The “Simone” đsiSTARSđ Nailed It
Posted by Michelle Moquin on August 12th, 2016
Good Morning!
Wow! What an evening last night!
Hands down Simone Biles is the best gymnast we have ever seen. Incredible all around but I must say her floor routine was flawless. I’ve never seen a gymnast reach such incredible heights and make it look so effortless. Simply amazing.
I’m not much of a swimmer, but girl…I so appreciate someone who can, and this girl Simone Manuel stroked it with the best of them and came out a winner. Girls like her no longer need to feel alone in their struggles when they have Manuel to look up too.
Congratulations to them both – So proud of these young girls. What an inspiration they will be to girls like themselves.Â
I know that many of you probably watched their successes and read the good news, but I’m a girl, and in the spirit of supporting my siSTARS there is nothing better to post this morning than to share their successes with you here.
From the Huff Po:
Simone Manuel Makes Swimming History In Womenâs 100-Meter Freestyle
Simone Manuel celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Womenâs 100m Freestyle Final.
Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to medal in an individual Olympic swimming event on Thursday after setting an Olympics record in the womenâs 100-meter freestyle.
In a rare occurrence, Manuel, 20, tied with Canadian Penny Oleksiak, 16. Both finished the race in 52.70 seconds, an Olympics record. Swede Sarah Sjostrom finished third.
Oleksiakâs win is also historic. Born in June 2000, she is the first person to win an individual Olympic gold who has only been alive in this century, The Guardian noted. Manuel and Oleksiakged hug in the pool after tying for gold.
An emotional Manuel spoke about her feat moments after exiting the pool, saying the gold medal was âfor all the people after me … who believe they canât do it.â
âIt means a lot, this medal is not just for me. This is for a whole bunch of people who have come before me, and have been an inspiration to me,â Manuel told NBC. âItâs for all the people after me who canât â who believe they canât do it. And I just want to be an inspiration to others, that you can do it.â
Manuel picked up a silver medal earlier this week with her teammates in the womenâs 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
USA Swimming notes that Manuel has been active in the organizationâs governance, serving as an athlete representative on a diversity and inclusion committee.
Manuel said in an article posted on the USA Swimming website in February that there wasnât a great amount of diversity in the pool when she began swimming, until athletes like Cullen Jones and Maritza Correia McClendon made the U.S. Olympic team. She said she sees her role as a female swimmer of color as important for future athletes.
âWhen I was younger, I didnât want to be called the black swimmer, or the African-American swimmer, because I was doing what everyone else was doing, so I didnât see a difference. But I do realize that who I am and what I am doing does carry some weight and can show people that if I can do, they can do it too. And I didnât really think of anyone relating to the trials and tribulations I went through until people started looking up to me, and I realized others have felt or are feeling alone, too …
A lot of people go through a lot more than I did to lead the way, and I got a lot of support from parents and coaches during those hard times. But thatâs what makes it mean more as the sport moves forward and the diversity increases, so other kids donât have to keep feeling that way ever again.â
Thursday night was yet another epic one for Team USA, as Michael Phelps snagged a history-making 22nd gold in the 200-meter individual medley, and Ryan Murphy won his second gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke.
Simone Manuel, Penny Oleksiak and Sarah Sjostrom with their medals for the 100 meter freestyle.
*****
Simone Biles Isnât The Next Anyone, Sheâs âThe First Simone Bilesâ
The gymnast is in a league of her own.
Simone Biles signals to the crowd after winning the gold medal in the womenâs individual all around final on Thursday.
The breakout star of the U.S. gymnastics team shrugged off comparisons to other Olympic legends after winning the gold medal in the womenâs individual all-around on Thursday.
Simone Biles, who at age 19 has been called the best gymnast of all time, won the event in Rio de Janeiro by a massive margin spanning more than two points, ahead of fellow American Aly Raisman.
Perhaps in reference to a slew of sexist commentary at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Biles succinctly noted her legendary feats were an accomplishment all her own and in no way comparable to those of celebrated male athletes.
âIâm not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps,â she told Sporting News after accepting her second gold medal. âIâm the first Simone Biles.â
Her performance on Thursday began with an uncharacteristically shaky start that left her trailing Russian Aliya Mustafina after the vault and bars. But by the end of the third event, the beam rotation, Biles held a commanding lead of more than 1.5 points. She sealed it with an impressive floor routine.
Bilesâ celebratory comments come on the heels of several high-profile sexist headlines to emerge in Brazil. An NBC commentator this week compared one of the three-time world championâs uneven bars routines to that of a manâs.
Other womenâs accomplishments have been linked to their husbands and coaches, or celebrated because of their age or recent pregnancies.
While Biles has already made Olympic history, thereâs still a lot of medals to be won. The gymnast is still favored to take home a few more golds in three individual events later this week. Viewers can expect to see absurd levels of difficulty and routines packed with skill-after-skill many of her peers wonât even attempt in competition.
