A meme ( /ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.[3]

That's what a meme is.

On August 8, 2012 the meme became self-aware

she may have earned her rigtht to be impressed on not, but there is a thing called good sportsmanship and she doesn't seem to have it. If someone is trying to congratulate you for doing a good job show some respect and give them a hug. and she won silver it may not be GOLD but that's life baby at least you placed. She's very lucky to be there at all so let her show some respect and not be a brat. it's not her work that is being criticized it's her lack of good manners.

First off, she is from Orange County (north of San Diego). It may be wise not to assume that because she is from Southern California, she is an automatic stuck up and ungrateful person. I am from San Diego and my parents taught me to be gracious, to have poise, tact and to be grateful for the things I am given. So please don't lump us all together, because her parents didn't do as good of a job teaching their daughter manners.

Who cares!!!.....get a life!!

Oh no zhahigia, it is not wrong. Go for the dough baby

Yeah? Since when is PROSTITUTION not wrong? That's exactly what's wrong with the country. It's like a ship without a Rudder. Of course it's wrong and for a thousand reasons not the least of which is the spread of disease. It is the laziest form of earning a living and a curruption of the purpose of sex.

Why don't you write a column about manners Ms MGrammie, your folks could help you out.

Manners, I can tell you are young and dumb for even making the burst of comments the way you have. Ms Mgrammie answered with respect and lack of insults as you did. I hate blogs that are so imature in nature. When you grow up and have family members DIE in the cold war. When you have friends and troops you are pen pals with and sending packages to DIE! Then we will talk. These young men and women fought for our country and our flag rises today because of them. She was representing all of us Americans. All of us. She needed to show us respect and act right. No oh she had a bad day. No really is that the way you act in public. Let alone in the whole worlds eyes. She was not ready to even earn silver. That is one girl I frown upon winning anything for America. You again go for your country not urself. Act like you care about America and all who died for you to wrap yourself up with the warm blanket of freedom they have provided. End of story. And stop dissing on people it is not mature or funny. Makes you look bad.

I agree my son spent 6 years fighting for this countruy while she was in training to act like a spoiled brat!

Dissing on people?? Have you read your own posts?

Would LOVE to see what you look like; very mature talking smack about a teenager. Grow up and get a clue. She may look like a snob (or whatever other foul name you would like to call her) it does not mean she is one. Yes she should have had more common sense to show some good sportsmanship however she obviously was angry,disappointed and overcome with sadness with her performance. We all have horrible moments just let it go already she will regret it we all know that already.

You are a bitch from wherever you're from. Apparently where you are from has nothing to do with being a bitch, so not sure why saying she is from San Diego is relevant. Stop judging people and jumping to conclusions. You have no idea how she felt after her fall. Her facial expressions could mean disappointment, humilation, annoyance with herself. ALL of you jumping to conclusions about the type of person she is, who are calling her names, are no better than the person you are portraying her to be.

Good post

EXACTLY... Agree with Antagonistic! In fact her facial expression appears less as dissatisfaction and more as an attempt not to cry (biting her cheek to hold back tears?!) because she knew everyone else was critical of her silver and expected nothing less than a perfect scoring gold medal ! Do any of you 'commenters' remember being that age? The pressure had to be unbearable (and yes, she asked for this pressure by dedicating her life to the sport... I know this family through team sports and all the children are natural athletes with very healthy competetive attitudes ! She pushed herself---was not pushed by her parents!). If she had won silver in any other routine she probably would have cried tears of joy on the podium and we all would be applauding her contribution to our country. But instead, her attempt to be stoic while facing the heartache of dissappointing all those who expected perfection has earned her this vicious criticism... Never seen a country more obssessed with building up our own--- then tearing down just as fast! Where is OUR good sportsmanship... she's just a kid. And I also recognize that McKayla's being held to a higher standard because of the world arena she chose to participate in... That does not allow alll you mean spirited critics to have no standards in common decency! Disgusting... But you're probably all perfect though - right?

