Back to reality?

Two years ago, most gymnastics fans were already aware of Viktoria Komova. Her beautiful presentation alongside super hard skills set her apart from the crowd: she was a trickster, but she carried it off like a soviet. She was, and is, beautiful to watch.

But what would the same fans say about her now? I am willing to bet that a significant proportion of the dedicated gymnastics audience has gone off the boil with regards to Komova.

Why do I think this? The reason has absolutely nothing to do with her skills. Nothing to do with her presentation. Nothing to do with, in fact, anything at all about her gymnastics. I am referring to the fact that at the Tokyo World Championships All Around competition, Viktoria Komova allowed her personal emotion to be broadcast to the world, which many will see as a window into the young girl’s personality.

We live in a culture that has become obsessed with celebrity, and it didn’t happen overnight. There was a time when the fame of the famous could be attributed to a vocation: a talent for acting, a powerful singing voice. Of course people still find fame based on these reasons, but more and more common is the obsession with what goes on behind closed doors. The last decade has ushered in a new age of journalism, celebrity and media obsession where the failings and mistakes of those in the spotlight command more attention and accolade than any of their more significant achievements.

The arrival of TV series Big Brother at the turn of the millennium could be easily argued to be the touch paper that started this reality blaze. On the wake of this new brand of entertainment came a whole host of repackaged broadcasts, and almost before we knew what happened we were spending our evenings watching Tyra Banks go through a mid life crisis via a host of vulnerable teenagers followed by hours of Heidi Montag bitching about Lauren Conrad. It is times like this when you stop and think “if I died right now, I would forever have passed away watching Whitney Port deciding whether or not to quit fashion school”. And it ain’t a good feeling.

Whitney Port and Lauren Conrad discussing the Eurozone crisis.

But that is another story. My basic point is that the world became obsessed with the failings of the individual leaving talent to languish in its shadow. Not to put too much of a Carrie Bradshaw spin on it, but I couldn’t help but wonder: has the same happened with gymnasts?

I was sent down this thought path by a thread on intlgymnast. So it turns out that some people make fake facebook profiles for their favourite gymnasts and sort of live vicariously through these fake personas. This gave me two instant thoughts: how someone can manage to live vicariously when the REAL version of their persona has to train dawn till dusk and eat like 1 leaf a day is beyond me. But secondly, a simple question: why do they care?

Personally, I don’t care if a gymnast gave a million dollars to charity nor embezzled 2 million from one. I don’t care how nice, how mean, how bitchy, how boring, as long as they are good at what they do. Yet despite this I cannot pretend that I too, at times, find myself slightly jaded by the caricatures that are painted for some top athletes.

It seems to me that most are Russian, and most are painted by the American commentary team. Aliya Mustafina is the most recent recipient of a bitch branding. “She said, don’t worry dad, I can’t lose” - how about you stop feeding me mistranslations and start talking a little about the sport? It gets so exaggerated and ridiculous at times (with Mustafina, and others, notably Khorkina) that the picture painted resembles some kind of James Bond villain. You can imagine Elfi saying “in her spare time Aliya likes to ominously stroke a large white fluffy cat and kill henchmen for fun”.

The real Aliya Mustafina

Elfi's version

The overall point is, whether the caricatures are true or false, they have no real place in our minds as spectators. A personality does not make or break an athletic performance, and the bias that can result from the peddling of these stereotypes can be damaging. 

When it comes to the reality of the situation, I’d rather not have it. 

A FEW THINGS I DO NOT NEED TO KNOW:

1. What Elena Produnova wants to achieve with her eyebrow plucking
2. What Aliya Mustafina said to her dad on skype, or indeed if she skypes with her dad at all
3. If Svetlana Khorkina is mean to her coach or not

Wednesday Whining - The NBC terrible trio

I hadn’t planned to write anything on this topic in its own right, but given that my bitterness towards the NBC commentators seems to spill out onto every post, I thought I might as well get it out of my system in one, well organized shout. Nice and tidy.

So in that way of thinking, I have broken down my hatred of a thousand burning flames (that was a slight exaggeration) into some efficient sub-headed groups. An itemized bitch, if you will. So, the following are just a selection of reasons as to why I hate the NBC trio.

 

Reason 1: Tim doesn’t know how to use words.

So yes, again I chose to slightly exaggerate the problem for this subheading. But seriously, I wonder if Tim actually thinks at all before he speaks sometimes. The issue is, that in trying to speak interestingly and with intelligence, he makes silly blunders that sound awkward and enrage the viewer (me). I am all for not repeating the same words over and over again. It is bad practice in writing, and it is bad practice in TV (see what I did there). But, someone should tell Tim that this does not mean that any old verb or adjective will do. RELEVANCE is key, Tim. My key example here is from the 2009 VISA championships, with David Sender’s vault on day two.

