Girl Wins State Track Title By Herself Twice

[Dr. Cheese]

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=953096

She out to do the Decathalon or Heptathalon in college.

[EricF]

I dig this story.

[seanm]

Cool! And it sounds like she really has her head on straight.

[hbarcat]

Awesome!

[Doodaddy]

Wow. We were limited on how many events one person could do making that impossible in my state.

[kanonfodr]

That's pretty awesome. Props to her!

Peace,
Greg

[XtreO]

Originally Posted by seanm

Cool! And it sounds like she really has her head on straight.

Strange how that is more common to unattractive girls.

[PSPookie]

Originally Posted by XtreO

Strange how that is more common to unattractive girls.

Sadly true but unnecessarily harsh.

First, I don't think it's fair to judge her appearance by the picture in that article. No one looks hot under those circumstances

Second. What? Why are we even discussing her appearance when her academic and athletic accomplishments are so outstanding?

Would this even have been mentioned if it were a male athlete?



I'll stop here before I catch a case of the bans.

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by XtreO

Strange how that is more common to unattractive girls.

Yeah, she appears to be hideously ugly. Thank god she can throw a discus well or she'd never land a husband, what with the children of her town openly weeping every time they gaze upon her disfigured countenance.

1) Yes, we are still a society where being attractive is enough to get women through life - some men as well.

2) Why that would need to be mentioned in conjunction with this girl's accomplishments is beyond me.

3) I think she looks fine. But more to the point, if she was extremely attractive that would be the only thing people fixated on. Much like the pole vaulter at Cal (my alma mater) Alison Stokke who will never be judged on her merits as an athlete anywhere near the amount of times she's judged on how "hot" she is by internet pervs.

[bongomania]

*Googles Alison Stokke*

[XtreO]

Originally Posted by PSPookie

Sadly true but unnecessarily harsh.

First, I don't think it's fair to judge her appearance by the picture in that article. No one looks hot under those circumstances

Second. What? Why are we even discussing her appearance when her academic and athletic accomplishments are so outstanding?

Would this even have been mentioned if it were a male athlete?



I'll stop here before I catch a case of the bans.

If TB was dominated by girls, and someone posted a picture of Michael Phelps, I'm sure we'd see a lot of comments related to looks.

To TheBigO, I made an observation. It was not in relation to her accomplishments as you claim, but in relation to seanm's comment. He is not hideous, but still below average by the standards of the country I live in. If you judge differently based on your country's standards, be my guest

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by bongomania

*Googles Alison Stokke*

Touche. Probably should have left her name out in making my point. Of course, I'm not sure I spelled it right anyway.

One of my favorite former students is a vaulter for UC Davis and he's the one who told me about the hoopla around her. He said after talking to her that she's really uncomfortable with all the attention, especially since she's had pictures of her plastered all over the internet (and not in a track and field context) since she was a freshman or sophomore in high school.

[pedulla-2007]

God has blessed her with some amazing talent. If I were her parent, you could'nt fit my big head through the door. She will be extremely famous some day I think, and be a household name. Thanks for bringing her to our attention, I will remember her name, and with our prayers and some luck will be rich someday.

[Mark Wilson]

That's amazing.
I like seeing people this good, who are modest.

[Dr. Cheese]

Looks do matter in this world for men and women. Just look at the current US President. He is a very smart man (Harvard Law Grad & Constitutional Law Professor at the U of Chicago,) but the fact that he is tall, handsome, and athletic did go along way in making him attractive to a wide slice of the electorate. His wife's looks and physique have helped her too.

In everyday life, being attractive or not has a huge impact on how people treat you and percieve you. Frankly, being attractive only goes so far, but it certainly can open doors that would be closed otherwise.

BTW, I can see why there is a fuss over Allison Stokke. The woman is beautiful. The funny thing is that the pole vault seems to attract good looking women. I think it is a sport that favors the sort of physique that most men find very attractive. The same is true of sprinters. I think they tend to have killer bodies, although they are more muscular than most pole vaulters.

[seanm]

My comment had nothing to do with how she looked, in fact the image didn't even show up when I read the article.

[Dr. Cheese]

Not that it matters, but the subject of my original post, Bonnie Richardson is not ugly. I think she is an average looking woman who is an exceptional athlete. If she hits the big time and is part of an ad campaign, she make look like a major babe by the time the companies get through with her. She is just coming out of high school, it is not unusual for someone that age to make a major transformation by their early twenties.

[Jared Lash]

Cheese, there's a difference between the undeniable fact that looks play a large part in people's level of success and someone going out of their way in a thread about a high school girl's accomplishments to call her unattractive. It just rubbed me the wrong way - probably because I spent my early to late 20's teaching kids that age.

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

BTW, I can see why there is a fuss over Allison Stokke. The woman is beautiful. The funny thing is that the pole vault seems to attract good looking women. I think it is a sport that favors the sort of physique that most men find very attractive. The same is true of sprinters. I think they tend to have killer bodies, although they are more muscular than most pole vaulters.

Here's something to keep in mind. Unless she's wearing a Cal jersey any pictures are from when she was in high school.
Women athletes are going to always be judged on their looks either negatively or positively, but again I just find it creepy that pictures of her when she was 15 are plastered all over the internet with sexual comments attached to them.

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

Cheese, there's a difference between the undeniable fact that looks play a large part in people's level of success and someone going out of their way in a thread about a high school girl's accomplishments to call her unattractive. It just rubbed me the wrong way - probably because I spent my early to late 20's teaching kids that age.



Here's something to keep in mind. Unless she's wearing a Cal jersey any pictures are from when she was in high school.
Women athletes are going to always be judged on their looks either negatively or positively, but again I just find it creepy that pictures of her when she was 15 are plastered all over the internet with sexual comments attached to them.

I agree 100% that it was really uncalled for to make comments about Bonnie Richardson's looks. Her looks had absolutely nothing to do with her success as an athlete. I had no idea that the pictures of Stokkie were mainly from high school. It does not change my assessment, she is very pretty. I have no problem saying that, but then I am not going to make a hobby of trying to find her image on line either.

For some perspective, I would hate to come in to teach tomorrow, and every student remembered how wide my butt is instead of what I lectured about. Whether we are judged cute or ugly, we deserved to be judge by who we are, and not just on how we look unless we make a living as models.

[etoncrow]

Thanks for sharing that Doc. I really appreciate being made aware of such an outstanding young person. I am disappointed with the direction the thread took but the negative twist only reflects upon us (TB'ers) and does not diminish the accomplishments of Ms Richardson.