I think the issue is her unsportsmalike attitude at the Olympics. She refused to acknowledge an attempt by a fellow competitor to hug her. Actually the proper decorum if you lose an event is to go and congratulate the winner. The winner in this case tried to acknowledge, perhaps console her and was shoned by Ms PETULANT.

Sure she is a kid. All the more reason why she should not have the sad sophistication of feigning ignorance of her PERTULANCY.

Funny, I don't remember seeing any of the Russians congratulating Douglas at the AA. Komova was too busy sulking. Nor did I see the Russians do the same during Team Finals. The Russians are known for acting like brats. I've been obsessed with this sport for 16 years. She didn't do anything the Russians didn't do first. The fact that it was a Russian she didn't hug was downright hilarious. What goes around comes around, right?

The gold medal winner is from Romania; surprising that someone obsessed with the sport for so long didn't know that.

Are U AMERICAN????? or Russian???? I as an American would have done the right thing. These pics are form the ceremony. Why was she still acting that way. Covering her medel and everything. We are Americans and holding are head high is what we do so please don't compare us to other countries.

"She didn't do anything the Russians didn't do first"? While I understand what you are saying, I don't agree that it's okay to behave badly because others are doing so. These girls have been taught the proper protocols and behaviors regarding good sportsmanship since they were 5 years old. There really is no excuse. She should have sucked it up, smiled politely, congratulated the gold and bronze medal winners and then gone back to her hotel room where she could privately do what she needed to do - scream, rant, commiserate with her teammates, etc.. In short, she should have known better and, if this meme makes her a little embarrassed, that's probably a good thing. Maybe next time she'll behave more appropriately.

The fall was one part. She didn't congratulate the winner, and the pictures above are not from after the fall. They are later in the ceremony. As you can see she is wearing silver around her neck. Well and covering it. No you are representing our country. 18 yr old go to war and die foe us. It has nothing to do with being a teenager at all. It is just lack of respect for anyone else but herself. I can tell you are young with the words you choose to use. It has nothing to do with age. Nothing at all. I am upset for the Ennis girl who wrote her name all over her country's flag. It is not right. Her country men died to make it so she could fly that flag. They after death didn't get their names on it, why should she have hers on it. It is shere disrespect and thats all.

Perhaps you should take an english class because lol. your english (or lack thereof } is an embarrassment to our Country!

The same can be said for you as well, Eaglets3. Your first sentence isn't a complete sentence and you ended it with "because lol." It makes no sense. You didn't capitalize English, and you also capitalized country when it did not need to be capitalized.

Thank you, come again.

Cheated by the judges. She should have the gold. Honest very important, Affects life for long time. Seems Russian.

You seem out of sorts. Run out of meds?

are you talking to me ROKOJO? oh wait your talking to yourself

You are one dumb bitch, girlgirl01.

No, he wasn't talking to your stupid ass.

OH TAYLOADE SHUT UP! You are probably one of those GEEKS that sit at home doing nothing but stare at their computer all day! so shut up! at least she does something for a living! and she is like SIXTEEN! she works hard for years and years to make it to this point and she didn't get gold. SO SHUT UP! she's still a kid! you sound like a BULLY for saying these things about her! if she is still a kid, she handled it well! considering the way you're acting on here, you would probably storm out of the room if you won silver and not gold. shame on you! shame on you for BULLYING a sixteen/ seventeen year old girl. considering the level of difficulty in gymnastics she is in now, she has been lectured thousands of times about good sportsmanship! Sounds to me like you are insecure about YOUR nose so you criticize hers! Get off of this website you five year old baby! If this is how you talk and act to people, I think you need a reality check! you are no better than ANYBODY else! Especially McKayla Marony! She's probably made it farther in this world than you EVER will. So would you like to pay with cash or credit for your BINKI AND CRIB?

