Should Jordyn Wieber’s extreme disappointment be on display for our entertainment? I venture to say the media went a little too far. I usually love watching the summer Olympics – specifically the gymnastics and swimming. I didn’t love the coverage of the gymnastics last night because of the heartbreak.
To post a small recap of the USA women’s gymnastics all-around qualifiers: There’s only two spots available per team for the all around. The favorite (current champion – Jordyn Wieber) missed out on getting into the all around competition by some fractions of a point. I hear that the rule’s been around for a few years and it’s well known, and I hate that the best of the best don’t all get to the all around. What I think is terrible is how NBC or maybe just the media in general was following poor Jordyn Wieber around non-stop after she found out the news that she didn’t get into the finals. Jordyn did cry when she first found out. Heck, if this was the moment your whole life was building to and you lost out then you then I’m sure you would cry too. The bad thing is she did cry, but she also had to go to the media area to be interviewed.
Here is the link to a youtube video that I found online that really shows what happened. I claim no rights to this footage and this video is not mine – just one I found on youtube. If it’s no longer there then they must have yanked it from youtube, otherwise I’m just sharing something that I found. All copyrights or anything else belongs to NBC.
Look closely around 1:44 into the video. She tries to avoid the interview part and I guess that’s a no-no as she was then sent right over to the camera area. Gymnasts from other countries came over and hugged her. I’m very happy for Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman. I wish them nothing but luck (as I’m sure their teammates do as well), but I really hate the way the media covered the interview with Aly.
In the same video above check out 2:21. They’re interviewing Aly about making it into the finals, but the camera crew just had to find the right spot to stand to get Jordyn in the background crying (or trying her best not t0 cry). They practically cut half of Aly’s face off the shot to get the crying moment. I’m shocked they didn’t do a focus on her and blur the interviewer and Aly out all together.
I used to be a cheerleader and a gymnast as a kid. I was in competitive cheering in elementary and if you don’t think that’s anything to speak about, you haven’t done it. We practiced out butts off. We ran laps around the football field at school if one girl missed a cue. We did competitions and we were #1 in the city of Memphis back in the day. A foot injury took me out of the sport, but I do know a lot about training and competition. I know she was heartbroken and I never made it to the olympics, just the mid-south fair. I can’t imagine just how much pressure these gals were under. (Oh back row, left side, yellow pom-pom)
I understand, rules are rules. I can’t believe Jordyn was able to do an interview a few moments later, that speaks volumes. I want to send a pat on the back to Jordyn for her sportsmanship. I’m sure some Divas would have stormed off or lost all composure. I hate that the media had to follow her like that, camera in her face waiting and watching. What’s next? Find out some athlete who is getting bad news and follow them around to see how they react? While yes, it was compelling and I may have shed a tear or two, I don’t know where the line is on privacy.
I will be watching the rest of the gymnastics competition with my daughter. We both loved watching the amazing tumbling! The most I could ever do was a back-handspring and I think a few times a back tuck. On a trampoline I can do the back-twisty one, yeah it’s been too long I don’t remember what it’s called. I love the Olympics and the national pride that I feel when the US wins gold. I get a tear or two when they play the national anthem. Those are the tears that I welcome, not the extreme sadness of an athlete being stalked by a camera crew. That makes me ill and I hope that we don’t have to see anymore of that in the next few weeks.
*Oh I see another site that has the whole video of the interview and they didn’t cut the lady out – it was the bad youtube version. You should also read America Loves a Crying Gymnast over at jezebel. Pity really that this moment is the one being discussed more than the actual win.
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