McKayla Maroney isn’t a “mean girl”... American women dominating medal standings

[seabeyond]

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. There’s 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 women’s 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 Maroney’s “Oh, hell no” countenance, and to riff on her “mean girl” persona. She’s had entire galleries devoted to her “bitch face,” which also serves as her unofficial nickname. She’s 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 isn’t the naturally smiling, ebullient Olympian. She doesn’t exude the warmth of Sanya Richards-Ross or outdoorsy ease of Kerri Walsh. Nothing about her serious, controlled persona says, “Hey, world, love me!” That’s a difficult thing for a lot of people in the world to accept in a female. It’s even more difficult for fans to grasp that an Olympic gymnast, a girl in the sport that’s 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 Maroney’s grace in defeat, it was not because, as one reader suggested, I was “high” when I was watching the women’s 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 Kingdom’s” 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 she’d 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 didn’t deserve to win gold if I landed on my butt. I’m not disappointed about the silver; I’m disappointed about my performance.”

That’s 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 didn’t want to hug Maria and Sandra that’s not the case (: They are my friends, and I’m proud of them both! I wasn’t thinking straight and I totally forgot what to do, but don’t 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!!” She’s 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, couldn’t plaster on a fake smile. That doesn’t 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
_________________________________

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]

1. I was not aware that people were calling her that

And she IS an Olympic gold medalist, so I would allow her a little attitude anyway.

[seabeyond]

2. women are crying with loss. i kinda like serious and introverted better.

to be honest, lol

[Union Scribe]

3. This has been my first Olympics where I've been into "social media"

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]

4. thank you. yes. it has been for me too. an eye opener for sure. that is why i liked

this article so much.

thanks.

[ismnotwasm]

5. I saw that meme

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]

10. ya. and we do not always have to assign the worst. nt

[redqueen]

6. LOVE the Salon piece.

Thanks so much for posting this. So good to see something besides the usual.

[seabeyond]

9. it did feel good, just the positive in the piece. nt

[Helen Reddy]

7. I'm old school

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]

8. me, too. i think the olympics lost something letting in the pros. nt

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

11. Right, she's not a "mean girl"

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]

12. she is focused, that is for sure. thank you for your post. excellent. nt

[Major Hogwash]

13. Thanks for this thread.

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]

14. exactly. too bad i needed this article to see it in this perspective

and once i did, i really appreciated someone pointing it out.

[Major Hogwash]

15. The 5 young women from the US gymnastics team on Letterman's program tonight -- "The Fierce Five."

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]

16. thank you so much. that is terrific. i really got jazzed about this olympics

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