You truly are disgusting. It is obvious you have no brains with which to actually write something of value.

RedNeckJimbob,

I can't imagine you are an adult.. your comments are something that a pervert would write. Does it get you off to write your disgusting comments and then post them over & over & think that others will read them.Why don't you go wallow in you own mental filth somewhere else? I'm sure you have subscribed to a number of venues where you can express your filth to your hearts content. No one is amused or entertained by your remarks. People just pity you..but you already know that ..

That's the problem when you build up these athletes so much. They can't accept anything less than their expectations. She was billed as the best on the vault and expected to wipe the floor mat with all the other competitors. When she couldn't, the realization that she didn't live up to her expectations flooded her mind and poisoned any thought of good sportsmanship on her part. If the media and others left these athletes be and only built them up when they actually won the gold, then I think the attitudes would be a whole lot different. Also, coaching has something to do with it. There is nothing wrong with striving to be the best, but good sportsmanship must prevail if you fall short.

She did hug the gold medalist from Romania, and the coach from Germany. As far as her apparent "snub" of the Russan athlete, I just don't see it. Unless you were on the floor to see and hear all that was done and said, everyone is making a lot of assumptions.

Minny54 you are so right I believe a lot of these comments are coming from trolls.

Go look at the tape again, She didn't hug the winner, the winner hugged her. She didn't even put her arms around the winner. As for the Russian girl it was a straight snobby snub no excuse and very poor sportamanship. Uncalled for.

i did gymnastics for years and years in my life. nobody in gymnastics hugs they're competitor. she was sorta trying to rub it in. yeah she was trying to be nice too, but she is smiling like crazy. yeah she is happy but really, she was sort of rubbing it into McKayla's face. I don't condone the behavior that McKayla showed, but i'm still on her side. i mean, not winning gold would MAJORLY decrease confidence.

PLEASE LIKE IF YOU WOULD BE KIND OF UPSET IF YOU WON GOLD NOT SILVER

You must have had no arms if you did not hug your competitior if in fact you did any gymanastics..

Give me a break. The Russians team also showed poor sportmanship during the games (Komova at the AA anyone?), why is it okay for the Russians to act like brats, and not anyone else? What goes around comes around. In any case, why do they all need to hug right smack after results? There's no need to. They should be given time to process what just happened. They can do their hugging and kissing on the podium.

Naw, nothing beats that NAZI's disgust at being beat by a black American.

that is just plain racist!

oh please! all of you who are saying bad things about her, SHAME ON YOU! she is sixteen/seventeen! most of the people on this website are adults! or are supposed to be! if you have said ANYTHING bad about McKayla Marony, shame on you for bullying a sixteen/ seventeen year old girl!

now I really know you never was a good sport's girl age has nothing to do what she did..That is called poor sportsmanship

Shut up moron.

