Sedale Threatt wrote:SA37 wrote:Again, I am not questioning the validity of their mental health issues; I am saying the manner in which both of these situations have happened seem staged/rehearsed/planned in order to extract as much media attention as possible and laying the groundwork for future projects, such as documentaries, comeback stories, interviews, and careers that go well beyond sports.
I have to say, I was definitely on the fence about this, probably leaning towards the "suck it up" camp. Intense, severe scrutiny and pressure just comes with the territory when you're a high-level athlete. (Hell, I played extremely low-level high school sports, and I was almost paralyzed with nerves before some games, just out of the fear of failure and not wanting to let my teammates down.) But reading idiotic opinions like this have swung me in the complete opposite direction.
Michael Phelps revealed the extraordinary pressures and mental health struggles that he faced in a recent documentary called The Weight of Gold: the title says it all.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/29/simone-biles-sporting-success-mental-demandsIn a statement on Monday announcing her withdrawal from the event, Osaka said she was leaving the tournament so that the focus could return to tennis after days of attention and widespread discussion.
“This isn’t a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago,” Osaka wrote on social media. “I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris.
“I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly I would never trivialise mental health or use the term lightly.”...
...On Thursday evening Osaka’s older sister, Mari, attempted to support her sister by providing further context of her struggles in a post on Reddit. She said Osaka had been hurt by frequent questioning about her ability on clay and that she felt she was being “told that she has a bad record on clay.” After losing in the first round of the WTA tournament in Rome, Mari Osaka said her sister was “not OK mentally.” After some criticism, Mari Osaka deleted her post...
...Osaka concluded her statement by saying she suffers “huge waves of anxiety” before speaking with the media. “So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self‑care and skip the press conferences. I announced it preemptively because I do feel like the rules are quite outdated in parts and I wanted to highlight that,” she wrote.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/may/31/naomi-osaka-withdraws-french-open-press-conference-fines-tennis[Wilkinson] has heard about how Kearnan Myall opened up about his own mental health problems in a recent interview with the Guardian. He knows there are a lot of players out there going through the same things he suffered with himself. Anxiety, depression, angst. “The guys I was playing with when I started came from the amateur era, and they definitely had a better sense of balance because they had the grounding of working in an office one day and playing rugby the next,” he says. “They knew that the same guys they were working with in that office might be there in the crowd watching them play, so they understood that it was supposed to be for fun and entertainment.”...
...Jonny Wilkinson was speaking as the ambassador of a new mental health campaign launched this month by health insurer Vitality.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/sep/08/jonny-wilkinson-mental-iilness-rugby-unionThere’s a reason for the rhinestone goat outlined on Simone Biles’ leotard.
At 24, Biles has redefined what’s possible in gymnastics by performing complex skills few in the world can match. It’s why she’s acknowledged to be the Greatest of All Time (try abbreviating it).
When it comes to monetizing her abilities through sponsorships and other marketing deals, Biles may be just as special thanks to her unique combination of generational talent, leadership ability, social advocacy and knack for managing her own narrative....
...“The sorts of personalities that come around are few and far between,” said Americus Reed II, professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He compared Biles to Muhammad Ali — like the boxing great who transcended the ring to become an antiwar and civil rights icon, she is one of the few who can “take her brand with her” beyond gymnastics and into the “greater cultural stratosphere.”...
...Biles has also been strategic about how she spends her brand capital.
Although she typically mentions fewer brands a year in her social media posts than former Olympians such as Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter, or U.S. gymnast Nastia Liukin, the ones she does post about are usually related to health and fitness, said Krishna Subramanian, chief executive and co-founder of Captiv8, an influencer marketing platform that collected and analyzed these data....
...Comparing a selected group of standout Olympic athletes, Hookit found that Bolt had an estimated sponsorship value of $1.5 million, according to the company’s calculations. That figure was determined based on the number of Bolt’s followers, interactions across social media, rate of engagement and other factors.
