Yesterday I noted that Ronda Rousey, who is Team USA's best chance of winning an Olympic medal in judo, had a post on her blog accusing a judo official of molesting girls. Today that blog post has been removed. I e-mailed Rousey to ask her why, and she answered, "legal reasons." She did not elaborate.
She did, however, put up this post:
for those waiting to criticize me - this is MY blog I'll write what I'm thinking and feeling. you can write the caption of the Wheaties box all you want. But you know what - it's boring! AND I bet its a chore to write yours, so save your criticism.In any event, I think Rousey was right to remove the accusation, as the charges were serious and the evidence presented was flimsy. Rousey is a great athlete who writes from an interesting perspective, but athletes in relatively obscure sports like judo often don't understand the extent to which the Olympics transform their anonymity into fame -- and the gravity that fame lends to their words. The U.S. Olympic Committee would be wise to give more thorough media training to athletes before they become famous.