As an American I have to ask; What exactly are we becoming? We now have hit a new low in our society. Our media takes free speech and uses it as a license to personally attack individuals and disgrace them in front of the entire world. A large number of our own citizens jump on the band wagon because they think it is fun to tear an individual down who has achieved something they could only dream of. Most good people will not run for public office because of the personal attacks against them and their families. So guess what, you end up with a country that is in debt and suffers from a weak economy, and severe unemployment. Doesn’t matter if you are Republican or Democrat, the class of politicians we have in Washington will drag the country down because they will do anything to gain control of the White House. The more uncomfortable they can make it for the American people, they figure the better chance they have of getting into office. For those of you who are not aware, China, a Communist nation, hold the majority of the US debt. Now, you may ask what does this have to do with the Olympics and Maroney. The young lady make an expression and it could have just been her thinking to herself, how did I mess up, why did I come up short. I have seen plenty of people deep in thought that unknowingly make some really bad expressions. But what we chose to do is decide what she is thinking and then ridicule her all over the internet for billions to read. Because of the behavior of our media and some of our outspoken citizens, we are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the world. A lot of athletes from other nations did not win a medal, many came in dead last. But their fans cheered them and you have yet to see their nations ridicule them in a public forum. So what have we done as a nation? We have publicly criticized Gabby for her hair. This is a young girl who all she wanted to do is compete and make her country proud. The Wall Street Journal trashed Lolo Jones because she did not win a medal but is the US reigning champion and holds two world titles. Many of our wonderful citizens though it was great to jump on the bandwagon. Maybe that reporter should try getting out there to see what he could do. My guess is nothing. It is easy to trash someone in the media when you can hide behind a desk. He and the editor the let the story run should both be publicly humiliated and fired. And lastly we attack Maroney who is one of our Olympic champions, all because we want to decide what the expression on her face means. That is three American athletes, two of whom have won multiple gold medals, that we have decided to trash in front of the world. We have the undisputed honor of being the only nation to do this. In one of these blogs a individual mentioned he was a soldier and seeing the expression on Maroney’s face made him feel embarrassed to be an American. All I have to say is he either was not in the military or he forgot the core values he fought for. I believe in freedom of speech, but not to the point when we use it maliciously to destroy the lives of others. Like every other nation in the world who has athletes in the Olympic Games, support our athletes and quit second guessing what they look like, how they perform and what you believe they are thinking. Otherwise you will find that we will have the same class of athletes as we do politicians. Young people will no longer want to compete if they can expect to be ridiculed and humiliated in a public forum. GOD bless our country and our athletes.

For most of the athletes, the media's expectations and build up have added more stress and have hurt their focus. In the case of Lolo Jones, she has hurt herself by talking the talk but not walking the walk. So, I don't feel sorry for Lolo because she created her own problems with her big mouth.

Outstanding post, Learn2Live!!! You hit the nail square on the head!

Are you kidding me GET off your soap box, EVERY AMERICAN has the right to say what they feel about what she did or looked like or expressed. I'm sure she was taught through all her years of sports to have good sportsman like behavior !!!, and she very clearly did not ON National Television AT the Olympics REPRESENTING the USA. There are too many people in this world that do not know or care to HONOR the word AMERICAN and if we don't stand up and do the right thing and basically scold her like her Parents & Coach should, then the world DOES NOT change !!!!,,, People are like ostrich's, if they don't like it or can't deal with it,, then they just stick their heads in the sand and act as if it NEVER happened. Every PERSON out here that made a comment is CLEARLY AN AMERICAN WITH PRIDE AND HONOR !!!,, including YOU, so dont scold the people that Clearly have pride and have their own opinion,, She did DO WRONG She Did have a BAD ATTITUDE and she should have been proud to even be able to enter the event,, PERIOD !!!!!!!!, SIGNED PROUD AMERICAN FOR LIFE.. !!!!

TOUCHE!!!

What...you both speak with forked tongue. She was very gracious with everyone, what Olympics were you watching. Hey ROKOJO touche this.

Guess you didn't like reading the truth. It's an American problem.

Although I agree with most of what you have said on huge misconception is that China holds most US debt actually most US debt is owed to ourselves. All foreign debt combined only accounts for 1/3 of US debt. What people don’t understand is that this is nothing like an American household as touted by the Tea Party. No State or Local government, or any US household has a monetary system. This is what makes the Federal Government completely different. Having a healthy debt does weaken the value of the US dollar, but it also makes our exports more competitively priced abroad. If we could wave a magic wand and pay off all debt it would likely collapse our weakened economy as our export prices would skyrocket and no one would buy our goods. This would raise unemployment much higher and in a dozen other ways destroy our economy. Since I don’t want to write a thesis here on how the economy works and why economists themselves nearly always get it wrong I will go back to the Olympics where I agree with you.

idiot, you have no clue and shouldnt even be talking debt in an olimpic thread/blog

Dang, very good post. Thank you

A load of nonsense! Stck to the point raher than a long and laborius lecture. Its called "sportsmanship" and its been around longer than you have ...she didnt show it-get over it!

