Olympic Hammer Thrower Gwen Berry Turns Away From American Flag, “P*ssed” National Anthem Played
“My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports. I’m here to represent those … who died due to systemic racism. That’s the important part. That’s why I’m going. That’s why I’m here today”
Gwen Berry, a hammer thrower who qualified for the U.S. Olympic team during the trials, apparently is trying out for the wrong country’s Olympic team. During the trials, she turned away from the American flag and said she was “pissed” that the “Star Spangled Banner” was played while she stood on the podium for a bronze trial medal.
Berry says it felt like a “set up” to be forced to endure the horrific torture of seeing the flag and of hearing the national anthem . . . . of the country whose Olympic team she wants to join. Surreal.
ESPN reports (archive link):
For the past week, the national anthem has played one time per evening at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials. On Saturday, the song happened to start while outspoken activist Gwen Berry was standing on the podium after receiving her bronze medal in the hammer throw.
While the music played, Berry placed her left hand on her hip and fidgeted. She took a quarter turn, so she was facing the stands, not the flag. Toward the end, she plucked up her black T-shirt with the words “Activist Athlete” emblazoned on the front, and draped it over her head.
“I feel like it was a setup, and they did it on purpose,” Berry said of the timing of the anthem. “I was pissed, to be honest.”
Of course it wasn’t a “setup” and it wasn’t done on “purpose” to target her in her own precious unique specialness that, in her own self-aggrandizing brain, puts her at the center of everything. How could it not be an attack on her fabulousness? After all, she’s the only reason on earth the taped anthem would play . . . at its scheduled time.
ESPN continues:
Berry found it to be no matter of coincidence that she was front and center during the anthem. Unlike the Olympics, anthems aren’t played to accompany medal ceremonies at the trials. But the hammer throwers received their awards just before the start of the evening session, which has been kicking off all week with a videotaped rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
USA Track and Field spokeswoman Susan Hazzard said “the national anthem was scheduled to play at 5:20 p.m. today. We didn’t wait until the athletes were on the podium for the hammer throw awards. The national anthem is played every day according to a previously published schedule.” On Saturday, the music started at 5:25.
And so, while Price and Andersen stood still on the podium with their hands over the hearts and stared straight ahead at the American and Oregon flags, Berry fidgeted and paced on the third step. Then she turned away and finally grabbed her T-shirt.
Stop playing with me pic.twitter.com/WLN3clqOCM
— Gwen Berry (@MzBerryThrows) June 27, 2021
‘”I didn’t really want to be up there,” she said. “Like I said, it was a setup. I was hot, I was ready to take my pictures and get into some shade.”
And so, while winner DeAnna Price and second-place finisher Brooke Andersen stood still on the podium with their hands over the hearts and stared straight ahead at the American and Oregon flags, Berry fidgeted and paced on the third step. Then turned away. And finally grabbed her T-shirt.
Gwendolyn Berry said she felt like the national anthem playing at the podium was a “set up.”
“They said they were going to play it before we walked out, then they played it when we were out there,” Berry said. “But I don’t really want to talk about the anthem because that’s not important. The anthem doesn’t speak for me. It never has.”
“My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports,” Berry said. “I’m here to represent those … who died due to systemic racism. That’s the important part. That’s why I’m going. That’s why I’m here today.”
We’re going to see more of this. It’s going to make patriotic Americans cheer for foreign competitors and against the anti-American Americans.
Hammer thrower Gwen Berry turns away from flag while anthem plays at trials – 'I feel like it was a set-up' https://t.co/TnIFwzy5Fh
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) June 27, 2021
There was a time when our nation really supported our Olympians; they represented the best of our athletics, they were American heroes of a kind, and children wanted to emulate them by getting the same haircut (remember the Dorothy Hamill?) and eating their Wheaties. They wanted to grow up to be amazing American athletes and bring home the Olympic glory. No more. We now have Olympic athletes who are proud to hate and disdain our country while acting like privileged spoiled brats on the world stage.
What is wrong with people?
