try to do their best at whatever they want to do.
I'm telling ya, it was really cool watching those young women on his program tonight.
That's what being champions is all about!!
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)and the past couple i have totally ignored.
i am glad to hear the other girls on her team being there for her. in sports it seems there is not the group nastiness of girls that i hear in other areas. people talk about it. but i mainly was around athletes, since that is where all my time was spent. so many of the things that are said about girls behavior is just beyond my experience and foreign.
one reason i totally promote getting girls into sports. it is a different world for a girl to grow up in.
i am glad that as a team, they are touring.
thanks hog