Olympic Bronze Medalist Lia Neal Talks with Essence Magazine

Essence

Olympic Swimmer Lia Neal talks about winning Bronze Medal and life as an Olympic Swimmer.

Olympic Inequalities

Olympic Inequalities

by David J. Leonard | HuffPost Sports

In a recent blog post on The Huffington Post, Kelli Goff dared to ask the unthinkable: "Why Are Some Olympic Sports Whiter Than Others?" Noting the obvious and seeking to understand the absence of people of color from many Olympic sports, Goff attempts to answer why Gabby Douglas, Lia Neal, Jordan Burroughs, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Justin Lester, John Orozco, and Cullen Jones are unusual in the white world of sports. While noting class, environment, differential opportunities (I explore this aspect here), and countless other factors, Goff stays clear of racism:

Before the eye rolling begins, this is not a column about rampant racism in sports. But it is an attempt to understand why some sports end up predominated by one racial group versus others, and the long-term social and cultural implications of such segregation on the field, court, or gymnastics mat.

Despite her attempt to push the conversation away from racism in sports (and beyond), there has been ample resistance from readers. The truth is hard to hear. The reason why America's Olympic team is overwhelmingly white, the reason why there are so few athletes of color within many Olympics sports, is the persistent impact of racism, segregation, and institutional violence.

Embodying class inequalities, a history of discrimination, and the realities of residential segregation, many Olympic sports are dominated by whites because the spaces, the neighborhoods, the schools and the very institutions that produce those recreational and elite athletes are racially segregated. Whether swimming, diving, or gymnastics, the pipeline to the Olympics is one where youth of color find difficult entry, if not outright exclusion.

We see the consequences of inequality and segregation as it relates to our high school sports, our recreation, leisure, and play. Research has shown that people of color and particularly lower-income communities have fewer opportunities for physical activity. For example, several studies published within the American Journal of Preventive Medicine(AJPM) found "that unsafe neighborhoods, poor design and a lack of open spaces and well constructed parks make it difficult for children and families in low-income and minority communities to be physically active."

Likewise, citing the study from Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) entitled "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010" Angela Glover Blackwell focuses on the structural impediments to a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise. "As the report illustrates, where we live, learn, work and play has absolutely everything to do with how we live. Low-income families of color are too often disconnected from the very amenities conducive to leading healthier lives, such as clean air, safe parks, grocery stores with fresh fruits and vegetables, and affordable, reliable transportation options that offer access to those parks and supermarkets." Communities of color, and America's poor, are disconnected from the very facilities and resources necessary to become a great champion. Access to pools, coaches, gyms, and healthy foods, remains a dream deferred for communities of color, meaning the dreams of an Olympic birth are all too distant as well.

Robin D.G. Kelley described this predicament in "Playing for Keeps," as part of structural adjustment programs and deindustrialization processes that plague poor communities of color beginning in the 1970s. "Play areas -- like much of the inner city -- have become increasingly fortified by steel fences, wrought-iron gates, padlocks, and razor sharp ribbon wire" (1998, p. 196). Noting that in cities like Cleveland and New York City, which each saw closure of between 40 and 50 million dollars worth of recreation facilities in the late 1970s, Kelley argues that play and spaces of recreation have increasingly only been accessible within middle-class (white) suburban communities.

We have witnessed a growing number of semipublic private spaces like 'people's parks' that require a key ... and highly sophisticated indoor play area that charge admission. The growth of these privatized spaces has reinforced a class segregated play world and created yet another opportunity for investors to profit from the general fear of crime and violence. This, in the shadows of Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsed's great urban vision of class integration and public sociability, high-tech indoor playgrounds such as Wondercamp, Discovery Zone and Playspace, charge admission to eager middle -- and upper-class children whose parents want a safe play environment ... While these play areas are occasionally patronized by poor and working-class black children, the fact that most of these indoor playgrounds are built in well-to-do neighborhoods and charge an admission fee ranging between $5 and $9 dollars prohibits poor families from making frequent visits (1998, p. 202).

A study in Great Britain found not only that neighborhoods that are a majority white are 11 times more likely to have "green space" but also "that people's level of physical activity and health was directly related to affluence and the quality of green space."

Evident in these spaces, pay-to-swim spots, gymnastic facilities, and countless other spaces that contribute to the development of elite athletes are inaccessible to poor communities of color. The consequences of restricting play to the well-to-do communities, of limiting access to recreation, and otherwise maintaining a system of de facto segregation when it comes to physical activity, contributes to an Olympic Movement defined by Jim Crow.