Now, Tim, I am here to help with some definitions. The following is the Oxford English Dictionary definition for that choice verb “jettison”:

 

verb

[with object]

throw or drop (something) from an aircraft or ship:six aircraft jettisoned their loads in the sea

abandon or discard (someone or something that is no longer wanted):the scheme was jettisoned

 

So as we can see, this verb deals exclusively with goods dropped from various avian or marine transportation, or on occasion a metaphoric term for something disposed of. Now let us think rationally about its application to vaulting in gymnastics. Or actually, let’s not, because no rational person would ever place these concepts together. Unless of course, Tim genuinely expected David to be dropped onto the vaulting table from a light aircraft, but then again that’s more of an Al Trautwig-like assumption (“guys do we think that will score well?”)

To conclude, if you want to spice up your commentary, develop a better vocabulary, not just a wider one.

 

Reason 2: they are incapable of reporting sport impartially

I won’t give the team too much blame here: we all have our favourites, and we all love to see a home athlete on top, but it is important in the role of commentator to not let this affect your outlook on the field too much. For example, when the trio talk about Aliya Mustafina, they spend about as much time talking her up as some bitchy, difficult little diva as they do talking about her skills (if I am perfectly honest I don’t like Mustafina either, BUT I don’t like her because of her untidy legs and chucked vaults – THOSE are the kinds of things a commentator should be speaking about). They did the same with Khorkina: “she loves to model, been in some magazines, some of dubious taste. Perhaps, but that has no bearing on her performance as a gymnast, so shut up. Oh and yes, Al, she is ready for her close up. We get the reference. Move on.

Tied in with this is the fact that they appear perfectly contented to speak over another gymnasts performance to carry on a conversation about one of their own. This is impolite, unprofessional and unnecessary.

To draw a parallel, at the 2011 Europeans the British commentary team were about to commentate on the high bar final featuring the great Epke Zonderland, who Mitch Fenner does some coaching for. They made reference to this and made a segment about impartiality.

 

Reason 3: Stupid comparisons

Again, this considers primarily good old Tim Daggett, and those oh so irritating gymnastics analogies he continues to reel off, particularly on the uneven bars.

We all know the drill: “she looks like a kid on a playground up there”, “looks like fun don’t it?!” etc etc.

Again, Tim, let me help you out a little here. I am one of four children and as of very recently, an uncle. Therefore I would say I am pretty qualified in terms of kids on playgrounds and what they look like. However, for those that maybe don’t, the drill tend to be as follows: little chubby cute child approaches the swing set/monkey bars etc, mounts after some considerable effort, giggles and has a nice time doing very little, occasionally says “look at me” and more often than not, falls off and does a lot of loud crying.

Now, let me spell out the key differences. Children do not do handstands. Nor do they do tkachevs, giengers, full turns, half turns, endos, onos, paks, mos, healys – you get the picture. Essentially what I am trying to point out is that, in fact, a child looks nothing like a gymnast. I would go as far as to say that the comparison is quite derogatory – these athletes have trained for years to do what they do, so don’t belittle what they are doing as childsplay. What I think Tim means is that they make it look easy and their skill allows them to make their routines look as if they are having fun and not expending huge amounts of energy. SO SAY THAT TIM.

Some key examples:

 Anna Pavlova - 2004 AA Uneven Bars

Nastia Liukin 2008 Visa Championships day 2 Uneven Bars

(I AM telling you Tim, it doesn't)

Reason 4: Al is creepy.

I am referring of course to Al’s classic faux pas whilst talking about Nastia Liukin at the 2008 olympics.

Now let me be clear, I am not in any way insinuating that Al actually is a creep or meant to be creepy, I am certain he was being completely innocent minded and did not mean to come across at all strange. However, I think it just indicates how this team should think more before they speak. There is always a danger of strange undertones when watching and commentating on gymnastics, given that the girls are young and leotards are leotards: so just don’t say things like this. Simple.

(Reason 5: Elfi annoys me. Childish yes, but hey, I was a teenager not long ago)

 

 

So there we are. NBC trio: think more, know your gymnastics, ditch the daft comparisons and recognize that there are other gymnasts outside the USA. Rant over!

Original pictures: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OZoIO4kiCJGlR-4FpM10K_Ppwxv565HfcHXBK_2kxxQGMIBmAamar5qCx16ilKoNJ9xCY6ArM9LGOMbW46I2kCBZQi4ZjphMHMAYwBakOrX7frebp4TkettBanVVnt8TaSbEWXN8KMY/s1600/Picture+21.png http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_sports_oly_experts/ept_sports_oly_experts-302469483-1217364567.jpg?ymyEXrADF50WJ0xt