I read your post and it is interesting. Fact is the young lady is representing The Flag of the USA. She can behave that way if she is competing for her school and perhaps face the wrath of the administration and not the public. Although I doubt it. Unsportswoman-like behavior has no age treshhold. It is what it is. She fell on her fanny and the attitude with which she dressed the failing--if a Silver medal at the Olympics can be called a failing--shows that part of the reason was overconfidence or put another way an arrogant attitude. I hope she learns from the experience and that her parents do a better job of teaching sportsmanship and sportswomanship.

As for Lolo Jones, she is a phenomenal hurdler. Don't know all the background about the NY Times piece but one of the challenges athletes have to learn is if you live by publicity, don't be surprised to find it cuts both ways.

Great post! I can't believe how people will take an expression and blow it out of proportion. Did anyone see her expression when she landed on her butt? Her mouth was like :-O. She was shocked!!!!!! Was her overcofidence her downfall? Maybe. Only she knows how she could have had her 2nd fall on vault in 3 years. I'm willing to bet she was too preoccupied with that fall to really notice anyone else, or what kind of expression she had. "If ONLY I hadn't fallen...if ONLY I could have another chance" This is her first Olympics, so chances are this is the most media attention she's had in her life. She probably wasn't aware of the hype that her expressions would cause. It's a lesson for her, but I think the media needs to stop stirring the pot and creating a lot of drama. That the girls got gold for only the second time in history should have been enough drama for the public. The good kind. God forbid we only have happy stories on the web.

MindyM: so very true. Just like F ox S ports, the media in general is just stirring the pot to get people all hyped up about a whole lot of nothing. Creating drama is what gets people on forums like these and drives up their "numbers" so that they can jam more advertising on there to drive up their revenue. Let's not supply more fodder for the media and let the athletes do what they've trained for for so many years. Let's bring out the positive and put aside the mean spirited comments. Until she tells us, no one knows what she was thinking at the time. Our emotions sometimes runs away with us when things don't go our way. A question to all who say she should just buck up and suck up: When things don't go as you wish are you all happy and smiley and gracious? Maybe in the next Olympics she will know better and be able to hide her true emotions, but for now she was disappointed and showed it.

Mckayala on twitter said so many things went through her head that she completelty forgot what to do and after the ceremony she hugged the girl she ignored. So actually she is a good person not a stuck up person like many people think.But i agree with both of you.

We are in time in which every reaction of athletes is being watched. Simply put, if you do not want to be ridiculed for a negative reaction then do not wear your emotions on your sleeve.

Most Americans don't understand what "free speech" means for US citizens, especially people who only listens to a certain news org, which I will not mention. The words free speech has come to mean something different to many who utter those words than what it's true constitutional meaning was meant to be.

Free speech in the US is based on the fact that Congress can not pass any law that will infringe upon your speech. It was never it intended for "free speech" to mean that you could not receive backlash from fellow Americans who disagrees with your expression.

Common misconceptions about free speech:

Radio announcers gets fired for saying something over the air that his boss does not what any part of. That announcer's free speech is still in tact after getting fired because his boss isn't congress.

Celebrity says or does something that causes s/he to lose endorsements. The celebrity's freedom of speech is not infringed upon unless congress caused him to lose endorsement.

Etc.

A person is free to express themselves in this country, except in very narrow circumstances. However, just as the constitutions states that there shall be no law passed banning expression, it also applies to backlash. There is no law that says that people can't express their disapproval of your expression. Freedom of speech does not mean that you free from backlash. It just means that, unlike China and other places, you will not get locked up for expressing yourself, except in situations that you are inciting eminent danger to other citizens.