Food and differential access is also part of the answer. Studies ubiquitously illustrate the segregation has effectively cut off poor communities of color from affordable healthy food. Scholars in Australia found individuals living in poor communities have 2.5 times more contact with fast food restaurants than those living in upper-class communities. Equally important, the report highlighted that these stores sell a very limited amount of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, providing ample processed food. According to John Robbins, people of color are more likely to find foods that are high in fat, salt, refined carbohydrates and sugar compared to whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits, and organic foods which are difficult if not impossible to procure within many poor urban communities.

A North Carolina study concluded that only 8 percent of black residents lived in close proximity to a supermarket compared to 31 percent of whites. Another study in North Carolina found that the mere presence of at least one supermarket within black neighborhoods had a positive influence on the reducing fat intake (25 increase versus 10 percent for white neighborhoods). And it isn't just about the type of foods, but the cost as well. The Healthy Foods Healthy Communities report noted that on average those smaller convenience stores/gas stations/corner markets that are commonplace within America's urban centers charge between 10-49 percent higher than chain supermarkets. While commercials during the Olympics promote McDonalds and soda as the diet necessary to become a champion (dare I say "the breakfast of champions"), in reality the lack of quality, affordable, and healthy foods in many communities hurts the chances of becoming an elite athlete.

When you combine these realities with inequality in food, the costs of becoming an elite athlete, the demands of moving across the country in search of best coaches (and the financial demands to do such), the differential in sports available in urban versus suburban schools, and countless other issues, we can begin to see an answer to Goff's question.

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David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He has written on sport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular and academic mediums. His work explores the political economy of popular culture, examining the interplay between racism, state violence, and popular representations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis.  Leonard’s latest book After Artest: Race and the Assault on Blackness was just published by SUNY Press in May of 2012.

Olympics 2012: NYC Athletes Challenge Racial Norms

WNYC:

In the U.S., the Olympic sports of swimming and gymnastics are dominated by white athletes. But in London on Saturday, two New York City teenagers will challenge that notion. Lia Neal, 17, is a half-black half-Chinese athlete from Fort Greene, Brooklyn who will race in the 4 x 100 meter freestyle. And John Orozco, 19, a Puerto Rican from Harding Park in the Bronx will show what he’s got inside the gymnastics arena.

Soledad O'Brien Talks w/ BK Olympian Lia Neal

Starting Point w/ Soledad O'Brien:

Lia Neal, the second African American woman to make the US Olympic swim team, on her chances at winning gold in London.

The Melissa Harris Perry Show: Activism in the Olympics w/ John Carlos

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

1968 Olympic Bronze Medalist in Track & Field, John Carlos; 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist in Swimming, Donna de Varona; Jemele Hill; Dave Zirin

#BlackFolkSwimFast: Cullen Jones and Lia Neal Are Headed to London

Two young Olympians are poised to change "what they say" about African-Americans and swimming

#BlackFolkSwimFast: 

Cullen Jones and Lia Neal Are Headed to London

by Mark Anthony Neal | Ebony.com

Swimming has been both a source of humor and trepidation within Black communities.  While the high drowning rates of Black youth are reaching epidemic proportions, according to Talia Mark of USA Swimming, the other-side of the spectrum finds punchlines associated with the disbelief that Black folk, do in fact swim. This disbelief was brilliantly illustrated in the second season premiere of the web series Black Folk Don’t. Yet between the tragedy and the guffaws, are two swimmers—one, an American record holder in the 50 Meter Freestyle and the other a 17-year-old teenager from Brooklyn—who not only swim, but swim fast enough to represent the United States in the upcoming London Olympics.

For Cullen Jones, earning a berth on the 2012 United State Olympic Team, is déjà vu; Jones won a Gold Medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing for his role on the 4x100 Freestyle relay that also included Michael Phelps.  2012 represents a different scenario for Jones as his first place finish in the 50m Freestyle and second place finish in the 100m Freestyle at the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska offer his first chances to win a medal in an individual event at the Olympics.  Anthony Ervin, who was the first American swimmer of African descent (he is part Jewish, Native American and Black) to win a Gold Medal in Swimming in 2000, also made the Olympic team finishing second in the 50m Freestyle.

