<p>Gabby is fantastic.</p>
<p>She deserved to win. She was the best gymnast.</p>
<p>And she comes across as somebody with a winning personality. She is very young.</p>
<p>I am happy for her.</p>
<p>
If this is true, how horrible! I’m not an expert (I don’t have girls and I’m doing good to put my own mousy brown hair in a ponytail), but I sure know cute when I see it!! For a sport that tends to overdone makeup and a lot of glitter she looked her age and that megawatt smile fills the entire stadium!</p>
<p>THANK YOU AmbitiousMind07! I mean, there were earlier posts doubting Gabby’s abilities, whether or not she should be on the team, her chances, her attitude (I could only guess for smiling too much?) and now her mother?!? Heck, I saw more photos of Jordan’s pretty mom than of Gabby’s. Gabby does come from modest roots (saw coverage of her family since her grandfather lives in nearby Gary) and her success should bring us together. </p>
<p>Gabby is a wonderful competitor and has been nothing but happy and supportive of her teammates since this began.</p>
<p>AmbitiousMind - hear hear !! Couldn’t agree more.</p>
<p>Just as an addendum to missypie’s post #925, about the performances of the women’s gymnasts at 2009 Junior Nationals: Jordyn Wieber won Junior Nationals the year before, in 2008. I think she may have been recovering from a hamstring injury in 2009.</p>
<p>LOVED that comment ambitious mind.</p>
<p>Canada’s soccer women over GBR 2-0! On to the semifinal against the USA! In a stadium where almost all of the 70,000 there watching were rooting for GBR, the Canadian girls played their best game yet. Well done.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll have to wait to see swimming on NBC tonight since my computer kept freezing during the live broadcast. GRRR! I saw 90% of Phelps’s race, but totally missed the 50 free and only saw the first 200m of the 800 free. My feed finally unfroze when the winner was looking up at the scoreboard.</p>
<p>I hate that this is the only way to watch events live.</p>
<p>Just saw this tweet on NYTimes Oly site. If you unscramble gabby Douglas last name it’s USA GOLD. Neat, no?</p>
<p>Yup. Cool.</p>
<p>"If you unscramble gabby Douglas last name it’s USA GOLD. Neat, no? "</p>
<p>That IS cool!</p>
<p>“Read in USAToday that Gabby is getting criticism about her hair.”</p>
<p>"If this is true, how horrible! I’m not an expert (I don’t have girls and I’m doing good to put my own mousy brown hair in a ponytail), but I sure know cute when I see it!! For a sport that tends to overdone makeup and a lot of glitter she looked her age and that megawatt smile fills the entire stadium! "</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be at all surprised if someone was whipping a few posts into a frenzy for less than good reasons. I don’t want to add to it, which is why I edited my comment about how hard it must be to get a touch up in Iowa. I think Gabby looked great, and fit in with all the other “bunheads” ( i know, that is supposed to be girls in ballet), but it does highlight one fairly unique aspect of being black that you can’t pretend doesn’t exist, and that’s our hair.</p>
<p>I would rather have messy hair than look like I have a stick up my butt like some of the Russian girls!</p>
<p>I believe the comments were not about it being messy, but rather that you could tell she had permed her hair, because the new growth was “natural”,(a problem that becomes more obvious when you sweat), and used an extension to achieve a ponytail. I hate to belabor this, but I think that is an important distinction. I think the family she lived with would have no idea how to proceed. </p>
<p>To be clear, I am not saying any of this is important, reasonable, or rgiht; just wanted to put it in context.</p>
<p>For Gabby fans, here’s an essay that proposes that racism colors much of Gabby’s coverage: [UPDATE:</a> Gabby Douglas leads Team USA to the Gold The Crunk Feminist Collective](<a href=“http://crunkfeministcollective.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/08/01/update-gabby-douglas-leads-team-usa-to-the-gold/]UPDATE:”>UPDATE: Gabby Douglas leads Team USA to the Gold | The Crunk Feminist Collective)</p>
<p>To those who constantly bring up Gabby’s hair: I say we stop talking about her (beautiful) hair altogether and just say that Gabby Douglas is the newest AA gold medalist and that she has done America very proud! Clearly her hair didn’t hinder her performance at all. Instead of wasting precious practice time weighing her hair down with glitter or burettes, Gabby obviously felt it was more important to perfect her individual apparatus performances.</p>
<p>As a black male living in predominantly white suburbia, I sometimes regret that I actually CARED how “sharp” or “shaped-up” I kept my hair throughout high school and even into college. Brushing my hair down every morning or wearing hoodies to hide my hair in between haircuts. I admire Gabby for not giving a d*** and focusing on what is truly important! I wish I had her courage at 16 - let alone 18 when I got to college. I recall skipping class to make a last minute appointment to get my haircut because all I cared about was my appearance. Clearly, I was the lost soul because I had my priorities totally mixed up. I think Gabby is not only an inspiration but also a reminder to people of color - “hey, if she can do it, and look like me, I can do it too!”</p>
<p>Gabby was amazing. I personally think she is one of the most talented and physically beautiful champions we’ve ever had.</p>
<p>Yesterday on NPR, as I was taking D to the airport, I listened a report by Monique Fields, who is black, reacting to the fact that on facebook and twitter black women were complaining about how Gabby looked, specifically her hair. I was appalled. It is still on line, I think.</p>
<p>So the men’s trampoline final will be shown on prime time coverage tonight. I wasn’t expecting that.</p>
<p>Perhaps they are too focused on Good Hair!</p>
<p>[Good</a> Hair ft. Chris Rock- HD Official Trailer - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>How can you not 
Gabby?</p>