Anthony Ervin resents labels, namely that people want to pick some attribute of his identity such as "mixed blood," that he is of African descent, or that one of his parent is Jewish. Ervin prefers to be seen as the composite known as Anthony Ervin rather than a classification or subset of his identity.
What I realized from this profile is that if an Olympian practices a particular religion, is of a particular ethic descent, a particular gender or has a particular sexual preference, people identify that person as "being on their team". To that extent, and I include myself, we all need a tribe I suppose.
From Bleacher Report:
The thing that I wasn’t the most comfortable with is that all of the sudden, I come on the scene, all of these people are putting these labels on me.
They wanted to make me a part of whatever pertained to them. Don’t misunderstand me; I have always known that I am of mixed blood, part African-American and many other things. But I was naive, because I didn’t know that meant anything—or would have the ramifications it did at trials. I’m just me.
[Link]
Read the article: Anthony Ervin sold his 2000 Olympic gold medal for $17,101. A cynic at first glance might ask, is he a drug addict, a gambler, perhaps heading into the poorhouse?! ABSOLUTELY NOT! Ervin donated the money to the 2004 tsunami efforts in Indonesia. Apparently we have a member on this USA Olympic team who recognizes swimming as a recreation rather than a national mission.
I like his tattoo sleeve too; a great contrast to Missy Franklin who is genuinely "Got Milk" material versus Anthony Ervin who is more geared toward "The Ramones."
1 comment:
I was sooo happy that Ervin made the team. I had no idea who he was, but was tired of hearing about Nathan Adrian.
The tattoos were cool. He didn't look like the cookie cutter image of the other athletes. I bet it bothers USA Swimming! GO ERVIN!
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