Poor Sportsmanship by US Vaulter (Mckayla Maroney) (Page 2)

Let it go..

She prepared her WHOLE life for that ONE moment and was disappointed in herself.  I can certainly understand that.

Life goes on...

This guy just found out that he got a low score...  Talk about terrible stank face...

In general, yes.

But accept it's part of the culture because it's been like that for years and there seems to be no effort to curtail or even mention of it.  I have to trust the gymnastic world polices themselve.

I didn't think much of it because for the small portion of the vault I actually watched, she never had an emotion on her face. When we tuned in, she was already considered a lock for gold, or close to it, then another set of vaults, then the final one where she biffed it.

The whole time she reminded me of a Vulcan. So I didn't see the same expression post-event as that odd.

This thread has me wondering about the different cultures of sports that most of us only see at the Olympics. We've compared gymnastics and swimming. That one-and-done cycle of peaking for one olympics in gymnastics has to be an enornous amount of pressure. Swimming is highly competitive, but it doesn't seem to be so life and death. Of course, there's that one vaulter who was in the Olympics since, oh, was it Nixon? I remember her from Beijing and wondered how old she was then.

What was your initial reaction when the Romainian girl found out she lost the all around to Gaby Douglas.  There was no congratulatory hug at all.  She just sat on a chair and started bawling tears for a few minutes.  Is she a sore loser too because she couldn't suck it up, hide her true emotions and show some sportsmanship?

If this was a little league game or something, then I can see these types of reactions being a little over dramatic.  But these gymnasts sacrifice everything in their young lives for this one moment.  Gymnasitcs is only relavent once every four years, and for many women, only once in their career.  For many of them, there is no second chance.  Maroney can go on to win the world championships on the vault the next 2 years and nobody will know, and nobody will care.  The Olympics mean more to them than most of us will ever know.  I give them all the pass.  Of course that's just my opinion.  Carry on.

x1000. 

Dan, unless you're in their shoes, you can't judge. They have home lives. Investments in both time and money and in futures, by both themselves and their peoples. 

You've had the luxury of being a triathlete with a solid career underneath you. You've had the luxury (well earned) of being a coach with a full plate, which keeps you both entertained and busy and prosperous. 

You've not put what she did on the line for either career or ego, not dealt with what she did on the public stage. Could it have been handled better?  Yes. Should anyone judge not in her shoes?  No.   

Not cool with calling someone out that you don't know the details about. Seek first to understand, then be understood. I'm sure there's more to the story. 

I guess I missed the part where you were an Olympian.  Seriously, do you know how you would react in her situation?   

She's 17.  Cut her some slack....

I was thinking about this thread on my run today and was thinking the same thing.  16-17 is they age that girls throw tantrums over minor things like not haviog the car or aloud to go to the mall to be with their friends or if you tell them to do homework...  It's called being a 16 yr old girl.

She had the weight of a her famility, coaches, media, and even a NATION saying she was basically an automatic gold medal for the vault and it slipped away.  It would have to be shocking and devistating...  I don't know how I would act considering I will never come CLOSE to that kind of pressure or expectation.

I'm not going to sit on my comfy couch and critisize her too harshly after she worked her whole life for a moment to see it slip away.  It's not like it's your tuesday night softball/beer league where veryone high fives and shakes hands after the game is over it's a once in a lifetime shot for a very select few.

Sorry, I am going to call you out again.  You can SAY how you would of reacted, but you just don't know..you will never now.  So how dare you criticize an Olympic athlete that has done noting but great things for our country..she made a face..GET OVER IT and grow up..

Often times that's the case...but not here.  I was watching this one on NBC, and the pouting was not reserved for the podium...if it were only a 1/1000th of a 2nd exposure, fine, but it really wasn't.

btw, I don't think anyone disappointed in her behavior was expecting a happy, glowing smile and a warm hug.  They were expecting this person to show more class and be happy with being the 2nd best female vaulter in the world in the 2012 Olympics.

Sorry.  I just don't buy that excuse.  While Maroney did not throw a tantrum, her behavior was unacceptable in my opinion.  A good coach would have told her so...that said, the coach would probably be risking their position by sticking their neck out like that and calling a spade a spade.

Again, I can say with 100% certitude, you would not have seen that behavior out of Missy Franklin.

Honestly, this isn't harsh criticism either.  She messed up, and folks called her out.  Hopefully she realizes her mistake and learns from it.  I personally don't think she's a bad person...she just made a mistake...she's young and hopefully she'll learn from it.

On a somewhat related note...possibly...

Seems like tonight the commentators have said things like "sportsmanship never gets old" quite a bit tonight as athletes have congratulated each other and such.....

coincidence?

It might also be considered "crappy" to state someone called her actions "classless" when they clearly stated she "could have shown more class."  There is a difference.  btw, the folks disappointed in her reaction are not saying she did not have a right to be upset, folks do have a right to be upset with the manner in which she behaved while representing our nation...in my opinion of course.  

I vote this as the most ridiculous thread of the year.  What a bunch of haters!  Not a single one of you who think they see something in this athlete have a clue what you are talking about.  You look at a snapshot that was probably taken with a 6 frame per second camera and decide from her expression that she is....whatever.  Someone even said it was a "stank face"....yeah, maybe she had gas.  Maybe she was just taking a deep breath.  Maybe 1000 different things....but let's just jump right to poor sportsmanship.  Shameful!!

To the OP....you started your post with "don't judge me"......that's priceless right there....truly.

Whatever dude...  You're Franklin's coach or parents to know 100% what she wold do?  Bet you life on it?

No point to even discuss something with someone when they say such absurdities...

Bro.....you ever been second?  It sucks.  I wouldn't respect anyone who was happy with it.  Being disappointed has NOTHING to do with sportsmanship.  Go google pics of people with silver medals......it's the worst.  

What I find comical are comments from people who want to pass judgement but couldn't carry a silver medal in a bucket.  Gimme a break.  Again, SHAMEFUL!!!