Now that the 2016 Rio Olympics are over and the main attractions like gymnastics and other great sports have passed us, I think I am in a good place to comment on a particular distraction that has been hard to ignore when watching the games. That distraction is the image of certain Olympian competitors. To have your image not be up to par the way your athleticism does is controversial. As an Olympian, it is important to understand how much you represent your country and race, whether you want to or not, even if you're 16 or 54. Millions of people are watching around the world and some of these viewers may not have heard of or seen the country that an Olympian represents. Image is most important. Like the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words," but an image is worth a billion.

We as humans have a biased worldview because we are all limited to a single camera perspective. We can only see what comes before us, we can only hear what is around us, and we can only read that which is in front of us. No one has the definitive version of reality (Link).This is why your image, when in any venue, is important and even more so in the Olympics. The Olympics is a judging arena, so your image as an Olympian is to be judged as well. An Olympian can lose the gold because a judge marked their score three-tenths of a point lower than that of another competitor. Imagine if we were judged for our images in that way? Guess what? We are. We have to remember, once the competition is over, the image of the Olympian will stay forever.

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat are some of the many arenas where we can freely judge any and everything. Every picture or comment that is posted, will have the chance to be liked or commented about. Facebook now has a new feature, where we are able to narrow down specifically what we feel about any image that is posted.

The moment an Olympian is introduced from back stage is the moment the judgement will begin. Olympians are always on during a competition and most importantly in an interview. When asked in an NBC interview, how has everything changed for them after the games? One Olympian stated not about the games themselves but that they've gained a few thousand followers on their social media page. As an Olympian, you are not just an athlete but a public figure. A public figure has a certain set of guidelines that they must and should follow as does an Olympian when they are competing. There have been many Olympians who do follow these "public figure" guidelines.

Some viewers feel that Olympians shouldn't care too much about their image because they've made it to the games and should only worry about that. False. We live in a Visual Culture. Below are some statics on how we react to images:

1. Articles with images get 94 percent more total views
2. Including a photo and a video in a press release increases views by over 45 percent.
3. 60 percent of consumers are more likely to consider or contact a business when an image shows up in local search results

(Link).

Being conscious about your appearance and staying neat and groomed from head to toe when competing and not competing are ways to ensure that your image stays top notch.

In the 2020 Olympic games, I would like to enjoy the games without any distractions. I want to judge the talents of the Olympian and not their appearance. I want to make sure that there is no room to denounce an Olympian's image because they were not well groomed. When the games are over, these Olympians will no longer be competing, which is the apparent excuse for why their image is not up to par--which is not an excuse. Olympians after the games, will be judged by the viewer on every public appearance. Image is most important. Again, like the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words," but an image is worth a billion.