Biles had an estimated sponsorship value of about $628,000. Phelps’ value was estimated at about $96,000, with Felix at about $75,000.
Of course, not all athletes are active on social media or do endorsements or ads there. And differences in career arc from athlete to athlete and sport to sport make apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. Both Phelps and Bolt have had careers spanning many more years than Biles, and those careers began before social media was widely used.
“It’s a little bit tough to make a direct comparison because obviously Phelps is finished, where Biles is still competing so it’s tough to tell where the trajectory of her career will go,” said Kris Mathis, founder of SponsorPitch, a platform that tracks sponsorship spending. “I think the upcoming Olympics will be a pivotal event for her.”
Compared with 2016, Biles’ marketability seems “very strong” and potentially “even greater,” said Kwak of the University of Michigan.
“With all the things that happened around our society in the past year,” he said, “I think there is a greater chance she will be more influential than just being a gymnast winning another gold medal.”
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-07-26/simone-biles-and-endorsementsSimone Biles Leaves Nike for Partnership With Athleta
The gymnast will have her own performance wear line and activist platform at a female-focused apparel company
...With Atleta, Biles will have her own performance wearline, including products for wearing to and from the gym.
She said the company has also pledged to support the post-Olympics gymnastics tour that she is planning to mount herself, rather than the usual tour backed by US Gymnastics, the sport's national governing body. The tour could reshape professional opportunities for elite gymnasts for years to come.
Athleta and Biles said that [b]the company would give her a platform to be an activist participating in "honest conversations" with women and girls....[/b]
https://www.wsj.com/articles/simone-biles-gymnastics-nike-athleta-11619140549Biles could still compete in other gymnastic events during the Olympics. She also has a solid history of gymnastic accomplishments, including four gold medals and a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics. She has earned five more all-around titles in world championships since 2013. That earns the 24-year-old a lasting athletic legacy that sponsors can capitalize on.
"We are past the time when athletes like Simone are valued simply for their athletic prowess," said Jim Andrews, founder of A-Mark Partnership Strategies. "She has earned a place in gymnastics history, and has proven herself to be an amazing spokesperson and influencer who has much to offer brands even without competing and eventually in retirement."
Biles split with longtime sponsor Nike in April to sign with Athleta, the athletic clothing arm of Gap. Biles' deal with Athleta also includes sponsorship of the Gold Over America victory tour later this year, which will star her as well as other USA Gymnastics team members.
https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/29/1022411449/simone-biles-olympic-sponsors-praise-her-for-putting-mental-health-firstIn an episode of her Facebook Watch documentary series, Simone vs. Herself, Biles talks candidly about how Nassar’s abuse impacted her. “I was, like, super depressed. I didn’t want to leave my room, and I didn’t want to go anywhere. I kind of just shut everybody out. I don’t know, it was probably hard for me,” she said.
Biles admitted a few months ago that a big reason she chose to return for this Olympics was to hold the governing authorities in her sport accountable for enabling Nassar and failing to protect girls and women. “I just feel like everything that happened, I had to come back to the sport to be a voice, to have change happen,” Biles told NBC’s Today show in April. “Because I feel like if there weren’t a remaining survivor in the sport, they would’ve just brushed it to the side.”...
...Michael Phelps, who has been extremely candid about struggling with depression and anxiety, said Biles’s situation “broke my heart,” but he hoped that her withdrawal would make athletes feel more comfortable sharing their mental-health struggles.
“I hope this is an eye-opening experience, I really do,” said Phelps, who is serving as a commentator for NBC’s Olympic coverage. “I hope this is an opportunity for us to jump on board and to even blow this mental-health thing even more wide open. It is so much bigger than we could even ever imagine. This is something that’s gonna take a lot of time, a lot of hard work, and people who are willing to help.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/simone-biles-doesnt-need-to-look-invincible/619606/Simone Biles is the subject of a new seven-part documentary which premieres on Facebook Watch on Tuesday, June 15...
