WAG Ohashi blog on body shaming

[amiandjim]

https://behindthemadnesssite.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/dear-standards/

Horrifying!!!

 

[MILgymFAM]

Wow, how absolutely awful for her..

 

[UnoMas]

Thanks for sharing. So, so very sad.

 

[Mish]

This makes me so angry that an amazingly talented, beautiful young girl can be made to feel this way.

ETA: If you go to the website there are more posts from her. Horrible...

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I am sick to my stomach.

That's abuse. And we wonder................

 

[amiandjim]

I like to think that things have changed, but it's so hard to know. These things she is talking about happened at WOGA and I just pray that as NTC, Valeri has learned that you don't have to starve yourself to be a great gymnast!

 

[backflipruby]

That's so sad. She is one of the best gymnasts in the world. No girl should ever have to feel that way

 

[JMACAZ]

Heart breaking.......

 

[BachFlyer]

This makes me so sad and angry. Man, how I hope people are waking up.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

That is absolutely horrifying and heartbreaking. Her own mother was also engaging in this abusive, disgusting behavior? There are no words.

 

[sce]

So sad. She was a wonderful, talented young lady. Sad how people broke her self image.

 

[mariposa]

How awful. I'm glad she's sharing this.

 

[duyetanh]

Christ!

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

Wonder how great of a gymnast she was of she got enough food. Not everyone has 'that' body type, but to be able to give 100% at practice, YOU GOTTA EAT. And that even her own mother helped with this, makes me just plain angry

 

[kecks]

no, you don't. you can practice twice a day for over a year on an apple and some lowfat yoghurt if you really want it and felt pressure from coaches and yourself to fit a certain sport specific body image is high enough (because what do you do to stay thin? that's right, you just eat as little as possible). it happens in every elite sport all over the world all the time if no sound nutrition counseling is in place to teach young persons how to eat for performance (BTDT). very unhealthy (especially bone density suffers in younger female athletes, aka female athlete triad, eating disorders everywhere), but absolutly possible and sadly still a standard practice.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Christ!

That's the exact word that came to mind when I read it!

 

[Vivianflips]

This is just heartbreaking. As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder, I know first hand the damaging effects on performance (and life in general!) that not being properly fueled causes. I can't imagine being pressured into such behaviors by coaches...

 

[wandrewsjr]

The year she wrote those journal entries, Ohashi beat Kyla Ross to become junior National Champion. She beat Simone Biles at the American Cup their first year as seniors. She was that amazing while being treated this way. Can't quite wrap my mind around that, but somehow makes it even scarier to me. And she is only 20, this wasn't a generation ago it was only a few years ago. The level of self awareness she had in those journals she wrote as a child is absolutely heartbreaking. What a strong young woman, kudos to her for speaking out.

 

[bookworm]

I like to think that things have changed, but it's so hard to know. These things she is talking about happened at WOGA and I just pray that as NTC, Valeri has learned that you don't have to starve yourself to be a great gymnast!

I can tell you from first hand experience, what Ohashi describes is alive and well in NCAA...my daughter and her teammates were treated EXACTLY how Ohashi was....threatened with exclusion from practice, outright excluded from practice, "training tables" where the athletes supposedly ate but not much eating took place when 1 coach stood at one end and another at the other end to "make sure bad choices aren't made"; rampant eating disorders in NCAA, threatening of scholarships because they don't look like the 13 yo pre pubescent level 10 originally recruited.....NCAA takes fat shaming to an art form ,and because no one wants to lose their scholarship or place on the team , they put up with it.

I read her blog and sadly was not surprised in the slightest...

 

[Flyaway]

It's not worth it. Gymnastics is not worth the destruction of self. So sad.