Reading the details of the article... either she's being harassed by a very dedicated group of autograph seekers or she's having a stress-related breakdown. Either way I hope she stays healthy and safe, this should be a wake-up call for her team
I think most likely they buy tickets at airports and do it for multiple celebrities. Get the cheapest ticket for <$100, have an insider at airlines to get flight info, get signed pictures, sell for profit. Super weird but this is the most logical explanation.
Makes sense.
Surprised we haven't heard more about this behavior with other bigger name stars. Huge stars fly private. But do the other stars just get used to this and immediately say "get out of my face I'm getting airport security?"
If what you describe is true, these aren't fans but autograph vultures. Seems like it wouldn't be that hard to just tell them no but first time it happened would be weird.
No way. Maybe 11 people in the whole country know who she is.
I watch track but wouldn't be able to ID her without a caption.
She won more gold medals than any other American in women's track this year, she went on a ton of late night shows, and was in the SI Swimsuit issue. That says more about you than her.
Some of my friends who don't follow track know who she is.
Reading the details of the article... either she's being harassed by a very dedicated group of autograph seekers or she's having a stress-related breakdown. Either way I hope she stays healthy and safe, this should be a wake-up call for her team
It’s slow news season for track. Maybe that’s stressing her out.
I think most likely they buy tickets at airports and do it for multiple celebrities. Get the cheapest ticket for <$100, have an insider at airlines to get flight info, get signed pictures, sell for profit. Super weird but this is the most logical explanation.
Makes sense.
Surprised we haven't heard more about this behavior with other bigger name stars. Huge stars fly private. But do the other stars just get used to this and immediately say "get out of my face I'm getting airport security?"
If what you describe is true, these aren't fans but autograph vultures. Seems like it wouldn't be that hard to just tell them no but first time it happened would be weird.
At one point I was flying through Charlotte quite a few years back right after the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Ended up hearing some chatter near my terminal and it turns out a player from the Patriots was flying home through a terminal right next to mine. He was a lesser known player that got limited snaps, but some people did still recognize him.
There ended up being a small line of people who got photos and autographs with him including myself. Still have that picture on my phone somewhere. He was a great guy and really patient with everyone who recognized him.
Surprised we haven't heard more about this behavior with other bigger name stars. Huge stars fly private. But do the other stars just get used to this and immediately say "get out of my face I'm getting airport security?"
If what you describe is true, these aren't fans but autograph vultures. Seems like it wouldn't be that hard to just tell them no but first time it happened would be weird.
At one point I was flying through Charlotte quite a few years back right after the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Ended up hearing some chatter near my terminal and it turns out a player from the Patriots was flying home through a terminal right next to mine. He was a lesser known player that got limited snaps, but some people did still recognize him.
There ended up being a small line of people who got photos and autographs with him including myself. Still have that picture on my phone somewhere. He was a great guy and really patient with everyone who recognized him.
There's another option that no one is talking about.
Is it possible all white people look alike to her and she's really being 'stalked' by different people? She's famous enough that in any airport there could be someone to recognize her and ask her for an autograph. So her being asked for autographs are multiple airports isn't hard to believe. And she may think she's being stalked as she may think all white dudes look the same.
Now that wouldn't make sense if they always had photos of her. I am having a hard time believing that.
coco gauff said she was having the same issue. she's not crazy.
she finished her harvard degree, got an epidemiology masters while running pro, and at least sometimes works in the field. that does not scream "attention seeking" to me. or at least not the crazy smollett version.
if i had to bet, either someone who sells signed sports collectibles online (and you can easily google her signed stuff is for sale)
OR
one of these burglary rings that busts into athletes' homes when they are out of town.
i would make sure my medals are where they are supposed to be, and my other valuables.
and then if they ever showed her photos to sign, i'd be very curious who sells those specific looking items. it's not exactly sherlock holmes. if you signed it for someone who is one of the stalkers now, and something alot like it shows up on x company website....it's that company trying to harass her until she signs some more.
you may not think she's a really big deal but she's a gold medalist and big enough the stuff is for sale.
The thing I'm not sure of is if this is the same guys at different airports.
But this thing is totally crazy. This is happening at multiple airports with multiple guys? Sadly, I could see one deranged fan stalking her, but she isn't alleging one person or even one aiport. She's alleging multiple people who have pictures of her for her to sign at multiple airports.
It's not like she's that big a celebrity. What's a celebrity photo worth anyway?
I don't think crazy is an option here. At this point 1) She's being stalked or the only other option is 2) she made this up.
How is #3) She's being dramatic even an option? Her allegation is too specific to her just being dramatic about fandom.
As for #1, I still can't wrap my head around the multiple airports angle, but what if one guy had access at one aiport and then at other airports people just recognize her but she's on edge because of the other guy and thinks she is being stalked by the casual fans as well at airport #2.
I could see a bunch of losers at one airport stalking her. Maybe there is a network of losers who communicate with one another.
I'm not getting it. How do they (network of losers) know she is traveling, when and where? Without access to the flight manifest? How?
If they are breaking into airline computers don't you think that the Feds would be all over them? The entire story isn't plausible.
In separate incidents I was with Chuck Liddel and the guy from Gas Monkey Garage at airport gates. Chuck almost forgot his jacket until I pointed it out. The gas monkey was very drunk and doing some Rick Flair style woo noises. Not being a clown I didn't ask for autographs.
if you think it's the airline i'd have my agent and coco's agent have a quiet chat about what airlines they each were getting on from which airports and then go drop a dime to the airline, it's probably not a long list of people manning checkin stations at a particular airport, computer searches are probably logged since occasionally people do stupid stuff like this
The guy's name is Craig Donnelly. He was convicted of harassing Infeld. He tried to do the same with me maybe 4-5 years ago. Lasted about a week. Bizarre rants via texts. Just completely on tilt. It was a glimpse into the mind of a troubled madman.
I can imagine what Emily went through, only her experience was magnified by a factor of 1000x.
Distance runner Emily Infeld, who ran for the US at the 2016 Rio Olympics, did not qualify for the 2020 games after her training was derailed by a mentally ill stalker Craig Donnelly.
She's kinda hot. i casually follow track, if i saw her in the airport i would likely look twice. I have friends that watched the track documentary and now "know" her better than me and, if they had time, would probably follow her around, no harm intended. Not saying it's right, just very likely. Price of fame . Sorry.
If you have friends that "would probably follow her around" you need some new friends.
if i had to bet, either someone who sells signed sports collectibles online (and you can easily google her signed stuff is for sale)
OR
one of these burglary rings that busts into athletes' homes when they are out of town.
i would make sure my medals are where they are supposed to be, and my other valuables.
and then if they ever showed her photos to sign, i'd be very curious who sells those specific looking items. it's not exactly sherlock holmes. if you signed it for someone who is one of the stalkers now, and something alot like it shows up on x company website....it's that company trying to harass her until she signs some more.
you may not think she's a really big deal but she's a gold medalist and big enough the stuff is for sale.
This stuff is on eBay for $125. Noah Lyle’s is $450
This item has been thoroughly reviewed and inspected by the autograph authentication experts atAutographCOA (ACOA). Our Certificate of Authenticity (COA) will be included. TheACOA certification number for this item is:SD21071...