Olympic commentary about a runner who was raped as a teenager.

[VegansTasteBetter]

I didn't get the young woman's name (I'm in the states so this is the NBC coverage) but basically they were just discussing her being raped by her stepfather and then both her parents died in a car accident. I was outside of the room and had to wander in to see what the hell they were on about

When she goes back to watch the video of what is probably the best day of her life she'll be remembering the worst. Why is it acceptable? And how is it it relevant, like it's only a bit of idle gossip. Can't imagine if a an had been raped they would discuss it that way. I don't suppose they would even discuss consensual sex she had had.. why this?

If rape is now OK as a means of introduction can male sports personalities be introduced as a rapists .. And here is Mike Tyson, convicted rapist.

that would be Kellie Wells then :(

They did it similar in the judo as well - the gold medallist American, Kayla Harrison - albeit in a "look how far she's come and how well she's done to overcome the abuse from her coach" sort of fashion.

"I don't suppose they would even discuss consensual sex she had had.. why this?"

Yes, because someone's parents dying in a car crash and them having consensual sex are equally traumatic...

Commentators frequently talk about the difficulties an athelete has overcome. Boxers are frequently discussed in terms of how likely they are to get beaten up by a particular opponent (many of their backgrounds are so shitty the commentators don't bother highlighting the fact).

Do you think they cry about this when they watch the replay?

Oh, poor woman. Yes, you're right, that would be awful.

Though, I thought it was a little different with Harrison, because as I understand it, she has been keen to talk about what she overcame and how her current coach supported her. I respect her wanting to take something like that and speak out about it where many would not.

What I found more dodgy was the oblique way it's referred to - the UK commentator on Harrison kept using the phrase 'sadness in her young life' or 'terrible experiences in her young life', and I thought that was twee and patronizing.

Interesting point about the strength trope, I hadn't thought about that and I suppose it is problematic (after all we can't all be olympic runners and we'd still all deserve to feel like survivors, if that makes sense). Still, even if it is a trope, I hope maybe she will be comforted by it instead of upset - such a personal thing, but I hope so.

Mixed feelings about this.

Agree totally that she doesn't need reminding about it, especially in a totally twee sicky way, but equally I bet she doesn't need someone to talk about it for it to been in her concious anyway.

Positives to talking about it:

Me (as a viewer) I think bloody hell if she can go through that and come out such a strong powerful person with the psychological make up to compete at this level then the rest of us can take that message with us from any adversity.

And rape isn't something the victim needs to be in any way ashamed of.THe more that is in the public eye the easier it is for victims to get that message in their heads and say something/do something even years down the line.

I see what you're saying theas.

I'm not going to put this well, but something that I thought was good to see, was with the Judoka, she was doing a sport with a lot of close physical contact. One of the things I think you can get really panicky about (I've never been raped so I'm going from other people saying so, and from how I feel about sexual assults) it people touching you and getting in your physical space. I found it, personally, inspiring to see that someone can get past that.

But then, I'm also feeling it should not have to be an athelete's job to be a role model for surviving rape and it seems unfair to put the two things together like this.

LRD - I was watching the stuff about the judo on BBC iPlayer and they talked about the abuse and the jail term her coach is serving quite openly - I missed the "tweeness" you're describing - don't know if it's different commentary though!
I would have said it was on NBN Australia but I'm pretty sure they didn't cover it because there was no Aussie in it, so it must have been iPlayer.

I think that they do like to bring up past traumas to show what athletes have managed to overcome - is it any worse that the trauma involved is a sexual crime? I don't know.

thumb - yes, you're right, they did mention the jail term (I watched the UK Iplayer one too).

I think it was just that phrase about her 'young life' that got to me, though maybe that was unfair ... I can't even quite put my finger on why I didn't like it.

I think different traumas probably are different - Gemma Gibbons lost her mother, but clearly she was very much thinking of her mum and remembering her in a good way during her competition - and in that situation, although it must be so sad to know her mother wasn't there to see her, all the memories of her mum supporting her in the sport would be positive ones.

I think maybe it is different when the memories being brought up have nothing to do with the competition (which seems to be the case with the runner), or when they'd tie together bad memories of the abuse with memories of training. I can imagine each of those situations could be tricky.

From what I read in the link I posted, although there was a less direct link with the running for Wells, part of her abuser's control over her was him threatening to have her removed from the school where she was training (Unless I misread it) - and she needed the track work because it was her salvation.
But I know what you're saying.

And yes, I remember them bringing up the loss of Gemma's mum too - maybe that's more about injecting "human interest" into the background story, rather than "overcoming the odds", again, I don't know.

I do wonder about the commentators/reporters sometimes - I really think sometimes they just scrabble around for stuff to talk about.

As an abuse survivor myself, I am really heartened to hear their pasts mentioned, although with the caveat that I hope they are ok with it. Given that both women are quite vocal about what happened to them I am really hopeful that they are.

For me, and from talking to other survivors I think it's a common thing, one of the worst things about abuse is the feeling that you have to hide it - even people who know you for years and years may not know about it because it is such a difficult topic to broach. It can make you feel very lonely and almost as if you're lying to people by not being open about something that (unfortunately) shapes you so much as a person. Also, people tend to have an image of abuse survivors as being broken, unable to function, hiding away etc. For people to see survivors living not just normal but great lives where they achieve so much is a wonderful thing in my book. It shows other survivors and the wider public that abuse doesn't define you. Yes, it is horrendously difficult to overcome, and I'm glad to see that acknowledged in the commentary, but it's also something that doesn't have to put an end to a productive happy life.

Abuse isn't a shameful secret, and it's not something you forget about just because others don't mention it.