Yes: Glamor Girls Can Put?

I was just watching this powerful video about Michelle Carter, the American record holder, and now 2016 gold medal Olympian Shot Put athlete, who also happens to be a make-up artist and certified fashionista. She doesn't try to separate her identity as a glam-girl from her prowess as a world-class athlete. 

Of course, all women should feel they're beautiful and find their inner beauty.  If you're comfortable being a plain as the proverbial Jane, then BE YOU.  But I get the gist of the message in the video--that in certain types of sports (and professions) you're not encouraged to have or show a feminine/glam side. If you do, you might be stereotyped as not really being able to compete on the same level as someone who is not as glam-oriented. 

I identified with the story because the Shot Put and Javelin were my best sports in high school(I often won first place in my category), and like Michelle, I've always been a glamor girl.  But even outside of sport, the "glam is not good" mentality can persist. Especially in my early scientific career, when I was a high-seas going marine biologist, I would get comments about how I "didn't fit" into that field.  I remember one of my co-workers one day telling me that instead of spending weeks at sea without a bathroom on smelly fishing boats, I should be "working in a bank or something". 

I'm sure he meant well, and it wasn't just males who made such comments, but you get my drift.  Even now as a microbiologist and certified fashionista, I sometimes still get this kind of reaction from certain people. 

Reminiscing about my days as a very good Shot Put and Javelin athlete in high school, also reminded me of an incident from those days that nearly ended my life.  
I will forever wear this small scar from my javelin-throwing days. I'm thankful to be alive because I literally came thisclose to being impaled by a javelin in high school. It was our annual "Sports Day" which really lasted about a week, and I was representing my house (GO DOLPHINS!!). At our school we didn't have sporting teams, we had sports "houses" made up of students from all grades who competed at different levels in different sports. It's kinda like Team USA is the official designation for all American athletes at sporting events like the Olympics, or the way the "Aggies" (Gig'em) is the official name for all TAMU sporting teams.

When it was my turn to throw--and because I threw so much further than most of the other females--the other student who was designated as one of the runners (i.e the person to run and get the javelin and bring it back after each throw) made the grave error of attempting to throw it back close to the starting line instead of just running it all the way back. What made it worse was that he had already started to run back toward me before he decided to throw it, so he was not at the same distance where it had landed when I threw it initially. While in real life I'm a(UT)Spartan,and nothing like Xerxes, if you've ever watched 300, that scene where King Leoneides tosses his spear at Xerxes in the final battle, is similar to what happened to me. I barely had time to twist my body and cover my head with my arms before the metal-tipped javelin grazed my right forearm. Had I been standing full-frontal it would have definitely pierced my head/neck.

Of course the other student apologized profusely. He hadn't done it maliciously-- I think we were actually in the same sporting house. It was just that he misjudged how close he was to me. The whole morning he'd been diligently running to get the javelin and running it back all the way, so I don't know what made him think it would be a good idea to throw it. Perhaps he was tired, or he was distracted since he and the 2nd runner student were joking around and trying to gross out us female athletes(picture teen boys making phallic gestures and comments about the javelin being their "rod of correction" type high school cringe-worthy humor).

When this incident occurred that day I had this very surreal sense that something--some force I can't explain, prompted me to react instinctively, to protected myself from what would have surely been a fatal sporting mishap. It was more than just a swift reflex reaction and more like the way Barry Allen/The Flash sides-steps Bruce Wayne/Batman's bat dart in the trailer for the upcoming Justice League film. It's like from my perspective time and the acceleration of the incoming javelin slowed down, while my body sped up to deflect it (sidebar: yes, in addition to being a glam girl/scientist, I'm also a movie enthusiast). It certainly was not the first nor the last time that something beyond my understanding--some premonition or instinct--intervened at just the right moment, to shield me from whatever negative encounter I was about to experience.

Some other time I'll have to tell you about my encounter with a man who I suspect was a serial abductor/serial killer, and how this same force/premonition/instinct or whatever label you want to put on it, made me do one little thing that saved my life. It ensured that I didn't go missing in the middle of a rainy night when no one would have probably even noticed I was gone, when no one would have seen him snatch me right from a parking lot, mere feet from my door.

But to end this post I return to the original inspiration for writing it: Kudos to you Michelle Carter for reminding the world that YES, glamor girls CAN throw, put, bob, and weave all the way to the gold medal... and yes, sometimes we do it in red lipstick and fake eyelashes!

It's time to take the games back to Greece.

Mount Olympus, Greece.

I must confess:  I'm not much of an Olympics watcher. Sure, I watch the odd gymnastics competition or a swimming race here and there, but I have little interest in spending hours following of any sporting competition. Perhaps it stems from the fact that since my high school soft-ball playing days, and a few stints of Ultimate Frisbee on various beaches, I haven't really ever engaged in any team sport and I'm more inclined to saunter down a path instead of going after some personal speed record.  Unless they make "hiking at your own pace in random places" an Olympic sport, there's very little chance I would ever be a medal contender.  And that's all by choice.

That said, I do respect the many athletes who dedicated countless years of hard work to get to be that ultimate contender. In addition, I'm amazed at the effort that goes into building all of this infrastructure to house thousands of athletes, fans, coaches, etc., in countries where the Games are held once, but where it will probably not return for many years.  Thus, I think it's time to take the games back to Greece permanently. It makes so much more sense financially and logistically to return the games to its legendary locale.  Then there's the bribing that goes on with countries trying to be the next host country, and the fact that some countries will never qualify even though they would benefit tremendously from the influx of visitors.


So, take it back to Greece, and let countries take turns being torchbearers for each game. It would still take a long time for every country in the world to bear the torch, but at least every country can have a shot at doing this. Maybe one country can bear the torch for the opening, and one for the closing... makes a lot of sense.  Plus, I'm sure that Greece would welcome the economic opportunity to rebuild itself from the money generated
each Olympic year.  I think the winter games should also be held in one spot--maybe Canada. Then you'd have one part of the world hosting one game and the other part of the world hosting the other game.

Who's with me?