Stop Criticizing Gabby Douglas' Character | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Sports

Stop Criticizing Gabby Douglas' Character

A few clips on TV don't show us everything.

16
Stop Criticizing Gabby Douglas' Character
usatoday.com

It's the best time of year (that only happens every four years): the Summer Olympics. Everyone knows how big the Olympics are, and with any huge event there is bound to be some kind of controversy. Whether it's about what an athlete did or didn't do, what a commentator or reporter said, someone thinking an athlete should have scored better and many other things. One of the biggest controversies I have noticed, or maybe it is because I pay the most attention to this sport, is with the USA women's gymnastic team. In particular, with Gabby Douglas.

There has been two huge controversies surrounding Gabby, the first being her not putting her hand over her heart during the national anthem. Gabby was accused of being unpatriotic and disrespecting her country. Let's think about this for a second, though. This is the second time Gabby has been to the Olympics representing the United States. Do we really think she would disrespect or hate a country she has represented twice? I don't think so. She is a 20-year-old young girl who was probably just caught up in the moment. She has since apologized but people are still criticizing her for it. She's human and she made a mistake, let's give her a little bit of break.

The second controversy surrounding Gabby is that she has not been a supportive teammate. If you didn't already know, Gabby won the individual all-around gold in 2012. In the 2016 Rio games, Gabby placed third in the trials for the individual all-around with Simone Biles placing first and Aly Raisman placing second. The two per country rule kept Gabby from getting to compete in the individual all-around. Now, if you were the reigning champion would you not be heartbroken that you didn't get a chance to defend your title? I know I would be. The Olympics isn't just something you work a couple years for, but your whole life. It's understandable that she is heartbroken. Just because Gabby is upset that she didn't get the chance to defend her title, does not mean that she is not supportive or proud of her teammates.

A lot of people are saying that Gabby did not look happy when Simone won gold and Aly won silver but that clip does not show everything. That doesn't show the text message she sent Aly before, the pep talk she may have given Simone and the support they don't show us on TV. Who knows, maybe she was just in shock that the USA just took first and second! We can speculate all we want from what they show us, but it will never show us everything and we will never know 100 percent what is really going on.

Instead of picking apart everything Gabby has done, along with all the other Olympic athletes, lets uplift her and support her. We have no idea what she has been through or what she is going through. She is young and human and makes mistakes. Her mistakes and actions just happens to be for the whole world to see and can be taken out of context.

No matter how the media tries to portray Gabby, I believe she is a good person; isn't unpatriotic; and didn't mean to seem unsupportive of her teammates.

Oh, and she was rockin' that dark red lipstick during the team all-around final. You go, girl!


Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

5001
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

303553
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments