Gymnastics world champion Simone Biles (cc photo: Agência Brasil Fotografias)
There are many big social and political stories to be told out of Rio; and some that, though smaller, are meaningful in their way. From 1932, when women’s gymnastics first appeared at the Olympics, until 1992, only white women took part. Dominique Dawes, with Betty Okino the first African-American gymnast to compete and then to medal, cried 20 years later watching Gabby Douglas become the first black woman to win gold in the all-around. Working as a commentator, Dawes said she was thrilled to change her website to say that she was no longer the “only” but just the “first.”
Which brings us to Simone Biles, three-time world champion and breakout star of the Rio Olympics—and, as one of what is still a tiny percentage of African-American gymnasts, an icon to many, and particularly many young girls of color.
Al Trautwig’s tweet–since deleted.
Many eyes were watching, then, as NBC learned a lesson, maybe. Biles has been open about her family; she and her sister were adopted at a young age by her maternal grandfather and his wife. “I call them Mom and Dad. Everything’s just been so normal,” she’s been quoted. But NBC announcer Al Trautwig seemed to feel he knew better, referring repeatedly to Biles’ “grandparents.” When someone on Twitter noted that was incorrect, Trautwig responded, “they may be mom and dad but they are NOT her parents.”
After, one imagines, a call from PR, Trautwig declared he regretted that he “wasn’t more clear in my wording,” though he didn’t explain what it was he was trying to “word” or why. (USA Today wrote that he had apologized “for suggesting that Simone Biles’ parents through adoption are not really her parents.” If saying “they are NOT her parents” is “suggesting” they are not her parents, then sure.)
Olympics coverage involves a lot of storytelling; commentators create narratives for athletes, and no doubt some feel it’s “humanizing” when, faced with one of the best athletes in the world, they focus on what one called her “broken home.” Of course, what they’re really revealing is just the narrowness of their vision.
And if you wonder why you seem to learn so little about gymnastics from watching gymnastics, the New Yorker (8/9/16) explains that NBC wants it that way. Writer Reeves Wiedeman says Olympics commentator Nastia Liukin told him, “My producer always puts a note card in front of me, like, ‘Talk to Madeleine in Middle America, who doesn’t know gymnastics.’”
The network has an explanation for the relatively low information quotient, compared to sports coverage generally: More women than men watch the Olympics, and, says chief marketing officer John Miller (Washington Post, 8/5/16), “They’re less interested in the result and more interested in the journey.”
Janine Jackson is FAIR’s program director and the producer and host of CounterSpin.
This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission from FAIR.