It was reported in various media outlets today that Oscar Pistorius, an amputee runner from South Africa, won the right to be able to compete in the Beijing Olympics. Critics felt that Pistorius had somewhat of an “advantage” with his runner blades.
Hmm– let’s see– people thought that Pistorius had an advantage over other athletes and they wanted him not to be eligible to compete, but they still let athletes compete even if they test positive for performance enhancing drugs or do other things that can be classified as cheating? Very interesting.
This situation can cause several PR Nightmares for the IOC and other athletic organizations. The key messages that are coming across is the fact that they want the playing field to be fair and equal for everyone– and yet, these organizations change their tune when one athlete wants to compete but others feel that he may have an advantage. This is quite different from their stance with athletes that have tested positive for steroids or other performance enhancing drugs– they are branded as doing this, but they are still allowed to compete and have a huge advantage over the other athletes. Track and field has been slammed with this situation so many times– from Marion Jones to Justin Gatlin– these athletic organizations need to be consistent with their strategies and key messages among their target audiences.
Personally, I am happy that Pistorius will be able to try out for the South African Olympic team, and I wish him all the best. Competing at the Olympics is the highest honor for any athlete– you are representing your country and competing at the highest level. It doesn’t get any better then this! 
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
Hello everyone!
I got some really great news today! Graduation at the University of Tennessee happened last week, and it does take a couple of days until grades are posted online. Well, I got my grades in, and I did really well! My GPA for my first year in the Ph.D. program at UT is a 3.71 overall. Yeah! I am very happy about it. Performing well in academics is very important to me– and I have had to take the hard work ethic and dedication that I learned from track and apply it into the classroom. It has certainly paid off.
I have always done very well in school– but as I go on– I keep improving. At Florida, I had a 3.43 GPA, and then I went to USC and got a 3.7 GPA overall, with getting 4.0s my last two semesters. So I am very happy about how well I am doing here at the University of Tennessee. After I get back from my trip to China, I will be taking a couple of classes in summer school and then begin my second year in the program in August. Another exciting thing that I also learned was the fact that I will be teaching as well in the fall! How neat is that? I am really looking forward to it.
Hope you all have a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
Wow– what is this? This is me when I was 18 years old competing at NSIC Nationals in 2001. That was seven years ago– amazing! All of a sudden– I feel old!
I think that it is always fun to look back at pictures and see how much progress you have done as well as how you have changed. It is definitely motivating in many ways– mostly for me it is to see how much I have changed in terms of weight loss. I came across this picture of me that was taken seven years ago at the National Scholastic Track and Field Indoor Championships in 2001. I won the shot put with a meet record, and I remember when I first saw this picture, I was like– hey! I look pretty good!
This was because I had lost a lot of weight at that point. At one point, I weighed 348 lbs, but that was not at my absolute heaviest. This was during my junior year, and just after my Dad got diabetes. I was built like a Mac Truck– but what I needed to do was lose the weight to be strong but be more of a Corvette. I was very motivated to change my eating habits and lifestyle, and I started to eat healthier and work out more in terms of aerobics.
So in this picture– I was probably around 300 lbs. My total weight loss since then is over 100 lbs– more like 140 lbs. That is a lot of weight– I used to carry around a lot of shot puts. The women’s shot weighs about 9 lbs– so you can do the math! In order to do the best that I could do in track, I knew that I had to be strong, and I knew that I would have to lose the throwing weight after I retired from the sport. Thanks to Jenny Craig, I am continuing to lose weight and get into sizes that I thought would be impossible to get into!
This is the key– you have to adapt and reinvent yourself wherever you go– whether it is in track and field, or in public relations, or in everything! Whether it is losing weight or changing your style– it is all good! My point is that you want to change to improve yourself and feel better. I am very happy to have lost a lot of weight! And I think that it is important to keep these type of pictures to remind yourself that you have come a long way– and it helps!
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
As Tom Cruise says in the movie “Jerry Maguire”– Show me the Money! Well, maybe you should wait until you are a professional athlete, based on the NCAA rules.
USC has had to deal with several public relations challenges in athletics over the couple of years, especially when it involves athletes getting money during their time at USC. First it was Reggie Bush, and now it is OJ Mayo. It was reported recently that former USC basketball player OJ Mayo received some money from the agency that is now representing him.
Of course, the NCAA does not allow athletes to receive any gifts, money, or other incentives while they are representing their university. But the real question is– why is it always USC athletes that are getting the publicity for this kind of situation? I’m not saying that they are not guilty– they maybe– but… I can guarantee that this happens at every university in the United States. From football to basketball to baseball, and hey– maybe even track and field– but the point is– it is interesting that there is a lot of focus on USC athletes when it comes to this matter.
USC does have to take account and figure out how they are going to approach this public relations challenge. It will be interesting to see what the sports information department will say regarding this situation. I think that the media sometimes has an agenda and frames a situation based on their opinion– I feel that they should be objective and report fairly. This is just my opinion.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
Even though I am not in California to celebrate it with Mom, Dad, and Karla– thank goodness for technology! I am very lucky to have such a wonderful, intelligent, sweet, and loving mother– Mom has been so great, and I consider myself very special to have her in my life.
Thank you Mom for everything and Happy Mother’s Day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
