‘All black podium’

[BWPodium]

In Simone Bile’s interview she said ‘it’s an all black podium for the first time, which is super exciting’

Whats your thoughts on this? Is it ok / positive thing to say? Unneeded? etc

I understand this is a first for woman’s gymnastics and a few years ago the sport was built around what looked like under fed teenagers so brilliant for the sport that it’s opened up to other body types and therefore makes a positive however, what about sports like 100m sprint that has traditionally always been tall African builds, if by any miracle three white men were on the podium, would saying this be acceptable?

The America bit is re Simone biles saying it.

It was specifically said about gymnastics and, until Gabby Douglas, black athletes were very underrepresented in gymnastics. So I think it was an appropriate, positive comment.

An all white podium in the 100m would be astonishing but no, it wouldn't be appropriate to celebrate it because of the history of power dynamics and racism.

Black dominance in sprinting is, imo, much more complicated than a PP saying that running is the only sport many African nations can afford to invest in. It doesn't explain why the British and American sprinters are almost all black when the teams from other sports in those countries are largely white. You then have to get into the issues of social mobility and cost of participation in sports in developed countries too. And then stereotypes that become srlf fulfilling prophecies as children from different ethnicities are perhaps subconsciously encouraged into the 'right' sports.

White men may not be champions in sprinting these days but that’s not due to prejudice against white people, so an all-white podium wouldn’t be evidence of progress. It would just be an all-white podium.

It’s a completely different situation.

It's not dominance, it's success, and remarkable achievement on the part of these women.

I'm actually really impressed with how the age has changed of the winners on the podium. Simone being 27 is a massively positive thing, considering how badly young gymnasts were treated back in the 80s and 90s. To have an older cohort shows that they can have time for their bodies to develop, for their muscles to grow, even time for injuries to heal without "aging out"

It's great to see how gymnastics has started to change, and Simone is a huge part of that.

I love watching her - shes incredible. Her documentary on Netflix is great as well.

Imagine if someone commented on a podium being all white....

Yep. Nailed it

White men and black women do not have the same experiences or representation and it's ridiculous to pretend they do.

I've really enjoyed the positive, supportive competitiveness of the women's gymnastics at this Olympics, the photo of Biles and Chile's bowing before Andrade was brilliant. I've loved my DDs seeing such fantastic role models.

As they so often are?

No, because every day us White Man's Day 🙄

A podium of white men is so common, it's not worth commenting on.

Really? You honestly don't see the difference in a white man saying this about 3 white men, compared to a black woman saying this about 3 black women? You don't think progress towards overcoming oppression / resultant under representation has anything to do with comments like these? You seriously think that a comment from an over represented group would have the same context and should be treated exactly the same?

Yabu. If a white man said this id be disgusted. For a black woman to say this, its fine. Context matters

Well the majority of the world is black or brown.
Perhaps she could comment - 'oh look, it's another all rich podium'.

Good to see 3 obviously healthy young women on the podium for gymnastics. Better than the under weight, whey faced, drugged up girls of yester. Many in the 60s and 70s had clearly had their puberty delayed to keep them small.

If you think that is equivalent to what Simone Biles said then either

1. you don’t understand
2. do not want to understand or
3. do understand but want to minimise exactly how fantastic it is to have an all black podium in gymnastics

I agree with your comment about age and actually think there should be a minimum age, (maybe 16?) to compete in the Olympics.

Simone Biles is remarkable, probably the best gymnast ever. I'd love for us to get to a place where an all black podium isn't noteworthy but at the moment it is and I would view her comments as encouraging for young up and coming black gymnasts.

No issue. It’s just a factual observation of a first.
I am sure the first time in 1928 when women were allowed to compete and there was a podium of female gymnasts a similar observation was made.
It means to me that the Olympics are truly beginning to get global participation.

To the sort of fool who uses silly terms like ‘reverse racism’, yes.

Fortunately none of us are that stupid.

I think she's happy and proud and rightly so. I think it's great to see representation changing and reflecting wider involvement and opportunities, although there is a long way to go.

Would anyone have been surprised or commented if it had been an all-white podium? Unlikely, because that's been the norm. The fact that it's the first time the podium has been all-Black is exactly the point - why has it taken so long? It's not because Black girls aren't talented, and aren't interested, and aren't committed.

Breaking down the barriers to participation and access shows what's possible. If racism and lack of opportunity and discrimination weren't issues, we would have had this way way way before now.

I think she was speaking in relation to that particular event wasn't she? And gymnastics has probably primarily had more white contestants / medal holders in the past?

From memory the men's 100m has always had an all black podium so that would be nothing to write home about! But certain events are dominated by white athletes and others by black athletes?

To be fair to the OP, I don't think she was comparing an all black gymnastics podium to any all white podium. She picked one which would be comparably unlikely. An all white cycling or equestrian is (sadly) almost always the case. An all white 100m podium would almost certainly never happen in recent or future decades. She was asking if the unlikelihood of it would make it inappropriate to comment positively on it. Of course it would be inappropriate. It would just be a statistical eyebrow raiser, not a cause for celebration. But it's disingenuous to suggest that it's the same as any white podium.

Imagine if it was so rare that white people felt a need to comment upon it when it happened.

Please. Engage your brain.

Andrade, who won gold in the event Biles was discussing, grew up in the favelas.

Do you know anything about Simone Biles' or Rebeca Andrade's backgrounds? They weren't rich ones ...! What those women have achieved and overcome is incrediblecand inspirational. I'm not sure what Jordan Chiles' background is but certainly 2/3 of them - no silver spoons!