COREY COGDELL'S HUSBAND RECEIVES RECOGNITION FOR HER OLYMPIC WIN 

Corey Cogdell received a bronze medal for trap shooting on Sunday, but it was her marital status that really tickled the Chicago Tribune.

After her win, the Tribune posted an article about Cogdell's win with the headline “Wife of a Bears' lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics”. Wait, what? Did we miss Cogdell's name? Nah, it just didn’t make the cut.

Cogdell is married to Bear’s lineman Mitch Unrein (but you gathered that from the headline, right?) and somehow this became the primary narrative. Hmmmm we’ll pass and stick to the real story, but thanks tho! Twitter has been appropriately outraged at the focus of this story, and has called out the Tribune big time. 

The actual, important stuff to know: this is the SECOND time Cogdell has won a bronze medal at the Olympics (previously in 2008.) She hit 13 out of 15 targets (and in challenging wind conditions!) and took the victory over Spain’s Fatima Galvez in the second shoot-off.

Cogdell has not confirmed if we will see her represent the United States (of Kanye?) in 2020, but we know one things for sure--she deserves her own damn headlines.

Now for your viewing pleasure, a spot-on tweet that captures the absurdity:

KATIE LEDECKY BEATS HER OWN WORLD RECORD

As I reflect warmly on my current triumph of  beating my *own personal record* of how much pizza I can eat in one sitting, I can only imagine how American Olympian Katie Ledecky feels.

Ledecky won a gold medal for the 800-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, when she was 15 years old. Her previous world record for the 400-meter freestyle is 3 minutes 58.37 seconds, and she BROKE THE DANG THING of 3 minutes 56.46 seconds. According to the New York Times, this has been her goal for the past 3 years. Mission accomplished--and in the perfect venue. Ledecky didn’t only leave her competitors in her dust (er, waves?) but she beat her most fierce competitor--herself.

Aside from her Olympic triumphs, Ledecky has been busy zooming through other pools as well. After the 2012 Olympics, she has set 12 more world records, and is one of the only 2 women to ever swim the 400-meter  freestyle in under 4 minutes.

Ledecky’s long-term goals remind us that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and achieving personal success can take time (although perhaps we should not use this advice and inspiration in the context of our pizza eating--we might get sick.)

AFTER DELIVERING A+ OLYMPIC TWEETS, LESLIE JONES IS INVITED TO RIO

Decked out in an American flag onesie with lots of enthusiasm and opinions to share, Jones has appeared to entertain and commentate for the Olympic season. Her Tweets (and team spirit) are SO GOOD that NBC has officially invited Joenes to go to Rio and commentate on their behalf, and Jones has --thankfully-- agreed. (This is one of the first moves by NBC during the Olympics that we are happy about, tbh, but we’ll get to that later.)

Jones, who has been often watching and commentating on 4 events at the same time, confirmed on Twitter that she would be joining NBC. Jones is a cast member of Saturday Night Live on NBC, and was quick to thank her current network for the opportunity. Donning a Rio Olympics hat, Jones gave a shout out to NBC on Twitter. “Guess who’s going to Rio?!” she sang, waving her small American Flag.

This announcement is particularly heartwarming considering Jones’ recent painful experience with racial harassment and trolling on Twitter. Her invitation and decision to go to the Olympics is not only joyful entertainment for us, but it reminds her and black women on Twitter that their voices cannot and will not be silenced by hate. Out of all of the Olympic commentators, it is Jones team THINX wants to listen to, and we know we’re not the only ones.

KERRI WALSH-JENNINGS DOESN’T NEED TO PICK BETWEEN BEING A MOTHER AND OLYMPIAN

It clear to us that Kerri Walsh-Jennings can do whatever she sets her mind to. The three time gold Olympian (who has been competing since 2004--over 10 years!) is also a wife and a proud mother of three.

In a recent interview, Walsh-Jennings expressed that she believed she was born “to play volley-ball and make babies.” While this is an out-of-context quote that we believe was meant to express the deep love Walsh Jennings has for volleyball and her children, it immediately drew attention. During her match (where she was, ya know, working hard to secure a semi-finals win on behalf of her nation), a commentator decided it was the right time to say “She told someone that she was born to play volleyball and have babies, and she’s great at doing both!” Ugh, what? What makes you qualified to comment on her childbearing skills, dude?

And here is the unfortunate (yet, at times, unavoidable) crux of a high profile athlete/mother -- the latter identity always seems to pop up in the former. Rather than taking a moment to comment on Walsh-Jennings long and successful beach volleyball career her child-rearing skills need to be commented on and quite literally broadcasted.

As Walsh-Jennings has expressed--it’s not always easy, but you can do both. Let’s not bring the “how does she do it??”  to the forefront of conversation and watch her preform one of her passions. 

US WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS TEAM IS SLAYING THE GAME (& not the mall but you knew that already.)

The US Women's Gymnastic team are not here to mess around. It all started when this picture was released. Goosebumps. Then the powerhouse group of 5 went to Rio and right-at-this-very-moment, they are competing for the Gold Medal (& UPDATE: THEY WON!). Simone Biles has been called “perhaps the best female gymnast in history” by the New York Times, and overall, the team has been on a winning streak since the London Olympics. So whyyyyy (WHY?! Why.) did an unidentified NBC commentator say that they "might as well as be standing in the middle of a mall," when they were simply standing and talking together in a group? The world may never know.

Image by Agência Brasil Fotografias via Wikimedia Commons

Except we do. These Olympic athletes also happen to be teenage girls, a group that gets stuffed with so many projections of unnecessary stereotypes it’s almost too exhausting to rehash them. While this women are busy competing in a challenging sport in front of the entire world, they are receiving commentary (from professionals! These dummies get paid to do this!) that undermine their talent and intelligence. Note to NBC: let’s try to eliminate the sexist commentating and focus on the task at hand. Perhaps you can take a few lessons from Leslie Jones when she arrives in Rio.

What sport has been your favorite to watch during the Olympic Games? Let us know below!

by Team Thinx