Growing up, everyone stood for the American flag. Didn’t matter your politics, race, sex, income, religion; everyone stood for the flag. It was one of those civic rituals that brought us together. It still should today. 🇺🇸https://t.co/sCidRZr05T
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) June 27, 2021
“Activist athletes” are a thing these days, and that’s all well and good, but if you are representing the United States on the world stage in any capacity, you should be able to do so without disrespecting—and embarrassing—our country. As far as I am concerned, this is disqualifying behavior, and the U.S. Olympic team should respond accordingly.
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Comments
“…who qualified for the U.S. Olympic team…”
Why? Why the U.S. team if you’re a pissy lil child h3llb3nt on disrespect? The Olympics ain’t your personal soapbox. No one cares about your racialist butthurt. EffU, child.
The USA does not have much that binds us all together. The Flag and anthem are just two symbols of our unity. It is not too much to ask that people honor such symbols. It simply takes a little respect.
It’s ironic that the woke want ppl to respect all the woke ideas – including those that involve < 1% of ppl telling the other 99% what to do, what to say – otherwise they are compelled to cancel the offender – buy you refuse to respect symbols of unity.
This is not protest.
It sends a message that disunity is the real agenda.
I object to her being on our country’s team. I also object to use any of my taxes to pay for her to be on our team.
She needs to be sent to some other country and not be allowed to return.
IMO she should be kicked off the team for poor sportsmanship. She made the ceremony all about her, disrespected the two athletes placing ahead of her on the podium and detracted from their enjoyment of their success.
I’m with her except I take the ceremony as stupid not sinister. Nevertheless making a scene without any great point is self-indulgent. It’s a no-good-response-available situation.
Who is saying “What we have to do here is play the national anthem” though. We can intimidate people into saluting.
What?
The national anthem is not patriotism. It’s a substitute for the real thing, which is a negative thing to do.
Her problem is that she gives a negative meaning to the anthem itself rather than to its playing. Mine is its playing.
Do you salute the flag, put your hand over your heart, whenever you pass the post office? Why not, if it’s such a mark of patriotism. Or is it only at ballgames that it’s patriotic for you.
By the same reasoning, wedding ceremonies are not love, so why not call them stupid and do away with them?
The fact of the matter is that human beings are social creatures for whom customs and rituals are very important. Among other things, they are how we remind ourselves and those around us what we value and what we can be counted on to defend.
Wedding ceremonies are legal things. The couple marry each other, but there are witnesses to make it binding.
People can have wedding ceremonies quite apart from getting a document at the City Clerk’s office.
Perhaps you don’t realize it, but those witnesses have a social purpose: to publicly perform the vows of marital commitment.
And then there are bar/bat mitzvahs, and equivalent coming-into-adulthood ceremonies in other religions and cultures. Matriculation and graduation ceremonies. And so on, ad infinitum.
Passing the post office is different from a public ceremony which we all participate in. You know that.
But if you object to the playing of the national anthem, then I wonder if you object to all the other ceremonies and rituals of our culture as being mere empty gestures. Or perhaps you are not a patriot.
Every American soldier takes an oath. He or she could simply sign a document in private and leave it at that. But there is a public ceremony because public statements of who we are and what we stand for are important.
Back in the day, I knew young men (correction, “men”) who liked to shack up with their girlfriends. When asked about getting married, they would say “It’s only a piece of paper, an empty gesture. What we’ve got is real, baby, and that’s all that matters.” They objected even any sort of public ceremony declaring themselves to be wedded. Why? Their stated reasons were BS. Their real reasons were that they did not want to be committed; they wanted to be free to move on when they got bored or when they noticed another prettier girl.
You can do it with a document but it’s got to be a witnessed document.
How you bring in witnesses is up to you.
The relation of the flag to soldiers is entirely different. Flag etiquette is raised to a high level as part of getting rid of the individual in favor of the team, and the more actually meaningless the training object is, the better it works.
You want civilians to be the opposite. Independent thinkers, no team to compromise it.
And once again rhhardin ignores my points about the importance of social rituals, and the existence of wedding ceremonies as public ceremonies.. Otherwise, why not just get that document at the City Clerk’s office? And then, of course, there are those “handfasting” ceremonies that some medieval enthusiasts go in for. And for that matter, there are cultures around the world where marriage does not involve government licenses of any sort, but public ceremonies still exist and are regarded as essential.
It’s funny how many civilians there are who happily sing the national anthem and recite the pledge, but who clearly demonstrate themselves to be highly independent thinkers by disagreeing with each other on all sorts of things.