Read More

Left of Black Summer Edition Vol. 1 | “What About My Hair?” and Other Tales of “Swimming While Black”

Left of Black Summer Edition Vol. 1 |  June 14, 2012

“What About My Hair?” and Other Tales of “Swimming While Black”

In this special summer edition of Left of Black, host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype by TaliaMark, Manager of Multicultural Marketing for USA Swimming and former manager of diversity affairs for NASCAR.  Neal and Mark discuss the epidemic-like levels of drowning rates among Black and Latino/a youth, hair-care issues associated with Black female swimmers, and the success of Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones and 17-year-old Lia Neal.

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U

Black Girls Swim: 17-Year-old Lia Neal Wins the 100m Freestyle at 2012 Charlotte Grand Prix

universalsports

2012, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, Ultra Swim Grand Prix, 17 year old Lia Neal (Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics) gets the win at 54.35 seconds, beating Jessica Hardy by .01 seconds, Natalie Coughlin was 3rd.

Making Waves: Black Swimmers Convene for 9th Annual Black Heritage Swim Meet

Making Waves:

Black Swimmers Convene for 9th  Black Heritage Swim Meet

by Mark Anthony Neal | Black Voices (AOL/Huffington Post)

We've all read the statistics; the drowning rates of black children far exceed those of their white peers. In addition, the swimming proficiency of black children, accordingly, also lacks in comparison to their white peers; purportedly nearly 70 percent of black teens and children possess little or no swimming skills. Thanks to organizations like USA Swimming (the governing body of competitive swimming in the United States), the Make A Splash Foundation and the YMCA, there have been sustained efforts to increase swimming instruction among black children.

Yet in the backdrop of this seeming crisis, a generation of black swimmers have been making waves in competitive swimming and many of them will convene this Memorial Day weekend for the 9th Annual National Black Heritage Championship Swim Meet, at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, North Carolina.

The Black Heritage Meet was founded in 2003 by Kathy Cooper who coaches the North Carolina Aquablazers. Cooper's daughter's Candace (now a swimmer at UNC-Chapel Hill) was a year-round competitive swimmer and Cooper was frustrated by the lack of diversity she witnessed at competitive meets. Blacks make up roughly 1 percent of all competitive swimmers, a number that only gets smaller among elite competitors.

With the Black Heritage Meet, Cooper hoped to provide a forum where young black swimmers and their parents could network. That first meet, held in Charlotte, NC attracted 104 swimmers; this year's meet will feature 896 athletes of all races, from forty-seven teams and 12 states.

The image of competitive swimming has been given a boost in black communities in recent years because of the success and visibility of Cullen Jones (pictured above), who won a gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, as part of the US Men's 200M Freestyle Relay. Jones, who nearly drowned as a child and who was a collegiate swimmer at North Carolina State University, has used his relative celebrity to get the word out about swimming safety.

Less well known are swimmers like Maritza Correia (pictured directly above), a 2004 Olympic Silver medalist and 16-year-old Lia Neal, who is the Junior National champion in the 100M Freestyle. In 2008 as a 13-year-old, Neal (along with Missy Franklin) became one of the youngest swimmers to ever qualify for the Olympic Trials.

What makes the Black Heritage Meet such an experience is not simply the opportunity to come together with other black swimmers. Cooper describes the event as more of a family reunion, where extended family often travel hundreds of miles to see their kin compete against some of the best swimmers in the country. Indeed the sights and sounds of the meet, more resemble those found any Saturday afternoon in the autumn at an HBCU football game as opposed to most swim meet which can be dry events.

As part of the weekend-long festivities, the organizers sponsor a community breakfast, which fetes black swimming pioneers, not just in competitive swimming and diving, but also in the military. Competitors are also given the chance to swim with some of their idols. Last year, both Jones and Correia were in attendance and held swim exhibitions with swimmers. This year, Sabir Muhammad (pictured below), who was a member of the U.S. National Team in the late 1990s, will be on hand.

Competitive swimming also provides great discipline of black youth, while also providing other opportunities such as working as life guards and swimming instructors. As parent Joe Artis, whose children attended last year's National Black Heritage Championship observed, "It's another opportunity besides football and basketball that swimming gives us ... you're not gonna get rich swimming, but you can get a college degree."

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Mark Anthony Neal is a professor of African-American Studies at Duke University and the author of five books including the forthcoming 'Looking For Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities.' Neal is also a "Black Swim Parent," who resides in Durham, NC with his family, where his daughters swim for the YMCA of the Triangle Area (YOTA).