Dancing Divers…

Video. Youtube. Vlogs. All ways in which stars can now connect to their fans. By posting a five second video simply saying ‘Thank you for being awesome!’ a star can look approachable, kind and attract a shoal of new fans.

However, sometimes this new video relationship can turn sour.

This week, a group of gorgeously toned, tanned bodies hit YouTube and danced along to ‘Sexy and I Know It’. Wow. Not quite what you were expecting from the Team GB Diving team.

Team GB took to a sunny beach in Australia to film their own version of the popular LMFAO song. Funny, catchy and highly entertaining; it’s no surprise that the public began watching it in their thousands and currently, the video has over 450,000 views. These Olympic hopefuls danced around in the sand in their sunglasses and trunks and became instant hits in world of YouTube.

However, despite receiving a lot of support and new young fans (predominantly female – no surprises there) the team have also faced a new wave of criticism. It is to be expected, I hear you say. Whenever anyone puts anything online, they are bound to face criticism – just take a look at our very own Boar articles within the News/Comment sections. However, usually the content in said articles is worthy of debate and bound to produce conflicting views. This video, on the other hand, is being criticised for simply existing. Internet ‘trolls’ took to their computers to insult the video the moment they heard of it. Why were Team GB creating such a video when they were meant to be training for the Olympics? Why was all our tax money going towards such idiots? What hope does Great Britain have in Summer 2012 if our best candidates are this group of immature athletes?

Two words and a hand gesture is my response. The level of training these athletes have to go through to be even considered for Team GB is phenomenal. They train everyday, for hours on end, and are constantly travelling the world. You just need to look at the video to see how hard they work. Their bodies look as if they have been photoshopped!

Most of the criticism seems to have been posted on the Daily Mail’s website which featured an article concerning the video. Those who took to the website at 2o’clock in the afternoon to criticise such ‘layabouts’ should stop and register the fact that they are sitting on their arses, behind a screen, in the middle of the day. Have they been training for their current career everyday for multiple hours since they were twelve years old? Are they even trying to achieve a career? Have they sacrificed a large chunk of their teenage years, their friendships and sometimes education to be where they are? No. Probably not.

The second criticism that infuriated me was concerning ‘wasted’ taxes. I know I am entering dangerous territory, and believe me I’m holding my breath as I type, but don’t shoot me down just yet. I don’t think we can really label our taxes as ‘wasted’ if Team GB take one day off to film a fun video on the beach. It was most probably filmed on their only scheduled day off from their year-long training! Hardly ripping us off! I would rather be penalising those who really are wasting our taxes, like those people sitting on their bums, behind computers, slagging everyone off online whilst claiming they are finding it just impossible to find a job.

The video was a bit of fun. Something every person is entitled to once in a while – even an Olympian. The video has motivated a whole new group of people into embracing the spirit of the London 2012 games. The athletes appear more human, friendly and likable; meaning more people will get behind Team GB in the summer and become more passionate about the whole event in general – like Wimbledon where everyone supports Murray.

So let me ask you this…what are you really complaining about?