I really don't understand why so many Americans believe freedom of expression means free from backlash. It only means that you will not be censored by government, but that also applies to backlash. The very people who swear the media is decaying our society, are the ones who watch only one news network, needless to say which one, and learn everything they know about constitutional rights by its twisted version.

McKayla is a spoiled bitch and if I were her father, I would slap her across the face for acting how she did. Way to solidify the worlds opinion of the USA- that we are spoiled little brats.

Oh and I don't give a damn if she is 16. She is a 16 year old disrespectful bitch.

A meme, No! Not at all. No one cared to follow her actions. We have Americans over seas representing our fine counrty with pride. Then We have McKayla. Not American material at all. I think she has gotton her wat so much that she dosn't (well is shows)have any care for her actions at all in the public eye, let alone the national public eye. Their is a way to act and she not only failed to exacute the event, she also failed to act American and do it with honor after her loss. Top it off she was able to stand on the podium, where millions of little girls dreams lay. She was able to stand there where past olympians have stood and honored their country. She FAILED that to. When our flag is risen and stands errect and our Nations anthem is playing respect the ones who died and gave you the freedom to stand there in the first place. SHE has an X X X in my book. Next time the American's go leave her home. Send her to military school, maybe she will learn how to act!

I don't normally pick at people but you should try to proof read before you post about being American. You mis-spelled Olympic TWICE. You also mis-spelled Country,overseas, gotten, what, doesn't execute, erect and raised . There is a place Their means ownership, as in Their Car. Sorry for being rude but DANG!

Hey Nikemama, I glad you don't normally pick at people. If you did you would be yardbarkers biggest contributors. When you and others pick on commenters writing skills you discourage them and many others from posting. When that happens the blog loses. This is an opem dialogue for everyone. Brilliant scientist, highly educated soccer moms, and those with good insight but slightly less than perfect grammer. Just saying.

Hit button twice OOPPPSSS!

A lot of people are banging this stuff out quickly and under those conditions, I would expect grammar errors. I'm smart enough to figure out what they mean (most of the time). Point? I agree with you. Pick needs to find a different message board where everyone is grammatically correct.

Yes ROKOJO: True, we don't need to nit pick. We're not in grammar class. Stick to the subject if the errors aren't blatant.

trebor171 Thank you for suporting all that aren't good in english as of second language for us or third for me ,and we are always skeptical of making comments due to a rude americans coments in regards to spelling.
I believe she was very desrespectful to the russian girl ,no matter what you accomplished sportsmanship should be shown in any case that's why it's called COMPETITION you are a friend up to a certain point and than you become a rival .AT THE END YOU SHAKE HANDS ,bad manners .....

What do you mean shake hands? They hugged. The Russian girl was the bronze winner, looked even younger than McKayla and a very delightful girl. Was there something that transpired between them that I missed.

Well, Miss Crabtree, get out of that glass house and quit throwing stones. You misspelled "proofread" and "misspell" twice.

Awesome, so we pick on 16 year old kids who can’t defend themselves from all the negative comments. Seemingly adults, who are too lazy to write where people can understand, and who can speak for themselves we will, defend to the death.
So she dodged a hug and made faces. You have no idea what the gold winner is like toward her off camera. Maybe she has been nasty to McKayla. Sixteen year old girls don’t always have full control of their emotions like an adult would. I am certain that McKayla worked much harder on winning her silver then any of us did cutting her down.

Wow when you aren't correcting peoples spelling you make a great observation. You are right we have no idea what has gone on behind the scenes and I really don't think her face was all that ugly. Nike I agree with you, she is just a 16 year old kid. These people slamming her must not have children.

That's exactly your problem. You have no compass and do not understand the meaning of sportsmanship. There is hardly hope for you. Good luck with your warped sense of reality. Do they eat nails and drink vinegar at places where you play sports? Oh I mis-spoke, you don't know much about sports either.