The national anthem of any country is intended to bring that country together, to inspire solidarity and patriotism. If you reject that, that’s fine and your opinion.
Here’s the thing, though, Sparky, your disdain for our flag, for our national anthem, our symbols of national unity and patriotism is repellent to me. Maybe just to me, but I cannot see how being anti-American flag and anthem does anyting but hurt our nation, our culture.
Your ridiculous statement about pausing at the Post Office to place my hand over my heart in civilian salute to our flag is Orwellian crazy. No, I don’t do that, who does? So suddenly I am unAmerican and phony? What an absolute load of progressive BS logical fallacy. We see you, rhhardin.
The national anthem is intended to get the crowd to stop milling around, shut up and pay attention. That’s how it turns up in sporting events, at the start of something new. It’s a marketing gimmick.
It’s effective because self-appointed enforcers in the crowd intimidate the others. Enforcers such as yourself.
The post office has a flag. Do you take not saluting the flag as unpatriotic or don’t you? That’s the logic.
You are either a super silly unserious person or a leftist (which is kind of the same thing). If you really bleieve that seeing any American flag—on a bumper sticker, on a lawn, or at the Post Office–mandates a salute, you show only that you are an unhinged, illogical, America-hating nutter. Ooooh, my super groovy argument is that everyone should salute the flag at the PO only sounds super groovy to crazies.
Repeatedly mentioning the Post Office flag is childish and dishonest. Arguing in bad faith.
And if the purpose of the national anthem is merely to get the crowd to stop milling around, then why do so many spectators welcome the anthem enthusiastically? That claim is grossly dishonest, and ignores much history.
I don’t know anybody who likes the anthem. It’s horrible music, trite lyrics, awful harmonies. But you have to stand for it and put your hand on your heart, if you don’t want awful looks from the world’s most shallow patriots.
I’m here for the ballgame not the fakery.
I like it, so now you “know” one.
You don’t know anybody who likes the anthem? I do. Are all your friends leftists who prefer the Internationale?
If you like the national anthem you’ll love the drinking song it came from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eg7z0-6Nhc
I am familiar with the drinking song. But that is irrelevant to the question of whether or not national anthems are good or bad. Unless you are a troll ready to bring up endless irrelevancies when we poke holes in your argument.
Playing a drinking song in a ballgame would fit as a commercial for the beer concession, so at least it makes sense.
I”d go with Thomas Tallis Third Mode Melody, for musical excellence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8oKEx1-J1w
rhhardin looks at The Spirit of 76 and scoffs at the drummer, the flutist, and, of course, the flag bearer. Only his esoteric view of patriotism applies.
He’ll walk into the Cathedral of Notre Dame or La Seu and admonish the Christians of yore for their trivial works to the Lord.
Pendaticism thy name is Hardin.
rhhardin — LI’s own Anthem Sprinter.
“Do you salute the flag, put your hand over your heart, whenever you pass the post office”
Only if it’s being raised or lowered at the time and I’m on foot.
Nah. I am with ya on how a lot of our “patriotic” stuff is just social pressure.
Not here. Not when the it is an contest between nations. You don’t trash what you are representing.
It’s a situation sort of like wokeness in the military. The entirely honest WTF response is not safe for the troops to express.
P. O. S.
1000^
The Olympics have nothing to do with “national pride”, international relations, sportsmanship … It is a marketing scam, financial fraud and “filler” for MSM. … It probably is “psychological” and “physical” abuse of the athletes also; too many of whom have been misled into thinking they are participating in some “greater good”, that is if they have not been forced to compete by their government, coaches, parents. … It should be a grand international event and it is not.
And I thought I was cynical. 😛
I have no idea at all what point you are attempting to make about the Olympics being a way to contribute to the “Greater Good.” What on earth does that even mean? It sounds kind of stupid to my ear. In fact, I’m almost certain you have no idea what you mean by that bizarre statement.
What is wrong with these people? I’m dumbfounded.
Can you imagine actually being around them?
Paste eating.
Lots and lots of paste eating.
Olympic sports passes itself off as a good thing where it really exploits people trying to make the team as if they had a chance, instead of learning a valuable trade.
