I can't blame Katelyn's reaction. The reporter clearly should not have gone there. It's not as overtly sexual/objectifying, but it's still completely inappropriate to ask a question about a female athlete's body/appearance. They need to keep the questions on the race and the performance. I think we're making progress here as a society, but still have room for improvement, clearly.
Interesting how defensive distance running fans get upset over questions like that. No one gets upset if a reporter asks a major sport athlete if they physically changed something in their training. Distance runners are so prissy.
Reporter speaking to Valby that he's "noticed she put on a bit of muscle."
Tuohy's reaction (she says "dam*") is priceless.
She's clearly disgusted that the reporter went there.
I’m deeply offended by the repeated questioning about the hilly course. Is he suggesting these brave girls are over the hill? Why such obsession with mounds? What a lack of commonsense knoll-edge, tsk tsk. Such poor man-ners hanging in that crowd.
I don't think it should be off-limits to ask or make comments about a female athlete's body in all scenarios. I think we can all agree high school is totally off limits for comment on male OR female bodies. For college cross country specifically, where eating disorders are well-known to be rampant, I think it should be off-limits.
Just looking at Tuohy and the others - they are so young. To me it does feel very inappropriate for a random stranger to call in with a question and comment on their bodies. It juts feels awkward.
Interesting how defensive distance running fans get upset over questions like that. No one gets upset if a reporter asks a major sport athlete if they physically changed something in their training. Distance runners are so prissy.
He specifically commented on her body first, before mentioning her training. When they get to the pros, perhaps such comments should be fair game, but these are not "major sports athletes" - they're college students in a sport with an eating disorder problem.
High level running is always going to be in a high pressure environment. You can not have elite running in a low key environment. We need to allow runners to decide if they want to participate at a this level. If they choose not to is O.K. if the opt out.
If someone commented about a male athlete putting on muscle, should the reasonable reaction be to get angry?
Answer the question first, If you're going to let an old stranger comment about your daughter's body in front of people.
In this context, yes. He wasn't being weird or sexual, just noting an observation that could be related to athletic performance.
If your knee jerk reaction is to get offended and assume some sexual implication made by that comment, perhaps you're the one with some repressed thoughts that you're projecting.
Interesting how defensive distance running fans get upset over questions like that. No one gets upset if a reporter asks a major sport athlete if they physically changed something in their training. Distance runners are so prissy.
He specifically commented on her body first, before mentioning her training. When they get to the pros, perhaps such comments should be fair game, but these are not "major sports athletes" - they're college students in a sport with an eating disorder problem.
Bologna. How old is she? 21? That's an adult. You be offensive by saying a woman needs to be protected. Valby wasn't offended at all. Ptooey overreacted.
She will not continue after college. She is cluesless as to what being an athlete is. You are nothing more than a body that does incredible things. All athletes are treated like this. Look at nfl combine. She is unable to separate objectifying of a normal woman or man in a non sports setting, and how you ARE an object in the sporting arena
I haven't watched the clip but I can't understand the outrage. We examine and scrutinise athletes bodies all the time in this sport. We almost have to for assessment and analysis. In terms of weight, musculature, form, technique, etc. Can you train/coach blind ? Are commentators ammune ? For example I remember a few of them recognising T. Dibaba had put on a little weight after returning from her pregnancy, as I could too with my own eyes. In fact, T&F commentators make comments about athletes bodies all the time whether it's a change or in relation to other athletes (eg a Walter Dix compared to other sprinters). I don't get it. If I was an athlete I'd say, yes, I've been working on improving my strength this season and have spent more time in the gym and with my strength coach, or something to that effect.
The reporter asked a pretty blase question. Tuohy went full leftoid feminist. What a couple years of college does to a mf.
I think you should look up the meaning of blasé. I don’t know if you meant something like innocuous instead, or something else, but a “world-weary” question certainly wasn’t it.
The reporter asked a pretty blase question. Tuohy went full leftoid feminist. What a couple years of college does to a mf.
I think you should look up the meaning of blasé. I don’t know if you meant something like innocuous instead, or something else, but a “world-weary” question certainly wasn’t it.
He clearly said he followed her in high school.
He's noticed she's put on muscle since high school and everyone has noticed she's gotten much faster.
It's not "world-weary" to ask an athlete about their training.
It could even be helpful to people who think running talent is meaningless if you don't weigh 75 pounds.
Interesting how defensive distance running fans get upset over questions like that. No one gets upset if a reporter asks a major sport athlete if they physically changed something in their training. Distance runners are so prissy.
He specifically commented on her body first, before mentioning her training. When they get to the pros, perhaps such comments should be fair game, but these are not "major sports athletes" - they're college students in a sport with an eating disorder problem.
That’s what kind of made it weird to me, he just made an observation about her body that was fairly irrelevant to the question he finally got around to asking…like, he didn’t ask if putting on muscle has helped or what her training was to add muscle, etc.
That said, he seemed to be kind of awkwardly stumbling and beyond just the weird anecdote, not sure it really warrants any/much backlash. I doubt Katelyn is too worried about it now, just got caught in the moment.
Answer the question first, If you're going to let an old stranger comment about your daughter's body in front of people.
In this context, yes. He wasn't being weird or sexual, just noting an observation that could be related to athletic performance.
If your knee jerk reaction is to get offended and assume some sexual implication made by that comment, perhaps you're the one with some repressed thoughts that you're projecting.
It's not presuming that it's about sex, it's that a lot of these athletes are riding a razor's edge and many fall into eating disorder territory.
This reporter, you, and I don't need to add any pressure that could tip an athlete into unhealthy eating habits.
There's a lot to comment on in this sport (preparation, mileage, race tactics, form, team dynamics, coaching, etc.) At the college level let's leave out physical appearance.
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