Anastasia Panina's interview with Evgenia Medvedeva

[VGThuy]

Yeah she had lots of support at least from what I saw? Although I know that I have been corrected by people saying that the large amount of support shown in the international media and on social networks may not have been replicated back internally within the USA.

Why the shocked emoji? I'm confused. I mean, of course, perhaps my point is clearer now that I have clarified that I am now aware that maybe things weren't as positive as they seemed from the outside.

I think the phrase "over-the-top" makes it sound like it was undeserved and exaggerated as opposed to people showing her the appropriate amount of support given what she was going through, especially at how serious it probably was considering her past competitive history and ability to compete past injuries and sexual abuse trauma without much support from her federation and being at odds with said federation while having such a medal/winning streak. Like I said, past and current gymnasts, including the mentally tough Soviet gymnasts, some of whom were Olympic champions themselves on IG showed Simone similar support as the media you saw did (while other media and other audience reaction was not so supportive and told her so on her social media and on regular media), and they would know more than anyone what it takes to compete at that level and what it took to walk away.

 

[antmanb]

Yeah she had lots of support at least from what I saw? Although I know that I have been corrected by people saying that the large amount of support shown in the international media and on social networks may not have been replicated back internally within the USA.

Why the shocked emoji? I'm confused. I mean, of course, perhaps my point is clearer now that I have clarified that I am now aware that maybe things weren't as positive as they seemed from the outside.

I used the shocked emoji because "over the top" means excessive or exaggerated so I was wondering why you thought that was the case?

 

[starrynight]

I used the shocked emoji because "over the top" means excessive or exaggerated so I was wondering why you thought that was the case?

Oh okay I see how you could have interpreted it like that. I just meant 'over the top' as in 'extra lots of really outspoken support, overflowing etc etc

I can see I have accidentally engaged with something terribly politically sensitive, so I am just going to exit stage left as the USA political scene scares me.

 

[antmanb]

Oh okay I see how you could have interpreted it like that.

I interpreted it that way because that's what the term means. Turning it around to make it sound like i've somehow reached for some barely used meaning of a phrase is disingenuous and then trying to make it sound like I'm some crazed gymnastics fan by invoking Sotnikova and Kim has downright pissed me off.

I'm not a gymnastics fan and unfortunately the only reason I know of Simone Biles name is because of the Larry Nasser abuse so I don't have any fandom behind my words, I'm just someone who supports all the work being done to shine a light on mental health and calling the support she got "over the top" looked like you didn't believe she deserved the support so I called it out. The fact you're doubling down and invoking fan wars now makes it sound like my interpretation of your words was correct.

I just meant 'over the top' as in 'extra lots of really outspoken support, overflowing etc etc'

Well that's not what over the top means so maybe be more careful with word and phrase selection in the future.

lol I feel like a naive Sotnikova fan that's wandered into a Yuna Kim fan convention.

 

[starrynight]

Oh dear. I didn't mean anything by it. I just typed something out on my phone a couple of days ago and I didn't really pay much attention to the turns of phrase.

When I used the phrase 'over the top support' I truly just meant that it was everywhere and effusive, trending on social networks, memes etc. Hence why I was confused when it was construed negatively. I've not criticised Biles anywhere at all ever.

Let's not argue or fight about something like this. It's an internet forum where sometimes perfect English is not always used and people read words differently.

I am a bit breathless and shocked at being misinterpreted so significantly, but I accept that's the risk of posting on forums about controversial topics rather than conversing face to face. But honestly, I meant nothing by it.

I am sorry if I upset or offended anyone. I have followed the trauma the gymnasts went through with the terrible abuse and I would never in a million years be unsympathetic to that.

 

[antmanb]

I can see I have accidentally engaged with something terribly politically sensitive, so I am just going to exit stage left as the USA political scene scares me.

Since you've edited out the reference to Sotnikova/Kim in this post and replaced it with this I just want to comment that i'm British and live in England so my response to you has nothing to do with American politics.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Leave it to FSU to find something negative in a totally benign interview. How PC do we want the athletes to be? Can they say anything at all, or just use canned phrases at all times? One day someone will post an unfiltered conversation and people will be shocked by the difference between the athletes public personas and reality. Are we naive enough to think that all athletes support Simone's decision? Publicly, of course. Privately, people have different opinions. I thought Medvedeva handled the question just fine.

 

[VGThuy]

 

[Evgeniafan]

I think it is so great that Evgenia would pick Jason Brown to create a charity with.

 

[Primorskaya]

And save the world with Kaitlin Weaver!

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

I think it is so great that Evgenia would pick Jason Brown to create a charity with.

Why focus on the positives when we can focus on the negatives?

 

[feraina]

Why focus on the positives when we can focus on the negatives?

