Did Bleasdale call Isinbayeva a tramp? She says no!

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Did Bleasdale call Isinbayeva a tramp? She says no!

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:28 pm

Edit: Holly is denying having made the quotes in this article.


Not exactly, but she's not afraid to speak her mind!!

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-blogs/b ... s-lie.html

Upstart calls Olympic pole vault champ a 'tramp'
By: Joe Battaglia, NBC OlympicsUPDATED: Jul 21, 10:34a ET

Oh, Holly Bleasdale.

Hasn’t anyone schooled you on the history of the pole vault as it pertains to Yelena Isinbayeva?

Apparently not.

Following an unceremonious season debut at the Diamond League Herculis meeting in Monaco in which Isinbayeva did what she always does – lay around and wait for her underlings to go out of the competition before coming in at a higher bar – only this time, she failed to clear that opening bar herself (which she has also done in the past), the young and rising British vaulter made the cardinal mistake of calling out the Russian great before the Olympics.

More specifically, she called her a “tramp.”

No she didn’t?!

Uh, yes she did.

This is what the 20-year-old Bleasdale told the Daily Express of Isinbayeva’s cocoon ritual: “I’ve seen Isinbayeva do that, looks like a tramp on a street corner. I do think it’s disrespectful to us. “She keeps herself to herself. I try to ignore her, just do my own stuff, and concentrate on me.

“Isinbayeva comes into a competition really late, tries to psyche everyone out. It’s her plan. She wants us to say, ‘Oh, look, she’s not bothered’, but it doesn’t work with me.

“If you want to lie there and have a towel on your head, it’s all right. It is a bit weird.

“In between jumps I watch the others and see if I can learn something and chat with the other girls. Going into ‘my own zone’, like they say, just bores me, puts me off.

“I really want to jump against Isinbayeva. I’m in better shape than when I’ve competed against her before and I could challenge her and win.”
Yikes!

This isn’t the first time that one of Isinbayeva’s competitors let their feelings or exuberance get the better of their mouth.

Four years ago, after American Jenn Suhr won the U.S. Olympic Trials with an American-record clearance of 4.92m/16-1 ¾, she made the mistake of saying that she was looking forward to “kicking some Russian butt” in Beijing.

Isinbayeva took the comment as an affront, beating Suhr handily in two head-to-head meetings before the Games and then needing only two jumps to win the gold in Beijing. For point of emphasis, she raised the bar to a world-record 5.05m/16-6¾, and cleared it.

Now, we all know that Isinbayeva is not the dominant vaulter she was back then as her struggles since Beijing have been well documents, but she is still the only woman ever to clear five meters, indoors or outdoors, so the ability to turn that dominance on at the slightest provocation is still there.

Bleasdale might soon learn that she should have just let sleeping dogs lie.

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Re: Did Bleasdale call Isinbayeva a tramp?

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Sat Jul 21, 2012 4:49 pm

The quote that this article is based off of is completely fabricated [according to Holly and her coach]. I will post more when I get home and can type from my computer. Holly never said any of this and is pretty upset about it.

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Re: Did Bleasdale call Isinbayeva a tramp? NO!!

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:44 pm

I think this is the article that NBC was getting quotes from.

I think this was made worse by some differences in translation. I think most younger Americans now think of tramp as a synonym for whore or trashy... "tramp stamp" is the first thing that pops into my mind when I hear the word tramp.

Clearly this author meant tramp like hobo or homeless person. Battaglia using the word to an American audience made the headline much more inflammatory.


http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/334 ... -tramp-act


GREAT BRITAIN'S HOLLY BLEASDALE UNIMPRESSED BY YELENA ISINBAYEVA'S TRAMP ACT

Friday July 20,2012
By John Wragg

FOR the queen of her sport, Yelena Isinbayeva looks like a tramp as she falls asleep – lying on towels, wrapped from head to toe in a sleeping bag with another towel over her head.

It is the way the Olympic and world champion deals with the boredom of watching mere mortals as they compete in the early rounds of the pole vault.

She ignores them, cocoons herself in her own world at the side of the competition area, resting her mind and body until it is her turn to join the battle.

Isinbayeva, 29, has 27 world records – indoors and out – so the kip-in-a-bag works. It has also made her very rich.
Holly Bleasdale, 20 and from Chorley, is the new kid on Isinbayeva’s block and she takes her on tonight at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco as a final warm-up for the Olympics.

“I can have her,” says Bleasdale, with a direct Lancashire response to athletics royalty. “I’ve seen Isinbayeva do that, looks like a tramp on a street corner. I do think it’s disrespectful to us.

If you want to lie there and have a towel on your head, it’s all right. It is a bit weird

“She keeps herself to herself. I try to ignore her, just do my own stuff, concentrate on me.

“Isinbayeva comes into a competition really late, tries to psyche everyone out. It’s her plan. She wants us to say, ‘Oh, look, she’s not bothered’, but it doesn’t work with me.

“If you want to lie there and have a towel on your head, it’s all right. It is a bit weird.

“In between jumps I watch the others and see if I can learn something and chat with the other girls. Going into ‘my own zone’, like they say, just bores me, puts me off.

“I really want to jump against Isinbayeva. I’m in better shape than when I’ve competed against her before and I could challenge her and win.”

Bleasdale took her outdoor British record to 4.71m at the trials, giving her the Olympic qualifying height and a place on the team less than four years after taking up pole vault.

She watched Isinbayeva win her second successive Olympic gold in August 2008 at the Beijing Games but did not take up the sport until two months after that.