OMG, no worries! We now send Olympiads based on “racial justice” and “equity,” not on actual ability, so yay! Big win for your team since our woke athletes are spending more time learning how to hate based on skin color than on how to be victorious in actual competition. When the U.S. loses every medal, we can bask in our wokeness glory, though. Yay!?
More to life than learning a trade, young master Hardin. Training for a sport, whether one makes the Olympic team or the high school JV, teaches some valuable, enduring life skills. Sure, sure, there are other ways to learn those skills (for example, you could learn the piano), but sports are a tried-and-true method that works for many.
Apparently you’re a true socialist — a utilitarian. But even your (now extinct) heroes in the Soviet Union had sport.
It seems like this article is a place for people to compete to make the dumbest comment.
“ The Olympics have nothing to do with “national pride”, international relations, sportsmanship … It is a marketing scam, financial fraud and “filler” for MSM. …”
I pity those who have not studied the history of the Olympics to the degree I have- both the ancient versions and the modern recreation- because they cannot quite fathom how wrongheaded this is. The reality is that it started out and is an international event about national pride- existing well before the MSM became a thing- to which fraud, news filler, and marketing all glommed on, noting a favorable oppertunity.
“ It probably is “psychological” and “physical” abuse of the athletes also; too many of whom have been misled into thinking they are participating in some “greater good”, that is if they have not been forced to compete by their government, coaches, parents. … “
But then why would these governments not push for it- and often oversee vast, corrupt national cheating organizations like we saw with the Comblock regimes- if it were not important to international relations and national pride?
“It should be a grand international event and it is not.””
I guess that depends on how you define Grand. It’s probably not a coincidence that much of the modern pagentry for the Olympics came from when the NSDAP hosted it.
Japan has already said they will not tolerate these protests
She needs to lose her place on the team
Agreed. She hates the U.S. that much, there is no way she can compete under the U.S. banner (and flag and national anthem). They’d play it if she actually ranked higher than bronze, and what would she do?
I am so beyond over these lunatic America-haters who wouldn’t have a platform at all if what they believe our country were even remotely true.
Agreed, but Japan cannot do anything about this. It’s up to the US Olympic committee to exclude anyone on the US team that does not represent the US.
Yours is the sort of patriotism that primed to kill Americans, I take it, if the flag is slighted.
What?
She’s just a hammer thrower. She’s trained for it, she’s good at it. She’s an American.
She has a bad reading on racism and America but half of America does.
You want to throw her out because you think you’re a better American because you like the flag.
Maybe put less emotional energy into the flag and think about it.
rhardin is being grossly dishonest: The girl is on record as hating America. Why pretend she only hates the anthem or the flag?
And of course there is no implication of murderousness in saying that someone who hates America ought to consider living somewhere else.
Thanks, pst314. Noted.
Maybe she’s not happy with the quality of the patriots.
No, mister troll, she’s”unhappy” with an America that does not exist except in the propaganda of leftists and black nationalists.
So the young woman is “unhappy with the quality of the patriots”? Apparently you would deny us the right to judge her but grant her the right to judge us. Please explain how that makes sense.
“She’s an American.”
No, she’s not. Like rhhardin, she may be a citizen. Neither are American.
Someone is obsessed withe flag (and the post office). It’s not about the flag or the song for that matter. it’s about the words and the actions.
“rhardin is being grossly dishonest:”
rhardin is being paid to be dishonest. Dishonesty is a core principle of Marxism where the ends justifies the means. Assert the narrative till the honest people surrender appears to be the plan.
Given the blatant dishonestly, illogic, prejudice, lack of awareness for your own blind spots, and pathological bad faith you have shown rhhardin, I do not much care what “you take”, or how you “take it.”
“My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports. I’m here to represent those … who died due to systemic racism. That’s the important part. That’s why I’m going. That’s why I’m here today”
No, your purpose and mission in the Olympics is to represent the United States in your chosen athletic endeavor. It’s not to make idiotic political statements that nobody else will understand. And if you can’t do that and just that then it’s time for you to resign your position on the Olympic team and call it a day.
It’s part of affirmative action to pretend that individual black people are not stupid when they’re thrust into the spotlight.
She doesn’t really have a flag problem but a bad reading problem. Charity would treat it that way instead of a with fake patriotic outrage.