Haha. I also loved the response about Jason. I’d answer the same way. I’m a big fan of both athletes.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Thank you for translating, @Ka3sha

I thought she handled that loaded Simone Biles question quite well, all things considered. I think it's a little unreasonable to expect her to cite the circumstances of Simone's nationals performances. Yes, I rolled my eyes a little bit at the "Russians fight for victory no matter what mentality", but unfortunately nationalistic flag-waving like that goes hand in hand with the Olympics. And considering she reiterated her love for Moscow several times (which I'm sure is true!), she is well aware the audience for this article. Thank goodness she didn't drop a "homosexual" somewhere in the interview or else we'd have another twitter scandal on our hands.

I'm relieved she's not competing or keeping any pretense of competing this season. One of my hopes for the sport is to see some sort of competitive pro scene develop after the Olympics, and I'm a little surprised we haven't seen much in the way of pro competitions in Russia or Japan. Shows are great, but how fun would it be to see Med take on Ashley Wagner and Alena Leonova and Satoko in some cheesy pro event?

It will never happen.

 

[AxelAnnie]

I interpret it differently. To me, it meant that 'we', meaning Russian athletes, would have competed in Biles' situation.


Again, I interpret it differently. I think it would have been tactful for Med to be a little more sensitive. That is not a criticism really, as I can be rather blunt and tactless myself. And I find the Russians to be more blunt than athletes from other country - more honest, actually - and generally I find it refreshing.

Also, given that Med is an athlete who jumps and sometimes falls, I would think she would be more sympathetic. She knows the danger of falls in FS, and I'd expect her to recognize the same in gymnastics.

I totally agree. I think she threw Simone under the bus there. Med showed not only a lack of understanding but of compassion. Simone is a legend....and one of the most decorated in her sport...a sport that is unforgiving of the slightest mistakes. Under rotate, land wrong, you are flirting with being paralyzed, or possibly dead. The stakes are very high. I am just so surprised that Med did not praise Biles for knowing her limitations on a given day. Simone competing could have been catastrophic. If you are 8 feet in the air, yet you can't figure out where you are, I was courageous of Simone to withdraw. IMO.

 

[Xela M]

All the crazed Simone-fans will find even the most bland PC interviews terribly offensive. Medvedeva avoided any criticism of Simone in that interview, even though the interviewer was clearly pushing her

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

All the crazed Simone-fans will find even the most bland PC interviews terribly offensive. Medvedeva avoided any criticism of Simone in that interview, even though the interviewer was clearly pushing her

Never mind that Med simply stated the truth. A Russian athlete would not withdraw under similar circumstances. Is that a good thing? A bad thing? Do they care about mental health as much? Do they not? Who knows. Should Elena Mukhina have trained the skill that didn't feel right only to get paralyzed? I don't have an answer. The Russians have a mentality of "never giving up", I think it stems from what they have gone through historically as a nation. It's a survival mechanism. I personally love Simone and think she did the right thing. But I would never judge anyone for saying they would have made a different decision.

 

[Lanja]

IMO the interviewer put her between a rock and a hard place. I think Evgenia defended Simone's decision as diplomatically as she could by saying that "surely she had her reasons to do what she did." And she says in the next breath that with age "you realize more what health actually is and how important it is for you. So, here comes the desire to stay healthy."

 

[Xela M]

Never mind that Med simply stated the truth. A Russian athlete would not withdraw under similar circumstances. Is that a good thing? A bad thing? Do they care about mental health as much? Do they not? Who knows. Should Elena Mukhina have trained the skill that didn't feel right only to get paralyzed? I don't have an answer. The Russians have a mentality of "never giving up", I think it stems from what they have gone through historically as a nation. It's a survival mechanism. I personally love Simone and think she did the right thing. But I would never judge anyone for saying they would have made a different decision.

Oh God, Elena Mukhina - those eyes are so haunting! It's the most tragic sports story of all time. I agree that a Russian gymnast would not do the same for fear of backlash!

 

[AxelAnnie]

Oh God, Elena Mukhina - those eyes are so haunting! It's the most tragic sports story of all time. I agree that a Russian gymnast would not do the same for fear of backlash!

I know! I have watched it a bazillion times. So tragic. I found some videos of her performing. She was really fab. She Started Gymnastics in her teens.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Oh God, Elena Mukhina - those eyes are so haunting! It's the most tragic sports story of all time. I agree that a Russian gymnast would not do the same for fear of backlash!

Yup, same. So haunting. I was thinking about her when Simone withdrew.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Oh God, Elena Mukhina - those eyes are so haunting! It's the most tragic sports story of all time. I agree that a Russian gymnast would not do the same for fear of backlash!

She was a beautiful gymnast.

She was being forced to do the Thomas Salto (which is now banned). She had broken her leg. She knew it wasn't healed when the coach insisted she come back to practice. She knew she was not walking straight.

Back to the hospital and they put her in a cast. The coach had her practicing in the cast. They took her back to the hospital and against her wishes and tears, they took the cast off.

And in a practice session, she underrotated and landed, snapping her neck.

As she lay on the floor the thought that went through her head "Thank G-d I don't have to do gymnastics anymore."

Most interesting to me is that she didn't place blame on anyone but herself.