That, and the fact that the Russians have behaved just as bad, if not worse pretty much throughout the whole week. Apparently no one saw the Team Finals, or the AA when Douglas won gold over Komova. Where was Komova? Not hugging Douglas. She was too busy crying on her coach's shoulder. That kind of behavior to the US would put me off on wanting to go over and hug them too. I'd rather the athletes hug and shake hands on the podium. The ones that lose would most likely rather be left alone for a few moments after results to ponder where they went wrong and process the fact that they didn't get the medal they wanted, if at all.

But he is displaying another side of America, the side that is perfect and full of errors and mistakes and then sits back and complain.

Nikemama thank goodness you don't usually pick at people, you would be the number one contributor to Fox Sports. Not everyone is a brilliant rocket scientist, a highly educated soccer mom, or a college english major, but when you take on the role as literacy police you discourage a lot of people with worth while comments from posting. Besides the more thry write and read the better they get. My younger brother barely made it through the 8th grade, but by the time he passed at 55 he could read and write like a college professor, all self taugh.

Update: August 09, 2012
The more they write. Wouldn't want the spelling police to get me.

If you don't normally pick at people, don't start now!!!

That was a totally uncalled for racist remark Dicknuggets. You should be banned from further commenting. I don't agree with Nikemama being the spelling cop, but I would defend her against racism with my life. From a white American for a colorless America. Even if Nikemama is not black it was a rude comment aimed at Black Americans

I'm whiter then you sweetheart. Kiss my grits :)


Update: August 09, 2012
I'm whiter than you sweetheart. Kiss my grits :)

than you........just picking back :)

Self-proclaimed Dick. I wouldn't expect anything less. Trebor good eye. :)

@Trebor, I never claimed to be perfect. :) I can take a picking as good as any. Just got my goat that someone is going to jump a 16 year old girl for acting like a teenager. She worked her can off to get to the Olympics. That joker couldn't even SPELL Olympics. It's fine, I'm better now.

I'm guessing you've failed quite a bit in life judging by your grammar, or maybe you are just representing America well since we are so far behind in education. This seems like a more disapointing representation of our country than a 16 year old girl making a face.

When did grammar become the issue here? Back on point please!!!

Okay, calm down. Of course she is unimpressed with a silver, because as the GREATEST VAULTER IN THE WORLD, I'm sure she was planning on getting a gold for our country, She isn't satisfied, because she feels she did honor us enough... ever thought of that??? McKayla is a great girl, and you are not very appropriate saying that she didn't honor our country. Did you not see her vault the night of team finals? It was perfect. I'm sure she was just hoping to be that good again, but she fell short. And by the way, I don't know if you've noticed, but the national anthem only plays for the country that got first... All I'm trying to say is that for everyone trying to say that she has no respect for our country might just want to keep their mouths closed, because you don't know what she was thinking about when the picture was taken. Please just calm yourselves...

It's mighty easy to stand in judgment of someone else when you haven't stood in their shoes! She Is young, and she should have been more gracious & professional because she was on the world's stage at the Olympics. To tear her down and make all kinds of assumptions about the type of person she is or how American or un-American she is...IS Absurd! It's mighty easy to be an armchair umpire. I would like to see half of the people who have hurled such disgusting criticism at this young women walk to their car without tripping over their own feet......not to mention the fact that you can't stop ranting about Americanism..Yap, Yap< Yap, I suppose your a Christian too,& therefore even a bigger hypocrite for tearing down another person at the first opportunity. I guess that is what you consider "The American way? as well. Get a life!

I know endorsemnets usually come flying in after the Olympics. She should be endorsed by Preperation H or maybe even Midol.

That was funny!! I don't care who said it.

...and you should be endorsed by Philips Stool Softener capsules. free 100 bottle size.