In her care the remedy is talking about her reading of race relations with her, not about the flag.
I really don’t know if you’re really this stupid or whether you’re just trolling. The entire concept of the Olympics is to represent your country with distinction. It isn’t a place for people who hate their country, no matter how talented. There are plenty of national and international competitions for her to exhibit her talents. This isn’t one of them.
rhhardin is a stupid marxist. Most marxists are idiots.
If rhhardin is a Marxist that would explain a lot: It attracts stupid people and malevolent people, and it turns ordinary people into morons and monsters.
“ It’s part of affirmative action to pretend that individual black people are not stupid when they’re thrust into the spotlight.”
So why should we be pandering to it rather than trying to enforce standards?
“She doesn’t really have a flag problem but a bad reading problem.”
The exact nature of her problems is a matter for herself, God, and maybe her coach(es), trainers, and possible shrinks to deal with, not for myself. Because from this vantage point it does not matter what the hell her problem is, merely that it is there. If she honestly came up to me seeking help, I would probably be willing to try. But I do not have to care at this moment, for better or worse.
“ Charity would treat it that way instead of a with fake patriotic outrage.”
Charity?
It takes someone truly dishonest to think that the US Olympic Team has much to do with C H A R I T Y or that one’s position on it or in relation to it should depend on charity. It is also disgustingly uncharitable to expect one’s teammates and a rather generous (perhaps too generous) nation and government to pay for your upkeep and time when you act like in such an uncharitable manner as this.
“In her care the remedy is talking about her reading of race relations with her, not about the flag.”
I’ve been talking about race relations with people for more than a decade. Forgive me if I have R A R E L Y seen it work, *especially* from those who demand that the problem is race relations and demand they talk about it. It has helped on occasion- usually among those actually willing to listen to presentation of evidence or reason/ but rarely.
And *IN ANY CASE*, it is not only Not the job of the US Olympic Team to discuss race relations, it is frankly offensive to insist that it is. And while you might be able to justify doing so on a case by case basis with a prospect or team member as part of the general ironing out the kinks or personal complexes that go with team counseling, this has escalated F A R beyond that point to where the team member is acting out in public and being a nuisance to the public and her fellow team mates.
The correct remedy is termination or suspension, which has the added benefit of giving her more time and opportunity to discuss race relations or whatever else is deemed needed.
‘”I didn’t really want to be up there,” she said. “Like I said, it was a setup. I was hot, I was ready to take my pictures and get into some shade.”
Narcissistic little seaward.
Meh
Everybody needs to be an activist. It’s been that way for years, just not quite this bad. I remember going to a concert thirty years ago and getting a ten minute lecture in the middle of the concert about how evil our country is. The answer from most of us in the audience was “shut up and sing.” Now, though, it seems to be a contest as to who can be the most rude and obnoxious with their advocacy. What she doesn’t get is not only don’t we care about her advocacy, we’re not willing to watch it or pay for it. Sooner or later when the sponsors and viewers reach that point, this kind of behaviour won’t be tolerated.
Yeah, no. This is old-school thinking that is disastrous. We are not dealing with a problem that capitalism and the free market can fix.
Clearly, then , we need some good old-fashioned fascist authoritarianism to shut these people up.
I bet we are headed that way. When I was young I was watching some tv with my dad and caught an interview with an old nazi. When asked how she could be a nazi when they were so bad, her response was that she had to choose between the nazis and the commies and the nazis weren’t as bad.
Imagine that. Sounds a lot like being forced to choose between the Marxists and the white nationalists.
Yeah, there is a “middle road,” but our “opposition” party has it pretty well blocked with their dead bodies.
Study the French Revolution, Mao, and others. The Marxists will eventually dispose of its useful idiots like Berry.
This classless POS accepted a position to represent the country, not represent her personal hatred and ignorance. She is an unethical disgrace as a human being.
I went to the Roger Waters Us and Them show in 2017. He started flapping his jibs and the boos actually drowned out the cheers. I was proud of the crowd for that.
Infantile, petulant, obnoxious, coddled, selfish, self-serving, attention-seeking and ingrate narcissists — this is what the Leftist ideology breeds. The absolute worst character traits.
