Out of Sight, Out of Mind
SIRS Decades

Have you ever crossed a street to steer clear of a panhandler? Or changed the channel so as not to have to watch emaciated children in Africa? If so, then you'll understand what typically goes on in host cities before the games begin. If not, you'll likely find such preparations outrageous. Read more in this graphics-based activity from SIRS Decades.

A pro-Tibetan activist is arrested. (Paris, April 7, 2008)

The Ugliness of Beauty
ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Finally, is it possible to enjoy even the juiciest top sirloin if you've just watched the slaughter of the cow from which it came? Most steak eaters, to their relief, will never have to find out. Few restaurants, after all, are located next to slaughterhouses, and menus don't include photos of butchered cattle next to the beef entrees.

Now what does eating steak have to do with watching women's gymnastics?

In "Cathy Rigby, Unlike Peter, Did Grow Up," New York Times columnist George Vecsey tells the life story of a great Olympian who left gymnastics for the stage. But between a gold medal at the Mexico City games in 1968 and a successful Broadway run as Peter Pan in 1996, there were trying times. Cathy Rigby almost died, twice finding herself in the emergency room with the kind of electrolyte imbalance that killed the singer Karen Carpenter.

Christy Henrich, a gymnast who narrowly missed qualifying for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, had no such escape. The 22-year-old Missouri native suffered multiple organ failures and died in a hospital in Kansas City on July 26, 1994.

The disease that killed Henrich and nearly killed Rigby was anorexia. People suffering from anorexia have vastly distorted perceptions of their own bodies, persistently seeing themselves as fat even when they're emaciated. As a result, they continually starve themselves and regularly throw up what little they do eat.

Family and friends gather to mourn.
(Christy Henrich's funeral, July 29, 1994)

Search Historical Newspapers Graphical for articles about gold medal gymnasts from at least two Olympic Games.

Read through the articles and identify any language that could be interpreted as celebrating thinness or smallness. Rewrite those passages so that the emphasis is on style, creativity, and other qualities not necessarily connected to physical stature.