I watched the award ceremony and all three of the young women were beautiful and gracious. It was reported that McKayla had a flawless vault. Well.......you know those judges are not always U.S.'s friend. Also they are human and when you have one country that doesn't have many medals, and one country has a lot of metals and the competitor for the U.S. already has one gold and is only 16 years old so she will be back. Human behavior takes over and the impartial/partial judges give the tie to the poor country that doesn't have a gold and an older competitor. Of course McKayla would have been more excited had she won gold (who wouldn't be) this girl gave 110% of herself. So back Off haters

But, part of the disappointment is in the fact that the competitor won't be back. A female gymnast has not returned in the US since the 96 team. This is because of the continually increasing demands of the sport (do you really think she'll be able to throw the even MORE difficult vaults in 4 years when she's 20) and the continually increasing depth of our talent production in US gyms.

It truly is a one shot deal, and that's the one thing that nobody here seems to be getting in all of their comments. These girls give up EVERYTHING, there entire childhood, school dances, social life, the opportunity to do or try other activities to live at the gym for the slimmest of hope of making it there.....for a one shot deal.

I'm not defending her actions or behavior. I'm merely explaining the "why" behind it. She was blessed enough to win many lotteries along with the hard work and sacrafice she put in...such as the timing of her age falling at an opportune time for an Olympic year so that she's in her prime, having the raw talent, etc. And, she's without a doubt the best vaulter in the world. Going into that night, the commentator said that even her WORST score over the last two years, was better than anybody else's best. So, she was a lock, right? Nope, after sacraficing her whole childhood. When it came down to her final two vaults for her ultimate lifelong goal, she fell on her behind....on her EASIER vault! And just like that, her Olympic dream is over. Everything she worked for up to that point.

Again, in no way am I defending the behavior. Personally, I always teach my kids that the public is a stage and you save the tears and disappointment for the car ride home. Sportsmanship is a big part of the life lessons that we hope people are teaching their children from pre-school on up. Every child will throw a tempertantrum at some point when they aren't happy with their performance and if the parents feed into it and coddle it instead of disciplining it and telling them to suck it up and that their behavior is unacceptable, then they simply will continue to throw attention-seeking childish temper tantrums. It really is a life lesson that must be taught.

I have to agree sariba, the demands on the human body must be brutal for gymnists to say the least. I think the kid (get that the 16 year old kid) handled herself very well under the circumstances.

I hate being that person but, you spelled gymnasts wrong. It's gymnasts not gymnists. Sorry I don't like being mean I just wanted you to know for the future.

you are so graciousto offer your pedagogic talents to this poor commentator.......look at your own grammar in the above

A flawless vault does not end with the vaulter on her butt - what olympics are you talking about?

First of all she fell, so that does not equate to flawless. Secondly and more importantly, as a former collegiate athlete myself, sportsmanship is taught at the earliest level of competition. It's not whether you win or loose....(sound familiar). I can assure you that all the US athletes have been prepped by various ones on how to carry themselves while representing their country in the biggest world stage event. Even though the pain of a loss cuts deep, if she would have at least been cordial and congratulatory she would have appeared to be humble, and a good sport. Since she displayed a negative reaction, one would have to discern opposite.

Who asked you, Troll?

Any one else would have been over the moon to have a won a silver medal. Kayla's behavior speaks volumes about her. You were representing the United States, now your behavior has been labeled as typical for Americans, which really is a misnomer as many Americans are humble and grateful for any accolades. I would be ashamed to have my daughter act as you did. To snub another athlete as you did, causes one to think that you are a spoiled brat; i.e., you didn't win gold, so your going to sulk. Shame on you.

Talk about not being impressed... The Americans have a rough enough time convincing the rest of the world that we care about others as much as or than ourselves. This sets that image back in a big way. I personally don't wish to see her represent me or my country in any more international events again...PERIOD!!!

She needs to find something else to do with her time than stand on a podium that so many other athletes were ecstatic to have the opportunity to do. She basically looked like a spoiled rotten little brat, a mentality that the rest of the world already accuses us of. Anyone out there want their child telegraphing that attitude on the world stage???