I am sure Nastia didn’t mean it the way Tim made it sound. She doesn’t seem like that type of person. I can see how what she said would rub some people the wrong way . I agree with you that she just should have kept quiet.
Kind of like back in 04 when Terin Humprey said that their team was better then the MAG 7.

There is an old saying that says something like this.

“It is better to keep your mouth quiet and let people think you are stupid then it is to open your mouth and prove you are”

On this particular issue; however, I would disagree that it is arrogance that is driving Nastia’s comments. I’m a fan of her beautiful gymnastics, but I think she has obvious flaws, so please dont’ consider me in the category of Nastia fanatics. Regarding this issue, let’s try to remember that she’s a teenager who is excited about being as good as she can at her sport. I think her response to the question was showing enthusiasm for competing past the olympics — not arrogance. Because the media and “fan”atics (which is where the term comes from) can misunderstand athlete’s intentions, most athletes say standard bullshit in their interviews because they are coached by agents and sports promotional people on what to say…i.e. “I just want to thank God and Jesus and my family and all of the fans for their support. I want to thank my coaches, and my competitors for a good match.”

And that’s all you get. If this blows up to a high degree, you can bet that future interviews from this athlete will be very milquetoast.

Rawles. IMO it is not an over reaction but thanks for your thoughts without the name calling. As FDA pointed out if Shawn Johnson had said these comments she would be stuck on a tree with a pitch fork.

Bettycoltrane. Not really sure who trains her specifically.
This website says Valeri
http://www.sitesbyspeedle.com/rebecca/becca.html

The mob mentality of teenagers.lol

Nastia is arrogant for making these comments and my guess is if Shawn Johnson or Shayla Worley had said them the children missing their marbles club would be bashing them. Nastia for some reason can be as rude and phony as she wants and never get called on it.

I was at the American Cup. I was back stage and she was throwing a fit. Screaming at her father`. She is not the sweet kid she acts like to the media.

Good luck with the blog. Just ignore the trolls.

Only a complete crazy person would send someone hate mail over an opinion.

It’s pretty obvious Nastia fans are lunatics because not one of the comments I received didn’t include swearing or name calling. Those won’t be published. Luckily for Nastia I didn’t get many comments. So maybe her fan base shouldn’t be judged on the 5 comments I got. I am sure some of her fans are not completely nuts.

They will be much like Atler fans. In a few years they will have moved on.

It would be arrogant if she was some unproven, young gymnast coming out the gate talking about breaking Miller’s world medal record, but she’s not. She’s already tied it and it could be well within her capabilities to exceed it. And I can’t even confess to understand the “ignorant” accusation. That seems to imply that it’s somehow not her place to be ambitious and want to strive for that little piece of history. Or that it’s disrespectful in some way? I can’t agree. That’s what records are there for: to be broken.

Also, you really short sell Nastia’s achievement. Sure she hasn’t quite won all-around gold, but she’s still a three-time individual world champion and has won gold or silver on every event but vault. Saying, oh, her medal count isn’t REALLY as good because she hasn’t won AA gold, would be like someone saying that Miller’s medal count isn’t as good because she has a bronze and Nastia has all gold and silver or because Nastia has more individual medals than her or because it took her an extra year to get to nine. Getting up on the podium nine times at World Championships is amazing, period.

And I have to agree with shergymrag about the quality of competition. Just because that time is one that most gymnastics fans favor more doesn’t mean that the sport was objectively harder then and people’s achievements now don’t count as much. Sure, back then there were challenges that gymnasts don’t have now (i.e. you’re not terribly likely to lose a medal for not sticking a dismount cold), but the opposite is also true.

Quality of competition does not factor into medal count. 10 medals will beat Shannon’s 9. Also, back then the bar was lower and a lot more people had a shot. A little mistake and you were out. Now that the bar is higher, a lot fewer people have a shot. These gymnasts have to have more variety in their routines than ever. They can’t just stick to what they do best and make it look perfect. They have to struggle through things they might suck at because that’s how you get points these days. What would Shannon’s routines look like if she had to deal with today’s EGR’s and restrictions?

Maybe Nastia won’t get a 10th medal if she continues but she definately won’t get one if she doesn’t.

And when you call a lot of people’s favorite athlete “arrogant” and “ignorant”, getting some hate mail shouldn’t be a great big shock.