‘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?

Exactly. Black representation in gynmastics has been very low and she is celebrating a change. This is positive.

As a side note on the African dominance of distance running it is complex - the book Running with the Kenyans is a fascinating look in to why countries like Kenya and Ethiopia are so successful.

Some of it is social - it is a sport that is accessible to all wealth levels, some of it is cultural - you see others from your country become successful through distance running and you want to emulate them, some of it is is informed by place and physical adaption to that - a lot of people from these countries have low income, rural backgrounds and are very used to walking tens miles every day just to go about every day tasks.

You mean like the minimum age of 16 that gymnastics has implemented since 1997? There has been talk of raising it to 18-

The worst offenders right now are skateboarding where China is fielding an 11 year old.

I really wish all races were held to the same standard.
If they were, no-one would need to mention an all black podium, because it would be a normal occurrence, because it's not for lack of ability that we haven't seen more of it.

I see what she means, it hasn't happened before and it's nice to see it happen.

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong?

It makes me laugh - and also the irony of this being 100 years since Paris hosted the 1924 Olympics - that the 100 metres keeps coming up as an example of where an all-white podium would be shocking. It’s like no one has ever seen the film Chariots of Fire.

(The antisemitism that Abrahams encountered is a whole different thread, however).

Did people see Biles' tweet after Trump's fiasco with the NABJ? "I love my black job!"🤣🤣

She's a talented gymnast but she's also a race baiter. thefederalist.com/2023/09/28/simone-biless-race-baiting-social-posts-are-ruining-innocent-lives-in-ireland/

"track events are the only affordable sport in which African countries are able to train"

That had honestly never occurred to me. Thank you

I think highlighting the colour of winners is racist, no matter how you paint it.

It's like saying "it's refreshing to see an all white basketball team" - no, it's refreshing to not see colour.

Can you genuinely not see the difference, @C1N1C ? Really? Have you read this thread?

Great source. The Federalist, a right wing- anti- abortion among other things- website funded by a Trump donor.

Thanks, @Lentilweaver - I did hesitate to click. How vile to accuse Simone of "race baiting" .

PoC like me are so sick of people who don't see colour. They looked the other way when I was called P* in school and told to go home.

It's fine. But also I'm not really insecure

You're really quite grim. Nice bit of racism disguised with faux 'oh I don't understand, please explain'.

But that's the point I'm getting at. Your bullies were seeing colour. If your bullies didn't see colour, they wouldn't bully you, and that would be a win?

But that's the point I'm getting at. Your bullies were seeing colour. If your bullies didn't see colour, they wouldn't bully you, and that would be a win?

🙄🙄🙄 Always talking rubbish on here.

It's a lot more complicated than singing Kumbaya around the campfire and not seeing colour. And the journey of black gymnasts is a lot more complicated too.

But I should stop posting on this thread. Not seeing colour is very idealistic and flattening, though those may not be the right words.

How about they saw her colour, acknowledged her ethnicity but didn't bully her at all?

Didn't want to make this thread about myself, but am a bit "triggered" these days. It's about the great, incomparable Simone Biles, and I think enough posters have explained why her comment was fine. If all that still doesn't convince you, not much people can say.

There has to be more to it then this though as majority or US / UK runners are also black.

"There has to be more to it then this though as majority or US / UK runners are also black."

What do you mean? Do you mean specifically sprinters? Keeley Hodgkinson just won gold for the UK, for example.

Have a look at this page and then re-evaluate your statement:

www.teamgb.com/athletes/our-athletes/5FH4icjG796D2GnbMHFhIL

I think it's been discussed upthread, @BWPodium . It's about what opportunity you have, support early on, financial and other, being in a situation where you can pursue it, and believing it's possible. If you watch someone succeed and that person is a similar ethnicity and background to yourself, it will look achievable to you and you will feel encouraged.

It has been said on this post that the runners been black have only been around for the last few decades. As long as I have seen the Olympics, it has been a black dominated sport. I am genuinely interested in how this has evolved.