AUTHOR’S NOTE: this video has been removed, and the only version I can find to replace it is above, and not very good quality (cue giggling camera-holder). For an excellent-quality version, enjoy the video here
We’re just kidding about the goofy, they’re obviously awesome parents, and we know we’d be as excited watching our own child compete….
But to watch USA gymnast Aly Raisman’s parents freak the F out as she performs on the uneven parallel bars is simply amazing.
Aly’s parents obviously feel her pain. Congrats on raising a champion, Raisman family, we love your enthusiasm!
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> they’re obviously awesome parents
Given that gymnastics on an olympic level is a high-performance sport which causes quite a lot of damage to the body, shouldn’t that be “they’re obviously abusive parents”?
Nope.
It’s such an interesting question, actually.
No, I do not believe they are abusive parents in the slightest, at least not based only upon helping their daughter get here.
I have a friend who is an Olympian, and she is probably one of the most balanced people I’ve ever met. She’s very competitive, but she had a dream since she was small, and she was incredibly gifted as well. She had a ton of support, and her siblings were all world-class athletes, I believe she has 1 other Olympian sibling. Her mom was a single mom.
If you’re not that person who was born with an acute focus on one thing (and almost none of us are), it’s hard to imagine a child who naturally is like this. But I’ve known a few of them (none became Olympians), and it takes the right kind of parents to get them to where they want to be in a healthy way.
Sure, they’re more prone to injuries, but so are high school girls who play soccer year-round. And a torn ACL is no joke.
For a parent to be present during their child’s training, to support them and love them, and encourage their dreams… That’s a good thing.
I guess even when a woman is an Olympic champion, she’s still just a victim in someones eyes.
Everyone’s a victim in someone’s eyes.
Aw man, I wanted to watch it but the video got removed!
Here it is, somehow Gawker got the original! I tried like balls to find one from NBC but couldn’t!
http://gawker.com/5930003/you-have-to-watch-us-gymnast-aly-raismans-hila
Sorry, but am I the only one who watches that video and weeps for the poor kid? That’s some pretty serious OCD parenting right there. They’re actually undergoing more physical and mental exhaustion than their Olympic-performing daughter. I grew up in sports, and I know overbearing parents like the back of my hand, and this woman’s face is the face of evil to me. She’s COMPLETELY living her life through her daughter. And you can tell the father does not want to be as attached as she is, but has been “tamed” into compliance. I do not find this charming, I find it utterly disturbing, and will not be surprised at all if years from now this gymnast releases an autobiography relaying the horror of growing up under this woman’s pressurized gaze.