PUERILE … 2. I’d like to see … [an] experiment in which callers describe the [TV] show just seen in three adjectives. Within reason, of course. (“We have a Mr. Buckley here who finds Laverne and Shirley EGREGIOUS, PUERILE, and JEJUNE”). (D. Cavett, of NEA, “Television `Wasteland’ Revisited,” Norman [Okla.] Transcript, 6/23/76, p.6)
(the Quintessential Dictionary, example of usage)
You are an idiot on top of being an anti-American.
You dabble in foolish incoherence. It’s axiomatic that the intrinsic moral and intellectual rot of Leftism can never be subject to hyperbole, when attempting to characterize it. There aren’t sufficient pejorative adjectives in the English language with which to castigate the intrinsic stupidity and malign influence of Leftism. If anything, my initial comment was too restrained.
And, of course, she in entitled.
Off topic but really not
Makes my blood boil!
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/national-archives-racism-task-force-says-own-rotunda-example-of-structural-racism-knocks-founding-fathers
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
Orwell’s novel 1984 was supposed to have been a warning, not an instruction manual. But here we are.
Archie Bunker had some line that the anthem was for patriotic occasions like sporting events. I wish I had the exact clip, in his know-nothing accent.
Archie Bunker was a mouthpiece for the leftist Norman Lear. Not a good choice if you are trying to make an honest argument.
It sounded like he was making the same argument to me. It is possible to see that argument as ridiculous. Sports have nothing to do with patriotism.
Sports per se may have nothing to do with patriotism, but you cannot honestly say the same thing about singing the national anthem at a sporting event.
I say that’s false patriotism. A displacement of the real thing. And the problem is what is it doing in a sporting event in the first place.
Apparently she has never seen an Olympic medal ceremony on TV.
To paraphrase my High School coach, “When you’re up there getting an award, try to make it look like you’ve been there before, and plan on going up there again.”
You do know that outrage comes from an etymological mistake.
It comes from French outre, beyond what is proper. Wrong fork for salad.
Made into a noun, add -age.
English sees “rage.” What is beyond what is proper deserves rage, the word itself says so.
This mistake is so politically useful that the word was re-imported back into French.
Not one person in a hundred will notice that the outre event and the reaction to it are two different things. Only rage is permitted.
Oh thank you so much for blessing us with your useless explication of the etymology of “outrage”. It does nothing to advance the topic at hand.
The connection between the event and the rage it produces is exactly what makes no sense. Perhaps you’re going by the word being the same for both. Sort of like crying over a tear in your hose.
No honest person can read the original post and say it is full of “rage”. But it is typical of leftists to dismiss any objection to their corrosive ideas as “rage”.
rhhardin’s comments are funnier if you read them in the voice of the “Comic Book Guy” from The Simpsons.
Because that’s how he comes across to me.
I’m pretty sure you nailed it.
I was picturing Donald Sutherland in Animal House. Navel gazing at it finest.
I almost snorted coffee out my nose at this suggestion.
Why you do that? XD
The time somebody played the Taiwan national anthem when the Red Chinese won a gold was good. They were really mad.
There should be a law taxing all winnings for someone who represents the United States at an international competition who then protests the country/flag at it.
That would prevent people like this from even trying to get into the olympics.
1) I rather suspect that acts such as hers are not likely to encourage Americans to support our Olympic teams,financially or emotionally.
2) There is also the question as to her intent in competition. If she openly hates our country so much, how can we believe that she is not going to deliberately lose so as to make the US and its team look bad? That right there strikes me as grounds to drop her from the team, but I yield to the interpretation of the officials. Mind you, I might not care to support the tear, financially or emotionally if she is on it . . . as is my right.
Subotai Bahadur
I see two white women standing for the anthem. I see two white women acknowledging and giving the flag and the anthem the respect it deserves. I see two white women who will go on to major success in their lives both in sport and a lot other aspects because giving respect is central to their character and they will be respected by those around them.
I also see a third woman who doesn’t feel respected. She doesn’t feel she is respected, because she doesn’t not know how give it. She wants the country she doesn’t respect to bend to her will. She is the drama queen of her own little universe and incapable of bridging the chasm she rages against. This is because she is small. Until she learns to give respect, it will never be given to her.