Bleasdale has jumped 4.87m indoors, also a British record, making her fourth behind Isinbayeva on the all-time list.

Bleasdale is talking to pupils at her old school, Parklands High, and we’re sitting at the lower end of a flight of steps.

As former teachers and friends come up for a chat, the conversation switches to talk of babies.

“I’d love babies, me,” said Bleasdale. “But not for 10 years or more, not till I’ve done this.” The stairs rise above us. You can imagine the podium right at the top.

“I’m Holly, I’m me, I just say it the way it is.

“I’d be silly not to seize the opportunity and beat Isinbayeva now. I don’t see why not.”

She is going to have to get over five metres to do it, with Isabinyeva’s world outdoor record at 5.06m and indoors at 5m.

“I’d love to jump five metres at the Olympics, that would be amazing,” said Bleasdale. “Five metres will definitely come for me in the next year and the world record will be put much higher than 5.06m in the next three or four years.

“I am really confident that women can jump much higher than Isinbayeva ever has.

“All the top girls will be at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco and I will use it as prep for the Olympics.

“I’m on the map with all the other women now, jumping fourth best in the world ever has told them what I’m about.

“I dealt with pressure at the trials when I needed three attempts at the qualifying height and told myself, ‘I’m not going to bob out now’. It’ll be the same at the Olympics.”

HOLLY BLEASDALE is an ambassador for Alfa Romeo, official car supplier to UK Athletics. For more details, visit www.alfaromeo.co.uk.

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Re: Did Bleasdale call Isinbayeva a tramp? She says no!

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:47 pm

Holly Bleasdale ‏@HollyBleasdale
For the record- I have never said anything bad about Isinbaeva think she is an incredible athlete!
9:34 AM - 21 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Holly Bleasdale ‏@HollyBleasdale
I'm really upset reading this when I have never said it!
9:34 AM - 21 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Julien Raffalli ‏@julienraffalli
@polevaultpower @hollybleasdale sorry to disappoint you, but this article is all fake. Julien Raffalli, aka holly's coach
12:41 PM - 21 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Julien Raffalli ‏@julienraffalli
@polevaultpower she only gave 1 interview after Monaco, and it was to the bbc. She never said anything like it. She's quite upset about it!!
1:32 PM - 21 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone



Golden Spikes ‏@GoldenSpikesMgt
“@TrackFocus: .@HollyBleasdale should let sleeping dogs, or, Isinbayevas lie http://trckfc.us/LA7DU4 ” A little trash talking in T&F? Love it!
9:32 AM - 21 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Julien Raffalli ‏@julienraffalli
@GoldenSpikesMgt @trackfocus @hollybleasdale sorry to disappoint you, but this article is all fake. Julien Raffalli, aka holly's coach
12:40 PM - 21 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

TrackFocus ‏@TrackFocus
@julienraffalli So are you saying that @JoeBattagliaNBC made up those quotes?
7:35 PM - 21 Jul 12 via Tweetbot for Mac

Julien Raffalli ‏@julienraffalli
@TrackFocus @joebattaglianbc holly never spoke to him on Friday, so how come he gets those quotes out??
1:55 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Joe Battaglia ‏@JoeBattagliaNBC
@julienraffalli @trackfocus If you read the blog post, I cited an interview that was with the Express in London and was linked to.
4:11 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Julien Raffalli ‏@julienraffalli
@JoeBattagliaNBC @trackfocus so maybe instead of quoting an interview from a different paper you should contact holly or her team
4:18 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Joe Battaglia ‏@JoeBattagliaNBC
@julienraffalli @trackfocus @polevaultpower Happy to print Holly's take if she denies ever speaking to Express. I'm easily found/reachable
4:26 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone





Pole Vault Power ‏@polevaultpower
@JoeBattagliaNBC Either way, do you realize the word tramp has different meaning to your American audience than the original British one?
6:55 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Joe Battaglia ‏@JoeBattagliaNBC
@polevaultpower yeah means more like a vagrant. I didn't think she was calling Yelena a slut or a floozy Regardless the quotes are out there
6:57 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Pole Vault Power ‏@polevaultpower
@JoeBattagliaNBC Yet you used a headline you know most of your audience will read as "Isinbayeva called a whore"...
7:28 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Pole Vault Power ‏@polevaultpower
@JoeBattagliaNBC ...When the context of the quote (if even true) is "Isi looks like a hobo when she hides under her towel"...
7:29 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Pole Vault Power ‏@polevaultpower
@JoeBattagliaNBC ...I'm disappointed. Unnecessarily inflammatory. Expected a higher level of journalism from you and @NBCOlympics
7:31 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone

Joe Battaglia ‏@JoeBattagliaNBC
@polevaultpower You're entitled to your opinions.
7:33 AM - 22 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone · Details

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rainbowgirl28
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Re: Did Bleasdale call Isinbayeva a tramp? She says no!

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:51 pm

I spoke with the author of the Daily Express article. He confirms that Holly did not use the word tramp.

From his interview notes:
We were talking about Isinbayeva and the way she prepares for a competition, lying down on towels, towel over her head etc,not interested in what's happening. Question was: She looks like a tramp on a street corner? Answer was: Yes, I do think it is disrespectful to us.


She was agreeing to the general tone that Isinbayeva looks like a homeless person when she hides under towels during the competition, but that's not the same as "Holly called Yelena a tramp." I think Wragg was not careful enough with his placement of quotation marks.

Also, Battaglia got his timeline wrong on things. Holly did the interview with the Daily Express before the Monaco meet. Battaglia said she made those statements following Isinbayeva's NH which was not true.


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