{"id":92910,"date":"2024-08-11T17:27:52","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T00:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=92910"},"modified":"2024-08-11T17:27:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T00:27:52","slug":"olympics-highs-and-lows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2024\/08\/11\/olympics-highs-and-lows\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympics Highs and Lows"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI get more than double what I would be on otherwise as an athlete \u2013
\nread into that what you will, but I am making more
\nfrom OnlyFans <\/strong>than I am from rowing at this stage.\u201d <\/em> <\/em><\/span> <\/em><\/span>
\n\u2013 <\/em>New Zealand rower Robbie Manson <\/strong>explains how he supports himself.  You know what they say \u2013
\nsupport can be beautiful.  And you can see how beautiful on BillyMasters.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No time for chit-chat.  I\u2019m ravenous, I\u2019ve got jet lag, I\u2019m watching the Closing Ceremonies<\/em>, and somehow I\u2019ve also scheduled a tryst with two insignificant others in about 20 minutes (give or take).  I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m coming or going…that\u2019s what they said!<\/p>\n

\"colorbar1\"<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the Olympics<\/em><\/strong>.  I\u2019m going to wade into choppy waters \u2013 although slightly cleaner than the Seine \u2013 and talk about gender.  I don\u2019t believe athletes are separated because someone has a penis or a clitoris \u2013 or, in the case of some unfortunate countries, neither.  I believe they are separated because the abilities of one sex often outperform the other.  In that gymnastics event \u2013 you know, the one with a hoop and a stick with a string tied to it \u2013 women tend to do better.  In weightlifting, men have the advantage \u2013 except in rural Poland, where it\u2019s often a draw.  Of course, the ancient Greeks didn\u2019t even let women compete.  That\u2019s because most events were held in the nude and, well…I don\u2019t think the men wanted women around to ruin a good time.  But perhaps we\u2019re getting to the point where everyone should compete together and let the chips fall where they may.  Of course, these views may be the very reason I was denied press credentials to the locker room of the men\u2019s water polo team.<\/p>\n

\"colorbar1\"<\/p>\n

The gender issue came up several times during the Olympics<\/em>, but was front and center in women\u2019s boxing.  Italy\u2019s Angela Carini <\/strong>abandoned a match with Algeria\u2019s Imane Khelif <\/strong>midway for fear of her life.  Turns out, Khelif had been disqualified from the Women\u2019s World Championships <\/em>by the International Boxing Association <\/em>in 2023.  Why?  The IBA claims that Khelif \u201cfailed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women\u2019s competition\u201d.  This started rumors that Khelif is not a genetic female \u2013 although there is no evidence to support those allegations.  To avoid these sticky situations, you\u2019d think that the International Olympic Committee <\/em>would initiate gender testing \u2013 which it did until 1999.  IOC spokesperson Mark Adams <\/strong>told the press, \u201cIf we can find a consensus, and we will work towards consensus, we will certainly work to apply that clearly.  That\u2019s not going to happen at these games.  But this is a question in all sports.  And I think we are open to listening to anyone with a solution to that question…The question you have to ask yourself is, \u2018Are these athletes women?\u2019  The answer is, \u2018yes\u2019, according to eligibility, according to their passports, according to their history.  If we start acting on every issue, every allegation that comes up, then we start having the kind of witch hunts that we\u2019re having now.\u201d<\/p>\n

It should be noted that Khelif was ultimately victorious and won the women\u2019s welterweight gold medal after defeating China\u2019s Yang Liu <\/strong>in the 145-pound division.  While not germane to this story, that is my goal weight.<\/p>\n

\"colorbar1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not every Olympic <\/em>headline is about a winner.  Take Campbell Harrison<\/strong>, an Australian rock climber.  He finished 19th<\/sup> in the qualifying round, which meant he would not advance to the semifinals.  As he left the court (or whatever they call the boulders that rock climbers climb), he walked over to kiss his boyfriend Justin <\/strong>on the lips \u2013 a moment captured by the paparazzi.  The boulder might have gotten the better of him, but he\u2019s still a winner in our book.<\/p>\n

Nobody made more of a splash than Anthony Ammirati <\/strong>\u2013 the pole vaulter whose pole got more attention than his vault!  Hot off his disqualifying leap into history, he got an offer from the owner of CamSoda<\/em>.  \u201cAs a lover of crotch-centric activities, I\u2019d love to offer you up to $250,000 in exchange for a 60-minute webcam show, in which you show off your goods, minus the crossbar, of course.\u201d  I\u2019m troubled by \u201cup to\u201d.  Either make an offer or don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"colorbar1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If I may offer some unsolicited advice, I think that Ammirati might do better on his own \u2013 as proven by Matthew Mitcham<\/strong>.  The gold-medal diver from Australia claims to have done quite well with his OnlyFans <\/em>page.  And he\u2019s pretty candid that it\u2019s been a smart financial move.  \u201cI\u2019ve invested a lot of time and effort in my body.  If people want to see it, I\u2019d be stupid to give it away for free.\u201d  See?  That\u2019s where I made my mistake \u2013 I\u2019ve always given it away for free!  But I also have loads (and I do mean loads) of Mitcham available for you on BillyMasters.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the by, Mitcham has also weighed in on the trans issue.  In a video where he\u2019s wearing a \u201cTrans Dudes\u201d T-shirt, he said, \u201cApparently we live in a world now where transphobic bullying has gotten so bad that it now extends to women who people deem to be too strong and muscly…at the Olympics <\/em>of all places.  Like the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has been bullied so mercilessly that it\u2019s forced her own father to publicly release her birth certificate to prove that she was assigned female at birth.  That\u2019s shocking.  Y\u2019all need Jesus<\/strong>, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"colorbar1\"<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re worried about Zac Efron, it\u2019s definitely time to end yet another column.  You know who you should be worried about?  Poor Tom Cruise <\/strong>\u2013 risking life and limb at the Olympics, thisclose to collecting Social Security<\/em>.  While I look into this, you can look into www.BillyMasters.com<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 the site that refuses to condone elder abuse.  If you have a question for me, send it along to Billy@BillyMasters.com<\/a><\/strong> and I\u2019ll get back to you before Kathleen is cast in a revival of Gypsy<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 wouldn\u2019t she make a great Mazeppa?  So, until next time, remember, one man\u2019s filth is another man\u2019s bible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI get more than double what I would be on otherwise as an athlete \u2013 read into that what you will, but I am making more from OnlyFans than I am from rowing at this stage.\u201d    \u2013 New Zealand rower Robbie Manson explains how he supports himself.  You know what they say \u2013 support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92919,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92910\/revisions\/92919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}