In July and August, espnWs weekly essay series will focus on body image.?Dominique Dawes was one of only seven to make it to the Olympic team in 1996, out of millions of girls who practice gymnastics.Aside from the near impossibility of this achievement, there were even more predetermined challenges set for Dawes from the moment she entered the gym -- simply because the sport wasnt cultivated for black girls like her. Her body was considered deviant or exotic even before she began her routine.In a 1995 Los Angeles Times?article, writer Maryann Hudson documented that Dawes critics believed that her look wasnt quite right, her legs were bowed or knees knobby and her hair askew. Dawes faced more than skewed perceptions of body image at the time -- she confronted centuries of racial prejudice that had grown in the sport of gymnastics.?The sport began in ancient Greece, but Germany and Czechoslovakia produced the current form of gymnastics in the early 19th century. In the second half of the 1900s, gymnasts from the Soviet Union dominated.Some of the most accomplished gymnasts were Larisa Latynina and Olga Korbut, who were described by publications as beautiful and pixie, images that invoked their elegance, diminutiveness and attractiveness.?Then during the Cold War, while the Soviet Union and the U.S. competed militarily, economically and politically, the tension manifested in gymnastics.?As Ann Kordas wrote in the book Girlhood: A Global History, the U.S. used images of young, productive, female gymnasts to demonstrate their countrys superiority, showing the American gymnast was able to discipline her body to produce superhuman-like strength.***Not only does the female gymnast represent liberation through her movement -- which can arguably be seen as feminist -- but she smashes social conventions on how a woman should present herself, according to Ann Chisholm, assistant professor in the department of communication studies at California State University, Northridge. When a gymnast flies in the air and bends her body before landing back on the floor in a balanced, poised form, that execution disregards natural law and physical restriction.For the female gymnast, her movement liberates her from expectations of what her body can and cannot do. Female gymnasts are generally petite and almost?perpetually styled with a smile on their faces. They generate this idea of cuteness and adorableness.When Dawes leapt through the air, stretching and contorting her body in front of a room teeming with white faces, she showed them, as well as the rest of the world, how black women could move and excel in traditionally white spaces, even if they had to take flight to do so. As a black woman, unlike her white female teammates, she was not afforded the chance to be cute or innocent.Its been 20 years since that fateful summer of 1996, but Dawes influence still reverberates throughout our present-day, brown-skinned, world-famous gymnasts. We live in an era when black gymnasts are more prolific, when it doesnt take much effort to find a Gabby Douglas or a Simone Biles. But the racism is still as pervasive.In 2012, Douglas was criticized for her hair despite becoming the first African-American woman in Olympic history to become an individual all-around champion. She was also given the nickname Flying Squirrel, which Dawes dismissed, arguably because it reduced Douglas to an animal and not a black woman. (Dawes nickname was Awesome Dawesome.) And after Biles became world champion, Italian gymnast Carlotta Ferlito joked that maybe she should paint her skin black in order to win, as if the sport was not nurtured for white women like her.In the August issue of Teen Vogue, Douglas admitted that the criticism of her hair and her muscular arms was so immense that she often felt like quitting. Biles said that she used to be self-conscious of her body, since it is stockier than those of her contemporaries, but that she has been able to move past that insecurity.Dawes legacy is unconventional, not only because of the way she found gymnastics but also because the sport, like many others, was not one in which every competitor had equal standing. By her presence alone, her body was politicized and isolated from everyone else. It was also under more intense scrutiny.Yet all of that disappeared when she performed.?When Dawes took to her floor routine in the 1996 Summer Olympics and landed her double layouts, 2.5-twist punch front through and full-in back-out without her knees wobbling or her legs giving out on her, she did more than just make history as the first African-American to win an individual Olympic medal in womens gymnastics, she subverted it.She did not get rid of the social and gendered dichotomies; rather, those notions harmoniously coexisted in her one body and the world has never been the same. Dominique Dawes body might not have been the norm, but neither was a black female in the history of gymnastics. And thankfully, because of her perseverance and sheer talent, she made it possible for more gifted black female gymnasts like herself to receive attention and acclaim.Morgan Jerkins is a New York writer and contributing editor at Catapult. