I'm Sad
And I wish I had something eloquent to say that would encourage conversation or make anyone who's sad feel a little less sad. Unfortunately, I don't have those words.
A lot of crap has gone down on the gymternet because of Carlotta Ferlito's comments and the Italian Gymnastics federation as well. A recap can be found here. Ferlito made some inappropriate comments and later apologized. IGF tried to make a statement too but basically failed miserably and made matters worse.
I'm sorry but what did you mean by saying that some people "may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager or a general manager." Is this a baseball position or are we talking about jobs? No way are we still having this conversation in TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN!
So, I'm sad. As a gym fan, I'm sad. As a swimmer, I'm sad. As a black female, I'm sad. As a human being, I'm sad.
I wish I had some great retort for this, but I don't. What I do have is a video for you all to watch if you haven't seen it already. I've debated posting this on here or tumblr and figured it's "just" a gymnastics blog but then the Trayvon Martin verdict came out, the 50 year anniversary of the I Have a Dream Speech passed, and now this.
I hope this helps if anyone else is feeling a little down.
Watch here or below (seriously, watch the whole thing):
Thoughts? Hugs through the internet?
*hugs to you* Carlotta's remarks were disgusting and yes, come on, it's 2013 already!!! Italy has some catching up to do, I'll say that. The crap I've been reading ever since Gabby's gold last year...whatevs, Carlotta, Simone's haul (four individual medals, including two golds, including AA!) speaks for itself. She outtumbled your jealous *** by a country mile.
ReplyDeletehaha yeah! It's so frustrating that this is still an issue today but at least we're having these conversations. We've come a long way but there's still a long way to go!
DeleteI just wanted to let you know that you are probably my favourite gym blogger, not least because you have room in your gymnastics passion for little countries that could, as well as the Big 4.
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry that all this happened to cast a blight on Simone Biles' win, and to create rifts throughout the international gymnastics community; rifts mostly formed by blind nationalism, immaturity and lack of racial sensitivity.
Carlotta might have learned something from this. The Italian Gymnastics Federation might have learned something from this, but it seems that some gym fans didn't.
That's the depressing bit.
On the bright side, look at all the people who are not American, and not people of colour, who have stepped up to say "That's rude. It's wrong and we won't stand for it in gymnastics, or out of it". I hope that knowing how many people around the world who have no personal stake in this are outraged, because they too share MLK's dream, makes things seem even a tiny bit brighter.
Thank you so much! I love finding gymnasts that aren't big 4 and falling in love with them and hoping that people start to share that love too (like Steingruber or Kirsten Beckett of South Africa).
DeleteThank you for presenting it as the glass half full - there were a ton of people who realized it was wrong and spoke out about it. Things do seem a bit brighter! Thanks :)
I love your blog as well for introducing me to gymnasts that I might otherwise not know a thing about!
ReplyDelete