As the winter Olympics comes to a close Lindsey Vonn leaves Vancouver with two medals, gold and bronze. Her last interview after straddling a slalom, she stated that she was happy to have gotten two medals this Olympics year. Are two medals really enough? After all she was dubbed as this Olympics’ Michael Pelphs. Some might say that it’s rather disappointing watching her watch other athletes compete because of an injury. Some might say two medals are better than none. I say, Lindsey Vonn did quite a great job this Olympic season; winning a gold medal in her signature event, the downhill race, and a bronze in another. After crashing out in the super-combined’s slalom portion, she redeemed herself in her third event winning a bronze in the super G. Crashing and breaking a pinky must have been hard for her but considering that she was skiing under low visibility in her fourth event showed how determined she was to win another medal. Her broken pinky didn’t stop her, she still continued on with the fifth event where she, unfortunately, straddled slalom. Lindsey Vonn showed amazing determination this season and it’s her will to fight that makes her a great athlete, medals are mere additions. Despite some of the negative feedback about her performance, Lindsey Vonn did great.
Shiela Gonzales
Kin 338I Section 4
Tu-Th 9:30 - 10:45
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Provocative? I think not
An article on Yahoo recently got my attention and I had to blog about it. The article was on Lindsey Vonn, a woman skier competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics, on the cover of this month's Sports Illustrated magazine. The buzz she caused was over her pose in the photo. Personally, when I saw the cover I didn't think anything of it. Instead I thought, "finally a woman on the cover that isn't wearing a skimpy bikini!"
The argument was that Vonn is an athlete, not a sex object, and the photo objectifies her to just that. On the site womentalksports.com they make mention that, "When females are featured on the cover of SI, they are more likely than not to be in sexualized poses and not in action-and the most recent Vonn cover is no exception."
I agree that SI does a horrible job at the way they portray women, but I'd have to say that this time, although the pose may be somewhat suggestive (even though I didn't get that impression at first), SI is moving slowly to accepting women in sport and perhaps more women athletes "in-motion" on their covers.
For those of you interested in seeing the February Sports Illustrated Cover, here is the link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Let-the-Lindsey-hype-begin-Vonn-is-Sports-Illus?urn=oly,217525
May I also make mention that in 1992 SI featured A.J. Kitt, a male skier, on their cover in exactly the same pose as Vonn's. Do you think that people thought his photo was provocative? I think not.
Click on the link below to see Kitt's cover: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/9313/index.htm
The argument was that Vonn is an athlete, not a sex object, and the photo objectifies her to just that. On the site womentalksports.com they make mention that, "When females are featured on the cover of SI, they are more likely than not to be in sexualized poses and not in action-and the most recent Vonn cover is no exception."
I agree that SI does a horrible job at the way they portray women, but I'd have to say that this time, although the pose may be somewhat suggestive (even though I didn't get that impression at first), SI is moving slowly to accepting women in sport and perhaps more women athletes "in-motion" on their covers.
For those of you interested in seeing the February Sports Illustrated Cover, here is the link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Let-the-Lindsey-hype-begin-Vonn-is-Sports-Illus?urn=oly,217525
May I also make mention that in 1992 SI featured A.J. Kitt, a male skier, on their cover in exactly the same pose as Vonn's. Do you think that people thought his photo was provocative? I think not.
Click on the link below to see Kitt's cover: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/9313/index.htm
References:
Chase, Chris. (2010, February 3). Yahoo Sports [10]. Let the Linsdey hype begin: Vonn is Sports Illustrated cover girl. February 4, 2010: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Let-the-Lindsey-hype-begin-Vonn-is-Sports-Illus?urn=oly,217525
Jessica Canizales KIN 338I. S4
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