As her teammate Raisman said, âSimoneâs just in her own league. Whoever gets second place, thatâs the winner.â
*****
Readers: Running a bit late as I has already prepared another post for this morning but after last night I had to switch it up. :) On a side note: Yes, I read the write about the racist headline by the Mercury news too regarding Manuel’s Olympic win, (Ugh! All I will say is it was racist and insensitive) but today, I myself, chose to focus the write on the positive. Of course, as usual, all comments are welcomed.
Happy Friday! You know what to do.
Blog me.Â
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights donât post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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August 12th, 2016 at 8:42 pm
I have been trying to get in for 8 hours. Hope this one makes it. Congratulations Ladies. You were superb!
August 12th, 2016 at 8:44 pm
When I heard Donald Trump say that “Second Amendment people” can do something about it if they don’t like Hillary’s judicial appointments, I knew his allies in the gun lobby would stand by him. In reality, they did him one better:
The NRA went on Twitter to defend Trump’s remarks — then they announced that they’re launching a new attack ad spreading lies and calling Hillary vicious names. They’re spending $3 million to show it to voters in pivotal states.
The gun lobby has deep pockets, and they’ll spend whatever it takes to keep their Republican allies in control of Congress. Donald Trump has made it clear he’ll do whatever they say — so they’re going to spend millions and millions of dollars to try to help him win.
Hillary isn’t afraid of the NRA. She’s courageous, and if she’s president, she’ll take on the gun lobby in Washington, just like she has her entire career. That’s why I’m fighting for my friend Hillary — I’m so glad you are, too.
Thank you,
Gabby
August 12th, 2016 at 8:58 pm
having a tie & having to share a gold medal win….kinda loses the the best of the best thing.
August 12th, 2016 at 9:07 pm
Nice of that spoiler to pop up in a big red banner and ruin my evening two seconds before I was going to turn off my PC. I was avoiding reading about the Olympics.
I know, I know: “Everyone knew she was going to win anyway.” Shut up.
August 12th, 2016 at 9:09 pm
I can’t help but wonder what Gabby Douglas was thinking, watching Simone Biles compete. Four years ago, Gabby was “the best gymnast ever”, “the greatest in the world”, America’s darling, the best of the best.
Now here it is, four years later, and Simone Biles is everything she was just four years ago. I just wonder what the heck kind of life these kids have, when they’re pushed through the grinder and worked out until they have the upper bodies of linebackers, pushed out into the spotlight, and then before they know it they’re last year’s news and suddenly someone else is “America’s darling.”
And in four years, we’ll have another ‘America’s darling’ and Simone Biles will be pushed off the stage as well. It’s darned brutal.
August 13th, 2016 at 7:00 am
Chamorros when you hear OTWs for trump or see them as wannabes at trump rallies, don’t smile because we have the same idiots on Guam.
——————–
Local GOP leaders will not withdraw their support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump whose latest remarks about immigrant terrorists drawn criticism from Democrats on island.
Sen. Nerissa Underwood, D-Tamuning, and Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo condemned the billionaire businessman this past week for stating that a Filipino migrant to the U.S. was convicted of plotting to join both terrorist groups al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Trump has previously made blanket statements about banning Muslims from entering the U.S. and has proposed to bar individuals âfrom any nation that has been compromised by terrorism.â During a speech in Maine last week, he listed several countries like Iraq, Morocco, the Philippines, Syria, and Yemen as places where anti-American terrorists have emigrated.
==================
Give me a break. If this idiot were anything but a white man, he would have been laughed off the stage. But just as with music, art, or anything else, white America can make anything profitable because they have no taste.
It all about them and who among them tells them what is good, bad, or ugly.
Hafa adai
August 13th, 2016 at 8:42 am
Just a bit of info: he United States gymnastics team first appeared in the Olympics in 1932. But for 60 years, only white women represented the country on the sportâs biggest stage.
In 1992, Dominique Dawes and Betty Okino shattered the gymnastics color barrier, becoming the first African American gymnasts to compete in the games and win an Olympic medal when the U.S. won bronze in the team competition. (Though, notably, Luci Collins and Ron Gallimore would have broken the color barrier in 1980 had the U.S. not boycotted the Moscow games.)
There is a powerful story being told here https://thinkprogress.org/americas-painful-journey-from-prejudice-to-greatness-in-women-s-gymnastics-a35c8e4eebb7#.mqmyvd11d
But in the end it is just another repetition of the many ways white america uses racism to provide for their privileges at the expense of OTW Americans.
Shameful is these mildest term that can be used. However it is inexcusable, unforgivable, reprehensible that they continue to practice discrimination towards OTW Americans without a hint of shame.
August 13th, 2016 at 8:46 am
Trump has a few things on his mind, none of which are locating a diverse range of staffers for his economic team, or cutting back on his veiled signals to white supremacists.
Let’s give him something to think about in November. Get out and vote.