Women In Sports Article Review #1

Midori Harrison

Professor Currans

21 October 2013

Blog Topic: Women in sports

Article Review #1

Whiteside, Kelly. "Race Remark 'out of Line,' Parent of World Champ Says." USA           TODAY. A Gannett Company, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

The changing face of the women's U.S. gymnastics team is garnering both cheers and jeers. Recently, at the gymnastics world championships held in Antwerp, Belgium, a 16-year-old African American U.S. gymnast edged out the competition and won the world all-around title. After winning the bronze medal, on her way to the all-around win, Simone Biles, drew racially charged remarks from her Italian competitor. Italian gymnast, Carlotta Ferlito said in a video interview, "I told (teammate Vanessa Ferrari) that next time we should also paint our skin black so then we can win, too." (Whiteside). In a story reported by USA Today reporter Kelly Whiteside, the U.S. Gymnastics President, Steve Penny and Biles' parents voiced taking offense to the comments by the Italian athlete. Steve Penny acknowledged the United States is proud of all its athletes' successes and would not be deterred by racial insensitivity. Biles's parents encouraged their daughter to put the unfortunate incident behind her and focus on her future. Racial tensions continue to plague the U.S. gymnastics program success.

        Biles' success and subsequent criticism, comes one year after U.S. gymnast, Gabby Douglas became the first African-American woman ever to take gold in the all-around individual title in gymnastics at the Olympic games in London in 2012. Gabby was immediately criticized over social-media and in the press about how bad her hair looked. Critics even questioned why Gabby did not have her round nose reduced to have a more acceptable look. Gabby responded to the critics by stating, "What's wrong with my hair? I'm like, I just made history and people are focused on my hair." (Whiteside).

        Ron Biles, Simone's father, suggested to USA Today from their home in Spring, Texas that "The racial comment was really out of line." (Whiteside) Simone's mother, Nellie, told USA today that she counseled their daughter on how to continue to move forward in her career and stay focused despite the racial comments. Nellie also reported that racism is pointless and that her daughter would not make a comment.  The Biles' also reported "normally it's not in her favor being black, at least not in the world that I live in." An unfortunately negative response to a young girls success has taken center stage at a proud moment once again in the gymnastics world.

        One day after the unfortunate comments by the Italian gymnast, U.S. Gymnastics Federation committed to contacting the Italian Gymnastics Federation for clarification of the incident.  U.S. Gymnastics assured USA Today that there is no place in gymnastics for racial insensitivity and there would definitely be an inquiry. Immediately following the reporting of the incident, the Italian gymnast apologized on social media claiming her mistake and stating that everyone is human.  Ferlito even apologized for sounding rude or racist. She said she loves Simone Biles and all the U.S. girls.

        The article depicts once again how race still plays a major part in society and how people view one another 's failures and successes. Race relations has a long road ahead to repair and recover from damages done over the years both in the U.S. and in the world. While Simone Biles accomplished a life-long dream, her success was met with darkness simply because of the color of her skin. Apologies offered over twitter or other social media following a racially charged comment does not make the comment or the pain it caused, go away.

            This article relates to my blog topic because I am explaining the steps women had to take in order to achieve the goals they wanted in sports. Racism is a perfect example of this because a young female athletes race, she was discriminated and looked down on. And unfortunately for Biles, these harsh remarks really put a dagger into her special moment. The first reading I thought related to this article was Peggy McIntosh’s “unpacking the invisible knapsack”. McIntosh explains in this article the privileges of being of the Caucasian race. Because Biles is African American, she of course does not receive any of these privileges. Both articles are very similar and explain in detail how unfair racism is.