NO JAVELIN ZONE: Leryn Franco might not have displayed much talent in Beijing,but perhaps she displayed something of more abstract importance.
With the 2008 Beijing Olympics 3/4 finished, it seems only appropriate that I write something about the global event. And because this is me we're talking about, it shouldn't surprise you that it will have little to do with the athleticism or glory of the Games.
But that's okay because the subject of my Olympic affections also has little to do with athleticism or glory.
Leryn Franco, a javeliner from Paraguay, caught my attention about a week ago when, for my job, I was researching some of the lesser known Olympic events. Two things need mentioning about Franco right off:
1) Franco is an attractive woman and for that reason alone, she caught my attention.
2) Franco failed to qualify in the javelin event in which she was scheduled to compete.
So why, in an Olympic season with Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson and Usain Bolt, would I bother writing about this chick? Why not just post a few pictures and move on? Well, like I said, this hasn't much to do with athletics at all and Lord knows I don't have anything to say about those Olympic champions that hasn't already been said thousands of times.* Contrarily, Leryn Franco doesn't represent greatness. She doesn't even represent competitiveness and therefore, most will lump her in with other hot athletic duds such as Anna Kournikova, Andy Roddick and Michelle Wie. Franco came in the bottom two in both of her qualifiers (51st and 25th). For all intents and purposes, she really didn't seem to have any business being at the Olympics and could not have done much worse. Your skepticism will most certainly increase when I tell you that back home, Ms. Franco is both a runner-up in the 2006 Ms. Paraguay pageant and full-time model. Her modeling, in fact, is how she pays the bills while pretending to be an Olympian.
At this point, I can almost hear your eyes rolling around in their sockets. If I were interested in this woman only because she were attractive, I'd expect this reaction, perhaps even demand it. But she's different enough from athletes like Kournikova, the Russian tennis player, who started the tennis circuit as a promising prodigy, lost most of her competitive skill and became fetishized as a symbolic female athlete instead of an actual one. Kournikova is really no longer an athlete and therefore is nothing more than a famous personality. But Franco is not that, because Franco does not get paid to throw a javelin. She gets paid to be attractive, a job for which she is clearly well-suited. She then takes that money and spends it (perhaps "wastes it" is more appropriate) on training for the Olympics, where she embarrasses herself two Olympics in a row (at 22, she tossed a javelin in the Athens Games and came in 42nd place).
Why would anyone do this?
People became annoyed with America's last tennis hope Andy Roddick because they felt he stopped caring about his sport. Teenage golfer Michelle Wie was seen as someone too wrapped up in her own hype to effectively compete anymore. Franco flies under that radar and in fact, seems only to enjoy the process of throwing a javelin, perhaps too, she enjoys the process of representing her country without having to wear a bikini to do it. Either way you slice it, Leryn Franco represents something that us Americans claim we hold dear: passion and spirit.
There's a tacit sprytness present in someone who would fashion a career in modeling so she can finance her frivolous grand-scale hobby. Musician Jack Johnson woke up on the beach one day, decided he wanted to stop being a professional surfer and start making crappy mellow music and he's generally well-liked for it. I see the same preciousness in Franco.
There was never a point in which Franco could have thought she would qualify for the final javelin competition. During the Beijing qualifiers she threw the spear 12 meters shorter than her 2007 personal best. Had she matched her personal best at the Beijing trials, she still would have only been ranked 37th, 29 slots out of qualifying. No chance.
Varieties of beautiful people are represented in these games. U.S. Softball pitcher Jennie Finch represent everything perfect about humanity (talent, beauty and dedication)**, U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones represents everything real about humanity (skill, drive, missed opportunity) and Leryn Franco represents a lighter, freer, humbler quality of humanity (the personal desire to compete and the freedom to fail).
Leryn Franco is, at best, a tiny footnote of these grand Games, but in a way, that tinniness is why it's worth noting. It's quirky. Paraguay is a quirky country, javelin is a quirky sport and her involvement in these games was a quirky failure. Most importantly however, the spoils of javelin chucking are enough to compel her to embark on that failure.
This free desire has been grossly underrepresented.
** Ironically, less than 12 hours after I wrote this, the U.S. Softball team lost their first game since September 21, 2000. The loss can only be looked at as a massive upset and proof that even Jennie Finch is flawed.
