I completely agree! I read a HuffPost article yesterday that had me thinking along these same lines: I’ve watched both the live streams and the prime time broadcasts for the gymnastics (and I will say that the live stream duo of Courtney Kupets and Jon Horton is better than Tim and Nastia), you hear all sorts of things during the women’s sport broadcasts you wouldn’t hear during the men’s. During the live stream of the men’s AA final yesterday, they mentioned an athlete’s life outside of the gym ONCE, and it still related back to the sport (Calvo Moreno, in saying he grew up in poverty, but then he had such great results the Colombian government gave his family a house). And I agree that it’s a big deal — not to mention wonderful — but I’ve heard the story about Simone Biles’ parents/grandparents almost every broadcast at this point. Let’s not forget the mall comment above, either.

The male gymnasts’ families aren’t interviewed or sought out — even when the US had Paul Hamm — but just like with Hosszu, the announcers or network or whoever aren’t content to credit the female athlete herself with the performance or victory. During gymnastics Olympic Trials, after Gabby fell off the beam, NBC sent someone to interview her mother in the stands, mid-competition. What is that? What does it have to do with Gabby? Her mother didn’t push her off the beam.

And TODAY, with the live stream of the women’s final, when Seda Tutkhalian and Shang Chunsong didn’t place, the host broadcasters kept panning back to them in tears — and let me tell you, yesterday they showed bronze medalist Max Whitlock maybe twice and kept the rest of the views on Kohei Uchimura (gold) and Oleg Verniaiev (silver). No disappointment shots there. All of the top athletes came in with big goals that can only be achieved every four years, and they’re certainly allowed to be disappointed. Especially in a sport with such a short shelf life. But Seda and Chunsong are women, who cry, so it’s fair game to show it, even when they’re clearly facing away from camera and hiding their faces because they know how tears will be viewed.