Category: ethics

why we love Katelyn Ohashi

Gutsy move for the gymnast ranked #1 on Floor. A new routine.

She’s dropped Michael Jackson music and choreography.

espnW: Did the outcry towards Michael Jackson after the release of “Leaving Neverland” factor into your decision?

Ohashi: Honestly, in the back of my mind it did, because of the platform that I have. The goal of my routine is pure joy, and after the documentary, not everyone was feeling that way, and you can never discredit someone’s feelings. So yes, it was in the back of my mind because my main goal is to find as much joy as possible in this routine. …

espnW: I know you added Beyonce in here as well — was it intentional to feature all female artists?

Ohashi: It was indeed deliberate. …

espnW: What do you hope fans take away, or remember, from this routine? And from your amazing collegiate career?

Ohashi: I hope they can remember how I speak openly about a lot of the issues that are close to my heart. I think I have a passionate heart about women’s empowerment, and I am very compassionate towards people who have spoken out. And I hope that by changing my routine, I can be remembered for being more than a gymnast. It’s about understanding issues and having a bigger platform than just the sport.

espnW.com – How UCLA’s Katelyn Ohashi’s spectacular routine came to be

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

FIG Parkour Age Group Programme under development

FIG:

With the adoption of the new discipline of Parkour by the FIG Congress in December 2018, it became necessary to develop coach education programmes also for this discipline. …

The Parkour specialists that were invited to be members of the working group were Charles Perrière of France, the President of the FIG Parkour Commission, FIG Athletes’ Representative Micaela Buono Pugh of Argentina and Francisco de la Riva Vasquez of Belgium. …

It was an extraordinarily interesting meeting about a sport, many of whose participants believe in the values that Parkour should be discovered and cannot be taught and that the activity should not be competition oriented. But with the expectation that this will be an Olympic sport in 2024, things will change dramatically as athletes will most certainly be specifically trained from a young age.

The challenge was to find a solution that provides structure yet has ample room for freedom, innovation, discovery and creativity. The structure is necessary to assure the safe, healthy, gradual and systematic development of athletes towards future high-performance excellence. …

Firsts for FIG coach education activities in February 2019

If FIG is going to run obstacle course competitions, obviously they need offer coach education.

Dipa Barbie

You can give money to Mattel for a Dipa Barbie.

Mattel sucks a little bit less after adding new dolls inspired by real, successful women to its “Role Model” collection.

But this product has done a lot of damage over 60 years projecting unrealistic body image to young girls. Send your daughter to Gymnastics instead of buying them plastic crap.

Sam Mikulak – P Bars

Sam had a good American Cup and counting the ACTUAL scores he tied Yul Moldauer for 1st in the AA. Weird and wrong FIG truncating of scores to 3 decimal places put him in 2nd place.

I don’t feel that badly for Sam, however. Many in the MAG community pointed out he should never have been awarded 7.966 E-score on P Bars. Sam had a full fall on to the equipment. … Who were the judges?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Score: 14.066 (6.1, 7.966)

USOC pauses on revoking USAG

“We believe that USA Gymnastics’ intention in filing bankruptcy was an attempt to resolve litigation they are facing in an expedited and organised way.

“We believe that is a really important step for USA Gymnastics and don’t think disrupting that in any way by pursuing the section eight hearing at this point is helpful to that process.

“We reserve the right to go back to the hearing panel and request the process move forward. …

Via Inside the Games.

March 8th is International #WomensDay

“Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”, puts innovation by women and girls, for women and girls, at the heart of efforts to achieve gender equality. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

SOME progress is being made. Close to half of the athletes in the Tokyo Olympics will be women.

https://twitter.com/lausanne2020/status/1103937376223584256

“Don’t Silence Me” music video #MeToo

“My intention with this video is to celebrate the resilience and bravery of the sexual assault survivors who have spoken out,” she said. “If the Cosby survivors had not come forward, if the Weinstein survivors had not come forward then I would not have had the opportunity to heal. That’s the power of speaking out.”

CBS

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

related – Sen. Martha McSally, the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, revealed in an emotional Senate hearing that she was raped by a superior officer in the Air Force.

new books – “What is a Girl Worth?”

A memoir by Rachael Denhollander.

The memoir will have a children’s book companion.

You can pre-order the hard cover version from Amazon.

rules for transgender athletes

A number of prominent athletes have been speaking out on this issue of late.

Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe:

“Absolutely, any transgender men or women should be able to access sport – it just depends which category.

“We need to protect female sport but we also need to protect transgender women and their rights.

“For all this to advance fairly to everybody, we have to accept it might take a while, work together and stop attacking the other side.”

Paula Radcliffe says tighter transgender rules are needed to avoid ‘manipulation’

Certainly more research needs be done on this important but rarely problematic issue.

The current level of testosterone allowed by the IOC will drop from 10 nanomoles per litre to five for the 2020 Olympics.

MOSTLY this issue is a talking point for right wing extremists who jump on every opportunity to attack minorities. The rhetoric is similar to their attacks on transgender people using public bathrooms.

related – Transgender Minnesotan powerlifter JayCee Cooper was barred from competing at a state championship due to the International Olympics Committee’s ( IOC ) guidelines.

no smoking at the Tokyo Olympics

A great move. Especially for Japn, a nation that was slow to start restricting smoking.

Organizers on Thursday announced a stringent ban on all tobacco products and vaping devices. Smoking will be banned at all indoor and outdoor Olympic and Paralympic venues, plus within all perimeter areas of the Tokyo Games.

Organizers say the prohibition is tougher than regulations for the last two Summer Olympics in London and Rio de Janeiro. …

Don’t expect to puff away at next year’s Tokyo Olympics