But that's okay because the subject of my Olympic affections also has little to do with athleticism or glory.
Leryn Franco, a javeliner from Paraguay, caught my attention about a week ago when, for my job, I was researching some of the lesser known Olympic events. Two things need mentioning about Franco right off:
1) Franco is an attractive woman and for that reason alone, she caught my attention.
2) Franco failed to qualify in the javelin event in which she was scheduled to compete.
So why, in an Olympic season with Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson and Usain Bolt, would I bother writing about this chick? Why not just post a few pictures and move on? Well, like I said, this hasn't much to do with athletics at all and Lord knows I don't have anything to say about those Olympic champions that hasn't already been said thousands of times.* Contrarily, Leryn Franco doesn't represent greatness. She doesn't even represent competitiveness and therefore, most will lump her in with other hot athletic duds such as Anna Kournikova, Andy Roddick and Michelle Wie. Franco came in the bottom two in both of her qualifiers (51st and 25th). For all intents and purposes, she really didn't seem to have any business being at the Olympics and could not have done much worse. Your skepticism will most certainly increase when I tell you that back home, Ms. Franco is both a runner-up in the 2006 Ms. Paraguay pageant and full-time model. Her modeling, in fact, is how she pays the bills while pretending to be an Olympian.
At this point, I can almost hear your eyes rolling around in their sockets. If I were interested in this woman only because she were attractive, I'd expect this reaction, perhaps even demand it. But she's different enough from athletes like Kournikova, the Russian tennis player, who started the tennis circuit as a promising prodigy, lost most of her competitive skill and became fetishized as a symbolic female athlete instead of an actual one. Kournikova is really no longer an athlete and therefore is nothing more than a famous personality. But Franco is not that, because Franco does not get paid to throw a javelin. She gets paid to be attractive, a job for which she is clearly well-suited. She then takes that money and spends it (perhaps "wastes it" is more appropriate) on training for the Olympics, where she embarrasses herself two Olympics in a row (at 22, she tossed a javelin in the Athens Games and came in 42nd place).Why would anyone do this?
People became annoyed with America's last tennis hope Andy Roddick because they felt he stopped caring about his sport. Teenage golfer Michelle Wie was seen as someone too wrapped up in her own hype to effectively compete anymore. Franco flies under that radar and in fact, seems only to enjoy the process of throwing a javelin, perhaps too, she enjoys the process of representing her country without having to wear a bikini to do it. Either way you slice it, Leryn Franco represents something that us Americans claim we hold dear: passion and spirit.
There's a tacit sprytness present in someone who would fashion a career in modeling so she can finance her frivolous grand-scale hobby. Musician Jack Johnson woke up on the beach one day, decided he wanted to stop being a professional surfer and start making crappy mellow music and he's generally well-liked for it. I see the same preciousness in Franco.
There was never a point in which Franco could have thought she would qualify for the final javelin competition. During the Beijing qualifiers she threw the spear 12 meters shorter than her 2007 personal best. Had she matched her personal best at the Beijing trials, she still would have only been ranked 37th, 29 slots out of qualifying. No chance.Varieties of beautiful people are represented in these games. U.S. Softball pitcher Jennie Finch represent everything perfect about humanity (talent, beauty and dedication)**, U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones represents everything real about humanity (skill, drive, missed opportunity) and Leryn Franco represents a lighter, freer, humbler quality of humanity (the personal desire to compete and the freedom to fail).
Leryn Franco is, at best, a tiny footnote of these grand Games, but in a way, that tinniness is why it's worth noting. It's quirky. Paraguay is a quirky country, javelin is a quirky sport and her involvement in these games was a quirky failure. Most importantly however, the spoils of javelin chucking are enough to compel her to embark on that failure.
This free desire has been grossly underrepresented.
Click on photo for extra large dose of beauty... and talent?
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* Except maybe that Shawn Johnson has two different sized eyebrows. Has anyone else noticed this? In every picture and every video clip, it looks as if she's raising one eyebrow. It makes her look cocky and perhaps a bit smarmy and if she doesn't make the Wheaties box like Mary Lou, you'll know why.** Ironically, less than 12 hours after I wrote this, the U.S. Softball team lost their first game since September 21, 2000. The loss can only be looked at as a massive upset and proof that even Jennie Finch is flawed.
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