I just don’t really care. It’s like “Best Male Ballerina struggles to pay his rent.” I can’t pretend to have pity for her, and I don’t blame companies for not wanting to sponsor her, she isn’t very marketable.
Most women don’t want to be built like grizzly bears. They don’t want to be walking around with thick traps, cannon ball shoulders and bowling pin forearms. Therefore, she cannot relate to the average female. She is too heavy to be marketable to men. So, she is in a state of limbo, where she could win a Gold medal and still not end up on a Wheaties box.
That being said, she is a beast, stronger than I am, and probably stronger than I ever will be. If she is happy doing what she is doing, then so be it, and I can’t hate on her for being good at what she does.
[quote]StructureInChaos wrote:
I just don’t really care. It’s like “Best Male Ballerina struggles to pay his rent.” I can’t pretend to have pity for her, and I don’t blame companies for not wanting to sponsor her, she isn’t very marketable.
Most women don’t want to be built like grizzly bears. They don’t want to be walking around with thick traps, cannon ball shoulders and bowling pin forearms. Therefore, she cannot relate to the average female. She is too heavy to be marketable to men. So, she is in a state of limbo, where she could win a Gold medal and still not end up on a Wheaties box.
That being said, she is a beast, stronger than I am, and probably stronger than I ever will be. If she is happy doing what she is doing, then so be it, and I can’t hate on her for being good at what she does.[/quote]
Perfect response. Harsh, but you said the truth with every point. I will add that the article points out that Lolo Jones makes more money due to her beauty. This is partially true. The fact that track and field is the number 1 olympic sport cannot be ignored. Just look at how Usain Bolt pulls 100s of thousands just to show up for a meet, I doubt any olympic weightlifter ever will see a quarter of what Bolt pulls.
Now Bolt obviously isnt the norm for track, but it does show you that track athletes have a way higher ceiling since there is a great deal of universal appeal in their ability to do basic things in amazing fashion. And lets face it, olympic weightlifting while fun for fellow lifters, just is not appealing to the mainstream. With the international weights, 95% of americans dont even know how crazy it is since they cant see a bunch of plates on each side.
I think it would help if they had just a shit ton of 45s on each side when lifting, just so people really get the type of strength oly lifters have. But even then, its just not as appealing of a sport.
For better or for worse, it’s the nature of the world we live in. Shouldn’t surprise anyone.
It’s too bad, really, because anecdotally speaking olympic lifting does great things to a woman’s body, but you just don’t see that in the supers. And if the face of women’s lifting in the US is a superheavy, most women who see that won’t try lifting in fear of turning into a goliath overnight because they have no idea of the time and dedication it takes to reach that level. Whereas, if one of the smaller lifters has their face out there, you get people who start to think “man, I can be awesome and strong and sexy all at the same time” and then maybe they give it a try. And increased participation can only help this sport in North America.
Conversely, Canada’s 3 female weightlifters going to London are in the 58, 63, and 69 kg weight classes. It’d be nice to see any TV coverage at all of them lifting but I’m not holding my breath.
Now just waiting for alexus to show up and jump on this . . .
Totally agree with everything than has been stated above, especially the Jonty’s response.
I don’t think female weightlifters, especially super heavyweights can ever hope to get a great deal of sponsorship. I’m sure some people will dislike what I say but I enjoy watching the weightlifting and won’t miss any of the men’s classes and the lighter female classes at worlds/euros/olympics, but even I don’t have interest in the women’s heavier classes. So I certainly don’t expect non lifters to.
Also about funding, it is worth noting that although she is the best lifter in the US, she’s still not all that great on the world stage. If she was a potential for a gold/silver medal at the Olympics I would think she would get a bit more at least
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
I’m sure some people will dislike what I say but I enjoy watching the weightlifting and won’t miss any of the men’s classes and the lighter female classes at worlds/euros/olympics, but even I don’t have interest in the women’s heavier classes. So I certainly don’t expect non lifters to.[/quote]
I actually quite enjoy watching the womens’ 69s, 75s, and supers. In particular I’m hoping for Nadezda Evstyukhina and Tatiana Kashirina to take gold in London, and maybe set some world records in the process.