Olympics - (Spoiler Alert!)

[jumbopackage]

OK, I know you are saying you don't, but get over your jealousy, hatred, or whatever your problem with her is. She is a 16 year old that spent her whole life preparing for this. She is an amateur athlete that has represented her state, and country about as well as possible. I'm sure she wasn't calling WHO every day and asking them to cover her.

Also,
I have never heard anyone say the Chinese gymnasts were 10, nice exaggeration. It was pretty clear that China stretched the rules a little on who and how old at least two of their team gymnasts were.

It is not true that the Olympic judges did not like her style. It was apparent though, that they did penalize her for her body type. She benefited from consistency during the last four years, but the judges liked the fluid, lankier style of Nas and a few others better. When those girls didn't make errors, it negated SJ's consistent, mechanical style.

It was great that Lolo had enough sponsership to be in a position to donate money. Maybe when SJ and family returns they will be able to help many people. I'm sure if she does, it won't just be financial. Either way, it is her choice and not something that she has to do. That is the whole point about giving.

She was the most gracious non-gold winner from any country in gymnastics, hands down! I'm proud of how she performed, and represented her State and Country. If the coverage on the local news or paper gets to be too much for me, I turn the channel, or don't read the article.

Nobody has a problem with her. I haven't heard one comment that says "hey, I don't like her and I don't like that she won". It's not jealousy or hatred. We are just tired of hearing about it. It's like hearing about the Superbowl. I just don't care for it anymore because it's all hype and not about football. Just like this isn't about gymnastics (a sport which I don't care about in the first place).

All I need to know about Shawn Johnson I can read in one article. I don't need wall-to-wall coverage of some 16 year old kid, regardless of what she's done.

I still find it humerous that people think this is a big deal only to the local media, and somehow it's WHO or the register who are making this a big deal. I live 700 miles from des moines, and when I go to cnnsi.com, she's there on the front page. Espn.com, article link and picture on the front page. Turn on the denver news... shawn johnson. Heck, there was even a 20 minute special on her they showed on my flight from LA to Denver a few weeks ago. She's a big story. She was already decorated with accomplishments before the olympics, and now she's a 4 medal winner. If you can't handle big news, or someone elses success that's fine, but don't blame the local media for covering a story that's huge all over the nation.

I agree that Lolo is a great story and isnt getting the nationwide attention she deserves, but don't belittle the greatness of the other story.

Is it a national story? Sure it is. I'm not saying it isn't. So is the Iowa City rape thing. How much coverage has the register had on that?

 

[CYKXBUT]

Feel bad for Lolo, clipped 9th hurdle while in first and ended up out of medals.

 

[dustinal]

When was the last time we had such an accomplished athlete go to an olympics and be so expected to medal and do well?

Cael Sanderson?

And the coverage that followed him? I remember a lot, not SJ alot, but Cael's an ugly wrestler so...

Well, that's kind of the point. People pay a lot more attention to Shawn Johnson because...

A) Gymnastics is more popular than wrestling (at least for two weeks out of every four years)

2) She's cute

I'm not trying to belittle her accomplishments. I'm just saying that before we anoint her the best gymnast--nay, the best athlete--nay, the best Iowan of all time, let's step back and take a breath.

 

[dmclone]

"Shawn Johnson has found gold even before heading to Beijing next month to compete for Olympic medals.

The 16-year-old West Des Moines gymnast has scored a slew of endorsements from major corporations like Coca-Cola, Adidas, McDonald's and Hy-Vee and appears in television ads and on Coke cans, ice cream boxes and orange juice containers.

She drives a 2008 Land Rover LR2 and is outfitted in Adidas and GK Elite sportswear. And the Walt Disney Co. has expressed interest in working with the gymnast.

With at least four major deals and six smaller ones, Johnson already is looking at endorsement income of $500,000 to just under $1 million, said Don Hinchey, vice president of communications for the Bonham Group, a sports and entertainment marketing group in Denver.

And, typically, athletes make their big endorsement money after the Olympics, said Johnson's agent, Sheryl Shade of Shade Global Inc. in New York."

 

[ColoradoClone]

All I need to know about Shawn Johnson I can read in one article. I don't need wall-to-wall coverage of some 16 year old kid, regardless of what she's done.



Is it a national story? Sure it is. I'm not saying it isn't. So is the Iowa City rape thing. How much coverage has the register had on that?

Unfortunately, the ratio of local media coverage to national media coverage for Shawn Johnson is about the same as it is for the Iowa City issues. If you want to compare the two, the Registers almost non existent coverage probably dwarfs the national coverage.

And you can read everything you need to know about almost every large national story in one article.

 

[dmclone]

OK, I know you are saying you don't, but get over your jealousy, hatred, or whatever your problem with her is. She is a 16 year old that spent her whole life preparing for this. She is an amateur athlete that has represented her state, and country about as well as possible. I'm sure she wasn't calling WHO every day and asking them to cover her.


She was the most gracious non-gold winner from any country in gymnastics, hands down! I'm proud of how she performed, and represented her State and Country. If the coverage on the local news or paper gets to be too much for me, I turn the channel, or don't read the article.

I agree with you that she handled get the silver great. Actually she's handled the whole olympics great. This doesn't mean that she should have 107 articles in the Des Moines register.

As far a jealousy, I don't know what I would be jealous of. I'm a 37 year old male. Believe it or not. I don't have a strong urge to be an Olympic gymnast and you probably don't want to see a 230 lb guy wearing tights.