It’s a hard lesson. I can’t be angry with her, rather I’d be angry at the people in her life who coached her to take the low road. Those are the real villains here.
I on the other hand have no problem in being angry with her. She’s responsible for her actions … and her consequences are the flack she’s getting … and rightly deserves. If she thought she was gonna get away with it she’s not only selfish but stupid as well.
Speaking of hammers, seems like the “ban-hammer” might come in handy judging by this thread. Only half-kidding.
One day, perhaps soon, the aforementioned shall go the way of Ragspierre.
Ruh-roh, Raggy.
It all seems rather simple to me. The US Olympic team isn’t there to celebrate OR ADVANCE individual accomplishment, it’s there to present the best our country has to offer, in competition with the best other nations can offer and it’s a matter of NATIONAL honor and pride when one of their representatives win a medal, whether it’s the US or Burkina Faso. If she doesn’t want to represent this country, she shouldn’t be on the team. There are other competitions that emphasize individual accomplishment. She can compete in any of those.
Honestly, I suspect this is marketing. Who here would have even heard of the Olympics Women’s Hammer Throw team had she not thrown this public spat? I certainly wouldn’t have.
Now? It’s all over every newspaper in the US. Drama! Controversy! Will they keep her or let her go? Stay tuned for the next exciting twist!
Her handlers are laughing at us all the way to the bank.
No, not marketing. It’s just another example of someone that has benefited from living in the greatest, freest country on earth being a narcissistic marxist kook.
Ask yourself, do you think her handlers would have let her do this to China?
Unlikely: they would have puller her aside before the games even started and explained if she showed one iota of disrespect that every single sponsor would drop her like a hot potato. She’d never be on a box of Weaties if she angered the Red Star.
Here? She just made an actual chance to get on the box in a sport almost no-one has heard of.
Occasionally I’ll root against someone who is a poor representative for the USA. Same way I root against poor sportsmanship, I don’t want those people to win. But hammer throw will not be shown unless she does more pokitical stuff that makes the media happy. I won’t even go back to the article to learn her name she isn’t worth it.
Back in October of 68 in Mexico City we knew how to handle such jokers.
TO: Gwen Berry
“Your decision not to join the U.S. Olympic Team is noted.”
– signed: USOC
The first place finisher set an American women’s record, breaking her own previous record, yet the only one getting talked about is the petulant third place finisher.
the postergirl for everything that’s wrong with all the woke/blm/antifa bullschyt in america
rhirdin–the anthem is not about you, the flag is not about you, patriotic ceremonies/displays are not about you–rather, they are about our ancestors, those who came before us(living and dead)who sacrificed greatly in order to preserve our country, our way of life, the very freedoms we enjoy every minute we’re alive
in this life so far, have run on to only a couple of other things worthy of that much respect, that much honor–from your comments, appears you are unacquainted with either honor or respect–not much of a life at all
As Andy Rooney put it, veterans already got what they deserve. A free country.
I don’t see how you can say that. Our country isn’t remotely free.
That may well be true of your military service, if any. All veterans know of a few draftees or featherbedders who never earned their pay. It doesn’t hold true for the vast majority of veterans.
Systemic racism… blah blah blah. Send this dim witted malcontent packing.
I’ll wager than she has never seen the ceremony where immigrants are sworn in as new citizens aka a Naturalization Ceremony. Those people are certainly proud to become a citizen of this country. Maybe she should take some time and attend one and might come away with a new attitude after talking to a few of the new citizens.
Oh, a hissy fit. To begin she didn’t win but placed third. Just not good enough to win!. Then she decrys the National Anthem and runs her mouth about structural racism? If there was structural racism, she wouldn’t even be there! I hope some trans cleans her clock.
“she didn’t win but placed third”
The Man held her down.
It was her only chance. At third place on the US team, there isn’t a chance in hell that she’s ever going to place at the Olympics against world class competitors, so this was her only shot at being an asshole.
“I feel like it was a setup, and they did it on purpose,” Berry said of the timing of the anthem. “I was pissed, to be honest.” Is there a clause in her agreement with the US Olympic committee that she is required to conduct herself as a decent human being? I’m sure an alternate could exhibit better behavior.
rhhardin must be getting paid by the number of words. If they were randomly selected and connected, could they make less sense?