Nadzeya Ostapchuk took home the gold medal today in the women’s shot put after a 21.36-meter launch. Rather than celebrating her achievement, though, countless Twitter trolls instead chose to hammer Ostapchuk — from a safe distance, of course — for not looking like a supermodel.
Most of the insults directed at Ostapchuk suggested that she is not, in fact, a woman. Lovely.
https://twitter.com/sam_mcmul/status/232560565518757889
https://twitter.com/sarahtroke/status/232560978187939840
https://twitter.com/zoooeeee_/status/232560930951659520
https://twitter.com/Damii_GC16/status/232560925566197760
https://twitter.com/MAGalluzzo/status/232560820398219267
Pathetic. But the pigs just kept piling on:
https://twitter.com/f_shy/status/232557331228000256
Cue the sexual filth:
Disgusting.
Even celebrity classiness-monger Ricky Gervais weighed in:
https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/232551934131859457
Fortunately, chivalry is not completely dead. A few people rightly stood up and defended Ostapchuk against the haters:
https://twitter.com/willgreen2010/status/232563126049075202
We couldn’t agree more. Congratulations to Ostapchuk on her win.
And to her misogynistic detractors: Shame on all of you.
***
Update:
Ostapchuk was stripped of her gold medal yesterday after testing positive for steroids.
After an IOC hearing, she was formally expelled from the games and had her victory and medal removed from the records. She was the eighth athlete, and first medalist, caught during the IOC’s London drug-testing program.
…
Track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, will consider further action against Ostapchuk, who could face a two-year ban from the sport.
[New Zealand’s Valerie] Adams was bumped up from Olympic silver to gold, with Evgeniia Kolodko of Russia upgraded to silver and fourth-place finisher Gong Lijiao of China moved up to bronze.
