This is what happens when you stop thinking of yourself as an athlete and start thinking of yourself as a "brand." She doesn't want to dilute the brand.
And she couldn't be more wrong. The last 12 months indicate as much. She's gone from fan favorite to, well, not so popular anymore. Femke is an excellent athlete. She's done (and will do) amazing things. I doubt she will ever run as fast as Syd. Syd is on another planet of talent, the likes of which very few have ever existed. But, Femke's rise in popularity is largely in part because she's always competing. Helps that she's very successful and seems to be having a lot of fun. But she "dilutes her brand" and all it has done is strengthen it. Syd needs to get out there and compete. In whatever.
bro, don't confuse "letsrun" popularity with real popularity. Syd has appeared in every NBC Olympics ad, she's talked about during races she's not even in. She did the major media morning circuit the past few weeks.
It's the non-stop religious stuff that has me changing the proverbial channel whenever Sydney is in the media now.
and that upsets you? Says something about you I think.
Yes, it says thinking people are tired of religious fools thanking gawd for caring about their running while completely ignoring the fact that very same gawd apparently cares not a whit for the torture, rape, murder, genocide, misery, child abuse, corruption in the church, and on and on which has been going on throughout history and continues to this day. It's narcissistic, thoughtless, childish nonsense which would be bad enough if it was just her, but is an absolute human tragedy writ large. The sooner religion dies the better off our species will be.
why do you feel it is necessary to tell everyone about your beliefs as if they care? Look I'm an agnostic and I don't spend every waking hour telling people to believe in yourself, don't look to place the blame or take thecredit for something that was your failure or win.
The JFers get so insulted when you say there probably is no God.
To any real Christian, they are a Christian first and everything else follows. Sydney is in the first blush of her faith and married to a minister or some such. I suspect she views life as first a Christian, then a wife and thirdly an athlete as this is what her current environment supports. It becomes more than a faith. It becomes who she is. Part of being a follower of Christ is to tell the world about your faith. She's just doing what is commanded of her by whom she serves. And since this has become her raison d'etre, she uses the opportunity granted to her.
Christians do suffer loss and gain - just like everyone else. Athletes who call themselves Christians, will also lose some and win some, despite the dedication to their faith and despite the number of times they make the sign of the cross or thank God for winning. I am curious to see how she will cope when she loses on the biggest stage of her life. Especially losing to someone who she thinks has no interest in God or is perhaps an agnostic.
and that upsets you? Says something about you I think.
Yes, it says thinking people are tired of religious fools thanking gawd for caring about their running while completely ignoring the fact that very same gawd apparently cares not a whit for the torture, rape, murder, genocide, misery, child abuse, corruption in the church, and on and on which has been going on throughout history and continues to this day. It's narcissistic, thoughtless, childish nonsense which would be bad enough if it was just her, but is an absolute human tragedy writ large. The sooner religion dies the better off our species will be.
You are forgetting that our deities just happen to like what we like and hate what we hate.
Anyhow, I am always curious why athletes don't also give the same level of thanks for losing. Not to do so, makes the whole spectacle disingenuous to me.
I guess your right, it's a bummer cos she is the most mature athlete at 24 years old we have and she's saving her racing for real events like the olympics
So track and field is not real unless it's the olympics or world championships. How about athletics and competition for the sake of competition? Does Bol or Muir think they are wasting their time competing in so many non-real events? I cannot believe a runner or even a track fan could make such a statement.
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
To any real Christian, they are a Christian first and everything else follows. Sydney is in the first blush of her faith and married to a minister or some such. I suspect she views life as first a Christian, then a wife and thirdly an athlete as this is what her current environment supports. It becomes more than a faith. It becomes who she is. Part of being a follower of Christ is to tell the world about your faith. She's just doing what is commanded of her by whom she serves. And since this has become her raison d'etre, she uses the opportunity granted to her.
Christians do suffer loss and gain - just like everyone else. Athletes who call themselves Christians, will also lose some and win some, despite the dedication to their faith and despite the number of times they make the sign of the cross or thank God for winning. I am curious to see how she will cope when she loses on the biggest stage of her life. Especially losing to someone who she thinks has no interest in God or is perhaps an agnostic.
Matthew 6: "Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven."
Yes, spreading the Gospel is an integral part of being a Christian, but remember that spreading the Word of God is to be done for God not for yourself. Enriching yourself by selling a book about your "trials" (not winning the Olympics at 16 and having race anxiety) and using your faith to sell it seems hollow to me.
Apologies if I missed anything about her donating all profits from the sale of her book, but otherwise then that's exactly what it is - commercializing her faith for Earthly reward.
As an american i have found myself now rooting for femke instead of syd lol. Atleast i have dutch genes. But thats how bad her lack of presence in the sport has been. Americans are beginning to not care about two of their best athletes (mu and syd). Id rather root for keely and femke now. Its more fun, and theyre interesting atleast.
We can debate all we want about if it matters that shes choosing not to race. But the fact is people are losing interest in her because of it and thats pretty impressive considering her talent and accolades.
I grew up a big fan of Syd. I raced at New Balance Outdoor Nationals and watched her run wild times in the 400 hurdles as a HSer. I've been a fan ever since. The past few years it's been very difficult to root for her as she seems to not care at all about the fact that she doesn't race outside of championship outdoor meets.
It's thrilling to see her run extremely fast times on those big stages, but as a fan I'd love to see her kick the indoor season off with a 49.XX, or break 8 in the 60m hurdles.
I think the way Kersee treats his athletes makes the "fear" and "anxiety" she feels exponentially worse. Instead of acclimating to competition pressure and getting used to racing, her entire season is hinged on performing at 1-2 meets. Definitely weird to see.
the only thing interesting about her is how UNinteresting she is. Amazing athlete. everything else is just cardboard. hope she is living the happy and fulfilled life that she currently portrays. it's really all that matters.
Boring, stable and cardboard life is good for athletics. This is how one stays in the long game.
I support all athletes who have strong faith and aren’t afraid to express it, however I’m not for using one’s faith as a means to promote yourself for mostly monetary gains. I believe she is currently promoting a book. I would have to question whether it is a little too early in her career to be writing such an account of her story since she still is so young.
This is what happens when you stop thinking of yourself as an athlete and start thinking of yourself as a "brand." She doesn't want to dilute the brand.
sad thing is, she doesn’t realize that outside of track and field fans, very few give a f about her
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