We knew McKayla Maroney was done, but now it's official. Except that she doesn't want to use the word "retire". Gymcastic did an interview with her (requested by McKayla herself) and it's amazing, just watch it. It tells you pretty much anything and everything you need to know about McKayla.
My first impression was that she can't stop talking. There's no need for interviewer, you can just point the camera at her and she'll do the rest. It's both endearing and annoying, and it gives off the impression of a little child. It's like her mind is running 100 miles per hour, she's self obsessed with her thoughts and she's so excited about her discoveries about life and just wants to share everything she's thinking and has limited time to do so. I'm guessing it's just her personality, but there's probably some nerves involved too. Oh, and the fact that for a long time she wasn't allowed to say anything, she just had to hold everything in. As she tells in the interview, talking to other contestants was discouraged (to put it mildly), and as for the media, just keep smiling (no matter with how many broken bones). So now she says it all.
This interview doesn't give the most positive image of gymnastics, USA Gymnastics, or her gym AOGC for that matter. Apparently injuries only exist in the gymnasts' heads, they are constantly told that they're fine. Her coaches (Artur Akopyan and Galina Marinova) also had a habit of telling her that she was in pain because she gained weigh, and just needed to lose some weigh. AOGC already has a bad reputation with paying too much focus on their girls being thin and it seems like they haven't changed a bit. And the girls at camp feeling uncomfortable eating in front of their coaches? Ouch.
The other thing that got me was the pressure. You can just feel it when she talks about it. You are NEVER actually on the team. You are always replaceable, and everyone keeps reminding you of it. You have to give your best at every second of every camp, because you are so afraid of messing up and being replaced. I knew that of course with Marta being Marta and USA having such a deep field of gymnasts, but with all of those smiley faces at interviews and photoshoots you forget the reality. Or not really forget, but just not understand. Listening to McKayla makes it feel real.
Or the constant fear of getting hurt. Whatever you do, being afraid or getting hurt and having your dreams crushed by the result of it. And the way McKayla had to carry not only her own fears, but her coach's fears as well.
I also know that the gymnasts in USA go through heavy media training. It's pretty obvious because when they speak you can almost hear someone else feeding the words to them, but it's good to be reminded of it every now and then. Listening to McKayla talking about London and her injuries there and being told to just smile and not to limp around cameras is a bit sad.
I'm not going to recount her many, many, many injuries here, but basically, her entire body broke. First bones, ligaments, tissues, metabolism and then finally her mind. It's the same story we get from most retired gymnasts, but she describes the journey and the eventual breaking point very well. And it makes you wonder about Chusovitina, she must be some sort of Soviet secret-scientific-experiment-made medical marvel. I have my own health problems and being exhausted at always having something wrong or being exhausted at just being exhausted all the time is such a familiar feeling. Or the 15 blood tubes. And her last day at gym, feeling so tired that she just felt peaceful with no thoughts. I know state of tiredness so well. It's like an out of body experience.
The last thing that got me was her description of making the decision to quit. Wondering about WHYs of everything. For what reason was she still torturing her body with something that it wasn't willing to do. Why did she want to go to Rio? And the feeling of immense relief after finally making the decision to stop. After which came the anxiety on how to tell people about her decision.
I'm probably to old to be interested about the stuff with social media. My mental age is somewhere around 97 and I harbor more cynicism than should be allowed for one person. So selfies, haters, fans, inspirational talk and empowerment and all that... I don't care. I just don't understand the need to brand yourself and how much effort (and emotional pain having to deal with all the negativity from strangers that automatically follows)goes into maintaining that brand. But because McKayla isn't too old and cynical for this, there's a lot of that in the interview too. None of which interested little me. Except the little snippet where she admits that she doesn't care about the haters anymore. For the next few seconds until she starts caring again. THE TRUTH. The fact that she actually admitted that made me love her just a little bit more :D
I don't know. I just liked this interview a lot. There were definitely many clichéd and eye-roll worthy parts, but it was mostly genuine. As I said, her inability to stop talking is between endearing and annoying, but barring that, she's a good speaker. She can really convey her emotions and connect. You feel what she was feeling when she tells a story; the excitement at the Olympics or finding peace after making that decision to quit.
No comments:
Post a Comment