Shani's victory is his alone.
I haven't been watching too much Olympic TV coverage, but I did watch the men's 1000 meters tonight. I saw that the media people were wondering about Shani's refusal to give interviews before the event, and the very short answers he gave following his victory. "Shani, are you angry?" asked the perky blonde reporter. He said no; he was fine.
How can these people even begin to understand what Shani must be going through? Sure, it's great to win an Olympic gold medal, but the meaning of what Shani has done will be twisted in several different ways to fit several different agendas.
As I said in my previous post, U.S. Speedskating will try to take credit for Shani's victory. They have done nothing to help this athlete win, and in fact, have done everything possible to make things more difficult for him. How do you think Shani feels about "winning the gold for U.S. Speedskating?"
The Olympic media love to say, "How does it feel to win this medal for your country?" Well, in truth, the USA only cares about speedskating for 2 weeks every 4 years. And, besides that, most of the American people aren't aware of how horribly the federation known as U.S. Speedskating discriminates against some of its athletes. The American people do not hold U.S. Speedskating accountable for what they've done to athletes like Shani, or like me. So, how do you think Shani must feel about the view that he's "bringing the gold home to the USA?"
Shani is the first African-American to win a medal in an individual Winter Olympic event. But all his life, Shani has faced ridicule from fellow African-Americans for participating in such a "white person's sport" as speedskating. How do you think Shani feels about his breakthrough role in the sport?
It's all very conflicting and complicated. The whole situation is not easy to explain. It certainly cannot be neatly packaged into a typical "feel-good victory interview."
I just hope it gets more people interested in the problems within U.S. Speedskating.
I haven't been watching too much Olympic TV coverage, but I did watch the men's 1000 meters tonight. I saw that the media people were wondering about Shani's refusal to give interviews before the event, and the very short answers he gave following his victory. "Shani, are you angry?" asked the perky blonde reporter. He said no; he was fine.
How can these people even begin to understand what Shani must be going through? Sure, it's great to win an Olympic gold medal, but the meaning of what Shani has done will be twisted in several different ways to fit several different agendas.
As I said in my previous post, U.S. Speedskating will try to take credit for Shani's victory. They have done nothing to help this athlete win, and in fact, have done everything possible to make things more difficult for him. How do you think Shani feels about "winning the gold for U.S. Speedskating?"
The Olympic media love to say, "How does it feel to win this medal for your country?" Well, in truth, the USA only cares about speedskating for 2 weeks every 4 years. And, besides that, most of the American people aren't aware of how horribly the federation known as U.S. Speedskating discriminates against some of its athletes. The American people do not hold U.S. Speedskating accountable for what they've done to athletes like Shani, or like me. So, how do you think Shani must feel about the view that he's "bringing the gold home to the USA?"
Shani is the first African-American to win a medal in an individual Winter Olympic event. But all his life, Shani has faced ridicule from fellow African-Americans for participating in such a "white person's sport" as speedskating. How do you think Shani feels about his breakthrough role in the sport?
It's all very conflicting and complicated. The whole situation is not easy to explain. It certainly cannot be neatly packaged into a typical "feel-good victory interview."
I just hope it gets more people interested in the problems within U.S. Speedskating.
posted by Eva at 1:15 AM
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