It has recently been brought to my attention that the Olympics is a breeding ground for hatred.

Of course, it does its age-old job of bringing together different people from around the world. Because of this, there is always a lot of excitement when the Olympics finally roll around. These incredible athletes train for practically their entire lives for their one shot (or, if you're Michael Phelps, your millionth shot), at winning an Olympic medal for both yourself and your country. Country pride and self accomplishment are generated, thanks to the Olympics. It is known that watching your country flag raise while they play your national anthem is a feeling like no other. Couple that with a shiny gold medal around your neck and you're in business.

You wouldn't think such a historic event would cause racial discrimination or hatred. There is of course the possibility that I, and most of the world, have turned on their blinders in order to focus on watching the Olympic Greats do what they came to do.

On another note, gymnastics is the event that I look forward to. A former competitive gymnast myself, it is amazing to watch such talented girls take the stage to compete and do routines I never would have thought to do. It's old news that Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast in the world. I mean, she's 19 years old and she just won an Olympic gold metal in the All-Around competition. The Olympic committee doesn't just hand those out to anyone. Gymnasts train for hours on end, for weeks, months, years. Even then, some gymnasts (like myself) don't even have the chance to go to the Olympics. Have I mentioned race yet?

Unfortunately, though it is a historically "white" sport, the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team competing in this year's Olympic Games is not made up of only white gymnasts.

I say "unfortunately" because this fact alone has been the sole cause of hatred toward the team. According to http://vox.com, numerous tweets have arisen on the matter. My personal favorite is as follows:

"The [team] was chosen due to Affirmative Action". Of course, Vox goes on to point out that Obama himself was not responsible for those women on the team. Martha Karolyi, the iconic women's national team coordinator, was in charge of the final decisions. If those individuals claiming they watched gymnastics actually did, instead of seeing that the team is diverse, they would see the skills each woman added to the team. I would like to go on to point out that if selections were in fact due to affirmative action (let's assume for the moment that Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas did not exist), and there weren't Black or Hispanic gymnasts to add to the team, the U.S. would not be able to hold their own in competition.

Now, let's move on to the article that shocked me the most.

Carlotta Ferlito is an Italian national team gymnast competing for her chance at an Olympic medal. Being that she faced Aly Raisman and Simone Biles, Carlotta was vying for a bronze metal at best. The competition was fair, and it was up to every gymnast to do their best. Like I previously mentioned, these gymnasts (all of them) train extremely hard for years, or in most cases, their entire lives in order to represent their country at the world's biggest competition. I should go on to mention that gymnastics is a hard sport that comes easier to some people than it does to others. For me personally, though I was nowhere near the elite level, it came very hard. However, you have to work with what you're given.

The Italian gymnast made the now iconic remark aimed at Biles that "next time we should also paint our skin black, so then we could win too." She later went on to apologize on Twitter and mention that she "is a huge fan of USA gymnastics" and she's "just a human."

I have to say that I understand the pressure these women face. Some only get this one chance, and if they don't do themselves justice, they have to live with that forever. The same can be said about other sports. Gymnastics, however, is time sensitive. With the exception of Oksana Chusovitina, a 41-year-old gymnast from Uzbekistan, most gymnasts are forced to stop the sport in their 20s.

Long story short, how is it that someone as sweet and talented as Simone Biles deserves to be defined by her race? She is now defined in the gymnastics and Olympic world as an amazing gymnast, but partially that has to be because she is black.

When I sit down to watch my favorite sport, I do not want to notice race. I don't want to think "Wow, look at that black girl! She must only be good because she's black!"

I want the world to notice her for her talent, for her personality. I don't want her to be noticed because she's a black gymnast.

Information via http://dailymail.co and http://vox.com.