The Olympic games are underway and the athletes are bringing their A-game. However for one Australian swimmer it isn’t her talent in the pool getting attention but her weight.
Leisel Jones is an Olympic swimmer who is competing in her fourth games for Australia. She has been competing in the infamous games since she was 15 years old and if all goes well in London she could hold a very important medal record. Jones also made history for her country, as she is officially the first Australian to compete in four Olympic games.
She clearly has talent given that she keeps making it to the Olympics and that is what people should be talking about. Unfortunately as the games kick off it is Leisel’s weight that has become the center of attention, not her time in the pool. Thanks to an article in The Herald Sun out of Melbourne her weight has become a topic of conversation. The article said her current figure was a “stark contrast to her figure in 2008” as well as posting a poll asking if the medalist winner was fit to compete in London.
The god-awful article has cause outraged by spectators as well as athletes in support of Jones, especially her coach, Leigh Nugent, who said that Leisel is swimming super fast in the pool. The coach also talked about how athletes come in all shapes and sizes. As for the swimmer, well according to her coach she is just fine and focusing on the task at hand.
Having an article that focuses on weight come out at time when Leisel should only be focusing on her swimming is crap. She doesn’t need this kind of criticism, especially since in the past three games she has won with three gold medals, four silvers and a bronze. Here is hoping that Jones kicks butt in London and proves to that crappy newspaper that it is her talent not her weight that is important.
