I copied the post title from Google Analytics mere moments ago. Someone found my blog searching google for the answer as to why olympic athletes are chubby. I'm guessing my blog came up due to last week's post on the Australian swimmer Liesel Jones.
It's sad commentary really, that people think that Olympic athletes are chubby. It seems that anyone on TV with any amount of visible body fat is labelled as chubby or fat. Even Olympic althletes with muscles are targets.
Is this what happens when a model thin body shape is favored, praised, overvalued and seen in the media above all other body shapes? Thin is in for the movies, in TV programming, in the magazines and on the internet. Has the lack of body shape diversity completely eroded our tolerance for other body types in the media? Is this why Olympic athletes with athletic bodies built for their sport are labelled as chubby?
Athletes train for a lifetime for their Olympic moments and to become the best in their sport. Physical training transforms your body, makes it strong, makes it muscular. Different people will develop muscles and body tone in different ways depending on their sport, genetics and eating habits.
Even though muscles burn more calories and athletes have different nutritional needs than the rest of us, I think it is an unrealistic standard to expect anyone (athletes included) to eat perfectly all the time; the right foods in the exact amount.
So if you are wondering why Olympic athletes are chubby, my response to you is to ask yourself 1) what does it matter if an athlete is chubby or not and 2) what makes you think that Olympic athletes are chubby in the first place?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It ticks me off that it's even up for consideration, you know? They're OLYMPIC athletes---and therefore off limits. And what does it say as a society that we're more focused on their body weight/size than we are of their extraordinary achievements? Sad. Very, very sad.
ReplyDeleteSarah
www.thinfluenced.com
It is totally sad...
DeleteI think people often do not recognize muscles. They think they are fat. Hubs cousin was an elite gymnast many years ago. Men did not get her huge legs. When I was young I had similar problems. If anyone commented about my body (even though I was in far better shape than they would have ever dreamed of being in) I let it get to me and starved myself. Then when I got older I tossed it completely aside and refused any comment on my weight including my own.
ReplyDeleteWhen will it be OK to just be yourself? My guess... never. Unless you sequester yourself. - even then... because I have tried, it still exists. The voice is there. Not the one that sez breathing is hard when you exert and something must be done (the healthy voice), but that ugly one that has too much of the floor and too loud a voice.
So sad that people were googling that. Get a darned life.
Me too, thinking back, its sad that I let some comments get to me. I miss my strong athletic body that was powerful, and flexible.
DeleteI guess we all have to work on voicing the healthy voice more than the ugly voice...
It's this airbrushed image of what's "sexy" that the media throws out there that makes me sick. Not even those models look like that! Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true!
DeleteI know I am going to sound just a wee bit like a whack job, but more and more I believe that these..."conflicts" are prefabricated to keep us all distracted from truly serious issues. Something else that has astounded me is the conversation about gymnast Gabby Douglas' hair. REALLY PEOPLE?? Why must we keep sniping about such seriously insignificant things when there are so much more important issues with which to be concerned??
ReplyDeleteWhat is the big who-ha about Gabby Douglas' hair? I'll have to google that tomorrow.
Delete