 

[jberryma]

Whether you like it or not a lot of people in this state can't get enough of Shawn Johnson right now. Personally, I'm one of them, this little girl has handled herself with a ton of class, she has a wonderful smile and attitude, is extremelly gracious, and a very good athlete. She just represented our state as well as anyone could have done. She is an amazing gymnast and I'm very glad she got her gold. She's getting a lot of press throughout the country and you best believe if our local media outlets didn't give her the same amount of press or more, a lot more people but be up in arms about that. Unfortunately you're not going to please everyone and some of you have your right to your opinions but the olympics are a big deal and Shawn is a big part of the U.S.A. team. She's a lovely girl, very marketable and people in general and the media have fallen in love with this girl. I for one think it is justified. Way to go Shawn and thanks for representing our state so well!

 

[benjay]

Bunch of whiners. Whine about Iowa's coverage in the rag, whine about SJ's coverage in the rag, whine about ISU's lack of coverage in the rag. Here's an idea: don't read it. Problem solved.

 

[DanCyn]

Get over it and let's move on to something else. Following is an excerpt from NBCOlympics.com. Everybody's following this story:

Meanwhile, the sign could not have been more immediate nor emphatic of how much the gold medal that Shawn won means in establishing both American girls, Shawn and Nastia, as post-Games personalities deserving of A-list treatment back home: the New York Times sent out a bulletin announcing Shawn's gold.

 

[jdoggivjc]

Get over it and let's move on to something else. Following is an excerpt from NBCOlympics.com. Everybody's following this story:

Meanwhile, the sign could not have been more immediate nor emphatic of how much the gold medal that Shawn won means in establishing both American girls, Shawn and Nastia, as post-Games personalities deserving of A-list treatment back home: the New York Times sent out a bulletin announcing Shawn's gold.

This is obviously a lie - nobody outside of the Des Moines media cares about Shawn Johnson... :wink:

 

[scottie33]

So I'm watching supposeably live USA vball right now on nbc but for some reason I'm watching live feed on the internet and they are already in game 3 and almost finished with it

 

[jumbopackage]

Get over it and let's move on to something else. Following is an excerpt from NBCOlympics.com. Everybody's following this story:

Meanwhile, the sign could not have been more immediate nor emphatic of how much the gold medal that Shawn won means in establishing both American girls, Shawn and Nastia, as post-Games personalities deserving of A-list treatment back home: the New York Times sent out a bulletin announcing Shawn's gold.

A. NBCOlympics.com just MIGHT have a vested interest in promoting the Olympics...just saying.

B. Two words: Kerri Strug

 

[Cloned4Life]

"The judges don't like SJ's style

Correct, the judges did not like her style. But she was still too good to drop her off the medal stand completely.

She's awesome.

 

[Stormin]

This is obviously a lie - nobody outside of the Des Moines media cares about Shawn Johnson... :wink:

I think she has captivated the Nation. The whole country was pulling for her to win Gold.

 

[isuno1fan]

Bela went nuts when she won.

 

[Palmer]

we need to stop fighting over this issue. She won and I am happy for her.

now everyone get over to the Jack Trice Sign thread and scrap about that.

 

[cybsball20]

Costas called her an Icon before the Gymnastics events even started. I don't think someone who has covered as much as Costas would call someone and Icon unless he firmly beleived it.

 

[cloneu]

Costas called her an Icon before the Gymnastics events even started. I don't think someone who has covered as much as Costas would call someone and Icon unless he firmly beleived it.

Maybe he said that just because she is the only US Olympic person that he is taller than.:biggrin:

 

[DanCyn]

The rest of the story. For those of you "sick" of reading about it, pass to the next post.

Shawn, in a blue leotard trimmed with red, went sixth. "Come on, Shawn!" rang out voices from the crowd. Her leaps were good, the power evident in the thunks she made with her landings so solid on the four inch-wide beam.
When Shawn was done, Cheng Fei gave Shawn a hug. Li Shanshan came over to give a hug, too.

The score went up moments later: 16.225. First place. A big, big, big smile from Shawn.

Nastia went next.

All in white, Nastia - the 2007 world champion on the beam - looked ethereal. "Come on, Nas!" came the shouts. As she did in the individual all-around, Nastia seemed almost to float on and over the beam.

The score: 16.025. And into second.

Nastia drew better execution scores than Shawn from the judges, who at these Olympics made abundantly clear that they love her gymnastics. Nastia drew two 9.5s and four 9.4s.

To get to her final execution score, 9.425, per rule the judges drop one of the highest scores as well as one of the lowest, then divide by four, the number of scores remaining.

Shawn, by contrast, got a 9.0, three 9.2s and two 9.3s. Drop the 9.0 and one of the 9.3s for her execution score, 9.225.

The difference: Shawn's start value was a full four-tenths of a point higher than Nastia. Shawn's start value: 7.0, along with Li Shanshan the highest in the competition.

After Nastia came Japan's Tsurumi. She fell.

Shawn had her gold.

"Coming in, I really wanted it," Shawn said. "But I mean, I didn't care what I got. Any medal or no medal at all, I just wanted to come out here and give the best I could.

"To end with a gold, though, really made me feel - proud."

 

[jdoggivjc]

Maybe he said that just because she is the only US Olympic person that he is taller than.:biggrin:

That may be the case, but he's definitely taller than all of the Chinese gymnasts, and he hasn't called any of the icons yet. Maybe he'll get around to that as soon as turn 16 in a couple of years - or at the very least, hit puberty :laugh: