[Darla_G]

what do you think?
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source

Olympic gold (earrings)

Forget about drugs and sport - what about Olympians and adornment? There's Sally McLellan hurdling to silver in silver hoops and necklace and today sporting fantastic nails of green and gold. There's Anna Meares cycling to silver in silver sleepers (to be promptly replaced at the podium by diamond-encrusted gold bike earrings). Emma Snowsill romped home to triathlon gold in her ''lucky earrings''. Then of course there was gold medal glutton Stephanie Rice pictured post-swim on every front page in prominent green earrings. Earrings and swimming cap, jewellery and sport: is it appropriate?

No. It just looks wrong - like red nails in the maternity unit or makeup on the beach or lipstick at the gym. Sport is about great physical ability, focus and achievement (that is, winning) but now it also seems to be about accessorising for the cameras.
Jewellery just does not look right and, superstitions aside, is unlikely to enhance performance. There's a reason, surely, that earrings are banned in netball.
I say, Olympians put it away. Leave it for the after-party.
Or maybe I'm being petty. What do you think - should Olympians and professional sportspeople play it safe and traditional or is delving into the jewellery box - or makeup bag (did you catch those Americans gymnasts?!) - perfectly acceptable before competing?

Posted by Natasha Hughes
August 20, 2008 8:14 PM

[magneticheart]

One of the female sprinters the other day was running the race and her necklace was swinging around and hitting her in the face, when I was at school they always shouted at us for wearing jewelry when we were playing sport!
And another thing I noticed was when all the runners where on their marks ready to run the camera panned across all the hands on the floor and one of the runners had really long false nails on with jewels and glitter all over them. I always assumed they'd have all sorts of rules at the olympics that stopped them wearing jewelry and stuff...
I think if it doesn't affect them then it isn't a problem though.

[Karren]

Nahhh... The women look great, IMHO.... Except some of the guy runners... all those gold chains!!! lol

[Darla_G]

Originally Posted by Karren_Hutton

Nahhh... The women look great, IMHO.... Except some of the guy runners... all those gold chains!!! lol

all that extra weight is going to slow them down!

[Karren]

Yeah... a little eye liner and mascara would probaly look good when they are up there getting their gold medal too!!

[pinksugar]

I think if it doesn't affect their sporting whateverness, then they should be allowed to...

seriously, some of the competitors, it's really unclear what sex they are until it's announced - some of the women are quite butch looking, but wear jewellery and have their nails done and I think it's nice they've made that effort even though they have massive arms or whatever. It freaks me out when I have to check the other medalists to figure out if it's a man or a woman

[Adrienne]

Personally I think it's just a woman's way of trying to feminize a man's world. Its the perfect way of saying "I am woman, hear me roar!" As long as it doesn't affect the sport than why not?

[StereoXGirl]

Honestly, female athletes of that caliber have to work out so much, that they lose some of their feminine curves. So it seems like they might choose to do their nails, makeup, wear jewelry, etc. to make themselves feel more feminine.

I don't see anything wrong with that as long as it doesn't affect their performance.

ETA: I was a little disappointed with the makeup that the female gymnasts were wearing. I'm used to there being lots of color and glitter like cheerleading. The only gymnasts that I noticed that actually used glitter and bright colors were the Chinese gymnasts. I did like the blue that Ksenia Semenova (Russia) wore on her eyes. And Nastia Liukin's gold and pink combo. lol.

[Jinx]

Well,remember Flo Jo with her lacey running suits and one leg running suits and mile long finger nails?


And for gymnastics; I am suprised at the make up. When I was in gymnastcs (1980-1984) we were NOT allowed any makeup; it was strictly forbidden in competitive scholastic gymnastics because it was considered an "advantage" by making yourself stand out more. The only thing we could get away with was ribbon tied on the end of our french braids and maybe a teeny bit of glitter hair spray.
You never saw Olympic or world class gymnasts with that much if any, make up back then either. It's interesting how that has changed over the years.

[Darla_G]

thanks Jinx! i was trying to remember who that was

[Jinx]

Originally Posted by Darla_G

thanks Jinx! i was trying to remember who that was

Florence Griffin Joyner?
Yes, honey, she was HOT!
That was a devastating loss for the world.
At least the Joyners still are deep in track and field and turning out champions!

[Dragonfly]

I was going to say that the author must not have watched the 1988 Seoul games.
If she had, she would surely remember Flo Jo - the American woman that set the women's 100 and 200-metre world records in 1988. She also won a 1984 Olympic silver medal in the heptathlon and 1992 bronze medal in the long jump.

Flo-Jo was known for her self-designed running uniforms and six-inch painted fingernails.

By the way, the author is trashing the four Australian women. Wonder if this is case of sour grapes?

[Johnnie]

Originally Posted by pinksugar

I think if it doesn't affect their sporting whateverness, then they should be allowed to...

seriously, some of the competitors, it's really unclear what sex they are until it's announced - some of the women are quite butch looking, but wear jewellery and have their nails done and I think it's nice they've made that effort even though they have massive arms or whatever. It freaks me out when I have to check the other medalists to figure out if it's a man or a woman

Lol....I agree with every word you said.