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Elle, BuzzFeed and The Atlantic, among many others. Her debut essay collection, This Will Be My Undoing, is forthcoming from Harper Perennial. Wholesale Jordan Retro 5 . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. Jordan Retro 5 For Sale Cheap . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. http://www.cheapairjordan5.com/ . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. Wholesale Air Jordan 5 . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Cheap Air Jordan 5 . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. SALT LAKE CITY -- Rodney Hood had never hit a game-winning shot -- at any level. So when he knocked down a big one Friday night, all he could think to do was give a little shoulder-shimmy.Hood pulled up for a 3-pointer in transition with 0.8 seconds left that gave the Utah Jazz a 103-100 win over Dallas after a furious rally by the Mavericks in the fourth quarter.Its crazy, Hood said. I didnt know what to do, so I just shook a little bit. It felt good, though.Everybody dreams of that feeling, time going down, 3-2-1, and you hit a shot and the crowd goes crazy. I did it a lot of times in my front yard, but never in a real game.Dallas used a 9-0 run late in the fourth to tie the score at 100 before Hood grabbed the rebound of Deron Williams miss with several seconds left.As a point guard, I know when to run a play, Williams said. We started the play too early. Couldnt really check the time because of how the play developed. Ive just got to do a better job of controlling the game. At the end of the game like that, weve got to get the shot with as little time as possible.Jazz coach Quin Snyder passed on calling a timeout, waving his arms at Hood to push the ball up the floor. Hood did exactly that and drained a 26-footer from the left side to send Utah to its 10th victory in 12 games.Following a timeout, Dallas had one more chance to tie it. But an inbounds pass deflected off Harrison Barnes hands, and time expired.All there is, is fight in this team, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. These guys were determined to hang in.Rudy Gobert posted his sixth straight double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, tying Karl-Anthony Towns for the longest active streak in the NBA. Hood finished with 15 points.Barnes led the Mavericks with 21 points, and Williams added 18 points and seven assists against his former team.The normally stout Utah defense wasnt at its best and allowed Dallas to come back from a 15-point deficit, but the Jazz shot 56.9 percent from the field and held on.We were atrocious the first half, defensively, Snyder said. It was awful. We made so many mental mistakes. ... They can shoot, tthats what they do.dddddddddddd If you give them open 3s, theyre going to make them and then theyre going to get even more confident and theyre going to hit tough shots.TIP-INSMavericks: Williams was booed lustily even though he hasnt played for Utah since 2011. ... Andrew Bogut missed his sixth consecutive game with a right knee injury.Jazz: Gordon Hayward passed Ricky Green for 10th on the teams scoring list. Hayward has 6,925 points. ... Derrick Favors played 13 minutes in his second game back from a knee injury.HILL UPDATEJazz point guard George Hill missed his eighth consecutive game with a sprained left big toe, but Snyder said Hill is walking, shooting off his toes and doing toe raises.Frankly, he hasnt been able to do (that), Snyder said. I feel like hes turned a corner, being able to do a little bit more.Now the biggest thing, too, is once hes able to start doing things more aggressively and moving, hes going to have to start and stop. Its different than when he was coming back from his thumb. His feet, your lower body, and particularly your big toe, I dont know when youre not using it.RETURN ON INVESTMENTBarnes entered averaging career highs in points (20.4) and rebounds (5.6). Carlisle said he expected Barnes to have a big year when the team signed him away from Golden State during the offseason.Hes taken quantum leaps in the first two months of the season, Carlisle said. When youre third, fourth, fifth option, youre a guy thats living off other great players. He needed to develop a foundation of footwork and a means to create based on his skill set and situations on the court.Hes done a terrific job of scoring and now hes learning how to make plays, penetrate, find guys -- those kinds of things which are essential to a guy being one of those guys.UP NEXTMavericks: Dallas hosts the Sacramento Kings on Sunday before beginning a four-game road trip.Jazz: Utah is on the road Sunday to face a Memphis Grizzlies team that got Mike Conley back from injury Friday. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '