Olympic proportions

The Olympics are over, and they were fascinating, but this is the first time I've watched them through the prism of being an eating disorders treatment activist. (Last time we were still in tender post-recovery, and last time she was actually IN Athens with family and I remember less about the athletics than family drama...)

What ended up interesting me most this time around was the ethics and judgements of the public on the bodies.

* The disapproval of the Michael Phelps Diet: Don't Try It at Home.
* The admiration, instead of concern, for those who damage their health to win
* The absurdity of calling it tragic that an athlete's efforts to hurt himself were thwarted to revive him
* The wide spectrum of body types that excel in different sports
* The idea that we need to "overcome" biological differences between men and women
* The fact that the dramatic potential and true heroism of the Paralympics ** and the Special Olympics are not newsworthy

** added, rightly, per remarks below!

Comments

  1. In mentioning the Special Olympics, please, please do NOT confuse them with or forget the Paralympics (for athletes who are blind/visually impaired or physically disabled, not people with intellectual disabilities) and who are truly seriously world-class athletes, as anyone who's seen the games (or MurderBall) will tell you! Just a pet soapbox of mine!

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  2. We're still in the post-recovery prism... and I'm still mulling this all over.

    Once an eating disorder bites you are changed forever that is for certain.

    XO- t

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  3. One thing that fascinated me about the olympics, watching them post-ED this year, was that many of the best athletes were NOT super-thin.
    I go, "of course they aren't", because they're athletes, but I still catch myself being surprised.

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