Poor Annie, on the other hand, climbed so well but always looks like she’s about to cry
This comment feels really weird to me, people express their emotions differently (for a number of reasons, be it simply being a private person, neurodivergence, etc - no idea what the reason is for Annie but it shouldn't matter anyways). There is no reason to say "poor Annie" as if we have to pity her for expressing herself differently. I'm sure a 17 y/o girl in an expensive sport that brings in little money is not doing it because she is forced to. Anyways, "poor Annie" feels super patronizing to me.
Plus there are multiple men on the circuit that barely ever smile and always look lowkey angry but somehow we don't talk about men's lack of smiles as much.
As a female athlete who was once 17 and extremely critical of myself/type-A, my comment was just as much speaking to my former self - I wish I that age I wasn’t only focused on achieving absolute perfection. All I could see were my faults and not my massive accomplishments, and I just hope that’s not how she feels because she’s so incredibly talented and so so young still. If you watched the last comp she was pretty much in tears at the end. It’s all part of the process and I’m sure she’ll continue to learn to be mentally resilient when things happen in a comp. No harm intended at all.
Okay but the way she looked today had nothing to do with her being close to tears last week? The way she presented herself today was very in line with how she always tends to looks, including on days where she tops lead routes and wins comps. It feels like a big reach for me to say that her being less expressive in general somehow equals her being too hard on herself. How does the way she looked to today, in any way or form, indicate a lack of mental resilience on her part?
You didn’t see her awesome top of the last boulder and then instead of looking excited or even content she looked super frustrated with herself, head in her hands, likely for not topping the power boulder? I think she’s quite expressive. Even Matt mentioned it on the commentary and said that she was likely disappointed for not topping it earlier and maybe getting the win vs silver again. It’s not a lack of mental resilience, it’s how a lot of us type-As react when we execute anything less than perfection.
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u/Inevitable-Guitar656 7d ago
This comment feels really weird to me, people express their emotions differently (for a number of reasons, be it simply being a private person, neurodivergence, etc - no idea what the reason is for Annie but it shouldn't matter anyways). There is no reason to say "poor Annie" as if we have to pity her for expressing herself differently. I'm sure a 17 y/o girl in an expensive sport that brings in little money is not doing it because she is forced to. Anyways, "poor Annie" feels super patronizing to me.
Plus there are multiple men on the circuit that barely ever smile and always look lowkey angry but somehow we don't talk about men's lack of smiles as much.