...Simone Biles released a brief trailer of the upcoming docuseries on her Instagram profile last week and here's everything you need to know ahead of Simone vs. Herself...
https://www.newsweek.com/simone-biles-facebook-documentary-watch-premiere-date-1600381Similar to Chopra’s projects with Brady and Curry, Biles’ story and docuseries is incomplete.
Of the seven total episodes, Facebook Watch will release the first five on Tuesdays leading up to the Summer Olympics. The remaining two will be based on what happens in Tokyo, Chopra said, and Biles could return to the states with five gold medals — which would be a record for an American woman in a single Games.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/06/simone-biles-documentary-gotham-chopra-gymnastics-olympicsBut certainly [Osaka's] profile, well outfitted as it is, provides a glimpse into her business — and like the meme decrees, business is boomin’. Ms. Osaka is covering everything from ears to rears, making headphones with Beats, athleisure with Nike and denim with Levi’s. Dresses? She designed them with Adeam, a Japanese-American brand. Swimwear? She crafted a collection with Frankies Bikinis.
In April, she announced that she would serve as C.E.O. of her own company: Kinlò, a line of skin care made for people with melanated skin tones, produced with GoDaddy. According to Forbes, she made $37.4 million in endorsements and tournament prizes between May 2019 and May 2020, the most a female athlete has ever earned in a single year.
“She’s the first professional tennis player we’ve worked with,” said Jen Sey, the brand president of Levi’s, “but for us, she rises above that. She’s such a powerful voice, the way she’s encouraged others to speak out about equality. She’s outspoken. That’s what we like about her. There’s no point in partnering with someone if you’re just going to tell them what to do.”
With Nike, she founded an academy to introduce more young women to sports; with L.V.M.H., she joined a judging panel to choose an emerging fashion designer worthy of a 300,000-euro grant. Her imprint seems to be suddenly on everything from enterprise management software (Workday) to water (Bodyarmor).
“She is the perfect storm,” said Cindy Gallop, a brand consultant who has worked with several of Ms. Osaka’s sponsors. “She’s a spectacular athlete. She has a strong sense of social justice, she’s prepared to speak her mind.”...
...In September, Ms. Osaka won the U.S. Open while declaring solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement through her face masks. From a corporate sponsorship perspective, this was a turning point: taking a stance increased her brand value. She shortly thereafter teamed up with Basic Space, an online swap meet for hype beasts (sample items for sale include a St. John coat and a Range Rover) to sell 500 masks designed by her 25-year-old sister, Mari. They sold out in 30 minutes, with proceeds going to UNICEF.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/style/naomi-osaka-sweetgreen-beats-nike.html?
But in 2020, Osaka found her voice and the self-possession to speak up when and how she saw fit, a massive leap for a global superstar who once felt too self-conscious to exhort herself even on the court. With time to engage with civil rights protests because of the pandemic’s pause of tennis, Osaka found the space to unravel her thoughts to convey an urgent and unequivocal demand for change.
In doing so, she came to be as precise and efficient in her protest as she has been in her tennis, offering up her version of soft power: deploying bold activism shaped by her unique understanding of the world and her place in it....
...
Without the tunnel vision of a tennis schedule, Osaka showed the effects of the psyche-scarring onslaught of violence against Black Americans. In the days after George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police in May, she flew with Dunston to protests there and later wrote an opinion piece for Esquire challenging that society “take on systemic racism head-on, that the police protect us and don’t kill us.”
Though Osaka’s assertion of each part of her identity — Japanese, Haitian, raised for a time in the United States — has given her profitable endorsement lanes, she has often highlighted her Blackness when commentators minimize it...
...With Osaka cut off from IRL social touchstones and without access to her day job, her TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms provided the most candid way for her to speak up as she had pledged. When she tweeted her support for the Black Lives Matter movement in June and encouraged participation in a B.L.M. protest in Osaka, Japan, she faced social media trolls who called her a terrorist and a widespread backlash from Japanese people who viewed the issue as an outsider’s cause.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/sports/tennis/naomi-osaka-protests-open.html?
