In the world of social media, athletes tend to get overlooked and misrepresented by the media. Nowadays, athletes are more known for their wealth and social status rather than their athletic accomplishments.
For example, Lamar Odom, a former Lakers basketball player, is more recognized for his marriage with reality star, Khloe Kardashian than his athletic achievements on the court. Reality TV lovers typically do not know that Lamar Odom averaged 17.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Years ago, he lead the Miami Heat to its first playoff series win in four years and following that season, Odom represented the United States at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
That year the team won the bronze medal, and according to Bio.com, Odom considers it one of his greatest career honors. Lamar Odom is a two-time NBA champion and now has a FIBA World Championship gold medal. Despite this, Odom’s accomplishments on the court are often overlooked, due to his appearance on Reality TV and his ongoing battle regarding substance abuse.
In addition, Caitlyn Jenner, formally known as Bruce Jenner, is a renowned gold medal Olympic winner. According to Bio.com, at the 1976 Montreal Games, Jenner won a gold medal in Decathlon, setting a new record of 8,634 points. However, the media recognizes Jenner’s marriage with Kris Jenner, a prominent appearance on “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” and his gender change rather than athletic honors. During the gender transformation, the media was very involved in her transition, especially because “I am Cait” ‒ a documentary series about Caitlyn’s transition‒ premiered this summer. Jenner’s talent and triumph in sports is mostly unknown in younger generations because they only see Jenner as a reality TV star.
Venus and Serena Williams, both star tennis players, have their own reality tv show, “Venus and Serena: For Real”. Venus turned pro in 1994 and about a year later so did Serena. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Venus Williams won the gold medal in the singles competition, and then took a second one with Serena in the doubles event. The sisters have pushed each other both as teammates and as competitors. Together, they have won 13 Grand Slam doubles titles.
According to Realitytvworld.com, Serena says, “Our show’s all about, pretty much, the grind. The grind of having to be on top of our games, the grind of keeping up with everything that we do: charity work, awards shows and of course, practice. And also trying to find a moment, like, to make sure we’re with our family, which we do have a lot of moments.”
Venus’ and Serena’s reality tv show is one of the few that actually show their hard work and achievements. However, without their reality show, would people know about their “daily grind”?
Social media and reality tv are huge factors in today’s society. Without today’s abundance of social media, Lamar Odom, Caitlyn Jenner and the Williams’ sister might be actually known for their incredible sports ability rather of their social media “fame”.
