Diving hope Daley bullied at school

[neoteny]

Link to article

Diving hope Daley bullied at school


LONDON, (AFP) - Schoolboy diver Tom Daley, one of the country's top medal hopes for the 2012 Olympic Games, is being bullied because of his high profile and may have to move schools, his father said.

The 14-year-old from Plymouth competed in last year's Beijing Olympics after being crowned European men's 10 metres platform champion the previous March, and has become a national sensation.

But his father Rob Daley said he was considering moving his son -- who made the final in Beijing and finished seventh -- to another school because of the constant jibes and "childish name-calling and antics" of his fellow students.

"We wouldn't want to have to do it, but we will change schools unless this is sorted out, as my son's well-being comes before everything else," Rob Daley said.

Tom told the Plymouth Herald newspaper that the bullying started after Beijing and has got increasingly worse.

"I'd always ignored the 'diver boy' or 'Speedo boy' comments when I came back from Beijing last year, hoping they'd get fed up and stop," he said.

"The trouble is they haven't, and it's even the younger kids who are joining in. It's getting to the stage now where I think 'oh, to hell with it. I don't want to go back to school'."

----

I understand that kids can be cruel but I find this very sad: does a world-class athlete supposed to be ashamed of his accomplishments? 

[User 0]

Accomplishing anything is a big social no no.  Can't have one person achieve something or everyone else feels bad about themselves.  If someone has the audacity to make something of themselves, get a gold medal, score well on a test, whatever, then it is almost required that they be torn down and reduced to the least common denominator for the sake of everyone elses' fragile self esteems.

Didn't you know the goal is for everyone to be mediocre, even at the cost of ruining someone who has real talent?

[neoteny]

Didn't you know the goal is for everyone to be mediocre, even at the cost of ruining someone who has real talent?

Most of my life is about learning this very hard lesson, but I'm still amazed when I see such a blatant manifestation...

[CaptDMO]

See:
"The Dog in the Manger"

I wonder how the groupthink taunting would develop if the  largest antagonists got a poke in the nose as consequence for the incoherent cowardice of mediocrity  that is being disingenuously labeled as "bullying"?

Just sayin'

[Mr. X]

Well obviously everyone is equal and if one kid succeeds he must have cheated so therefore its OK to bully him. Egalitarians are scary.

[SIAM]

Human behaviour confounds me at times - the dominance hierarchy should work for those who are more successful, but perhaps the DH is more hardwired than that.  Maybe you need to show "alpha" signals to be accepted as being higher up.  This boy taking part in the Olympics (and with loads of UK publicity at the time) isn't "normal" or really typically "alpha", so I guess the group won't and can't accept it, it's an "edge case".  In UK schools to be popular you just need to be good looking with a streak of cruelty. That would guarantee "respect" (fear/feelings of inferiority from others).  Speaking with any eloquence or showing signs of intelligence is a bit dangerous, you're putting yourself in an unwanted spotlight. 

[Mr. X]

Human behaviour confounds me at times - the dominance hierarchy should work for those who are more successful, but perhaps the DH is more hardwired than that.  Maybe you need to show "alpha" signals to be accepted as being higher up.  This boy taking part in the Olympics (and with loads of UK publicity at the time) isn't "normal" or really typically "alpha", so I guess the group won't and can't accept it, it's an "edge case".  In UK schools to be popular you just need to be good looking with a streak of cruelty. That would guarantee "respect" (fear/feelings of inferiority from others).  Speaking with any eloquence or showing signs of intelligence is a bit dangerous, you're putting yourself in an unwanted spotlight. 

I did have that when I was a kid. I was a good wrestler and runner. I found athletics wasn't about accomplishment but illusion. Who LOOKED like an athlete was more an athlete than a better player.

BTW if Daley declared himself gay I bet he'd get tons of protection.