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Velonews reports that former champion cyclist Twigg got a CS degree but wasn't too successful in that career, and is now homeless in Seattle, https://www.velonews.com/2019/04/news/now-homeless-twigg-opens-up-in-article-with-seattle-times_492734 A longer version of the story/interview appears in the Seattle Times, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/olympic-medal-winning-cyclist-rebecca-twigg-is-homeless-in-seattle/
Rebecca Twigg has now been without a home for almost five years in Seattle, living first with friends and family, then in her car, then in homeless shelters and then, for a night, under garbage bags on the street downtown. She hasn't had a bike for years, and no one recognizes her anymore, she says.
Twigg, 56, agreed to share her story to convince the public that not all homeless people are addicted to drugs or alcohol; that there are many like her, who have struggled with employment and are "confused," as she said she is, about what to do next with their lives. She did not want to discuss mental health but feels it should be treated more seriously in Washington.
"Some of the hard days are really painful when you're training for racing," Twigg said, "but being homeless, when you have little hope or knowledge of where the finish line is going to be, is just as hard."
[...] She was spotted at 17 by famous cycling coach Eddie Borysewicz. After she won the world championship, he invited her to live in the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and train for the 1984 Olympic Games, where for the first time, women would be competing on bicycles.
Americans dominated the Olympics that year. Twigg won a silver medal, missing gold by a few inches to famous racer Connie Carpenter. She continued on her way up over the next several years, setting world records, winning world titles, and racing more than 60 times a year. She became known for her competition in individual pursuit, where two cyclists start at the same time on opposite sides of the track and each tries to catch the other. She's still among the most-decorated athletes in pursuit.
But the breakneck pace couldn't continue forever. She was married and soon after divorced. She crashed in Texas, broke her thumb and got 13 stitches in her head. The following year she felt burned out. She took a break at age 26, and that year she grew an entire inch, possibly because her body no longer had to expend so much energy training.
Twigg got an associate degree in computer science and became a programmer for a seaweed-products company in San Diego.
Twigg says the career wasn't a perfect fit. She quit and started training for the 1992 Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal in the 3,000-meter pursuit after only nine months of training. As she entered her 30s, she became regarded as the best American female cyclist.
The article has more details, she tried other IT jobs, but (not surprisingly to me) it sounds like her heart wasn't really in it.
If you were in her spot, what would you do for a second act, after such stunning early success in international sports? Some former athletes become motivational speakers or coaches, but she may not be the "self promoter" type, relying on her skill/strength for her success instead of team politics.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 20 2019, @12:33PM (8 children)
I hear it's a city. What about them?
Because otherwise there's no point listening to you? You have a history of saying whatever to validate your worldview. That good enough?
This is an example of how you just say shit. I care about human beings, but I recognize the existence of cost. For example, helping a human being by hurting two more isn't a good tradeoff for me. How about you?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday April 20 2019, @12:41PM (7 children)
You're full of shit, and worse, you gussy it up by pretending to be reasonable, moral, and concerned with cost. We can all see this.
I only keep this up in order to get you to keep exposing yourself, so people can see you degenerate to exactly this sort of post: stripped down to bare willful ignorance, hypocrisy, and outright bullshitting. Whatever the opposite of "virtue signalling" is, you're doing it, and you actually think it's signalling virtue.
Keep it up, Hallow. Your corrosive inhumanity can't touch me, and the more you display it and double down on it, the more it becomes obvious to anyone watching what kind of walking septic tank you are. Keep it up.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 20 2019, @12:49PM (6 children)
Why are you telling the rest of us this? I wonder if there's anyone who actually believes you any more?
Your natural level, of course.
On the earlier topic, I googled around and the housing first thing seems to be a Canadian policy. They claimed all kinds of nice things for the policy, but I couldn't find independent evaluation of the policy. As I've noted before, a first step to policy advocacy should be showing that it's better than not doing anything. So is that true here? Is housing first better than not doing anything?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 21 2019, @12:02AM (5 children)
I'm pretty sure "the rest of us" know this and are on board :) You don't have anywhere as many supporters or friends as you think you do, and part of the reason why is your utter lack of common humanity. Most people can sense this and steer clear, because we know, if only subconsciously, that people like you are poison to a functioning society.
The data are out there. Look them up. I am not going to do your homework for you, and you have no one to blame but yourself for refusing to. And "the rest of us," of course, will see that you don't, which further erodes your credibility.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Sunday April 21 2019, @02:56AM (4 children)
In other words, you don't know that it's any better. You merely assume so.
Uh huh. You're not the rest of the internet.
Too bad. It's your opinion.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 21 2019, @03:52AM (3 children)
Facts are not opinions. Educate yourself. The data is out there; you refuse to assimilate it because it breaks your worldview over its knee like the flimsy piece of kindling it is. You did exactly what I predicted you to do, almost down to the word, and it's not helping your case any, despite what you may think.
Buddy, I don't *need* to be "the rest of the internet." You will find people who agree with you online, sure, but it's *where* you find them that's most telling. Let's just say between the two of us, I am not the one who will find her fellow travelers on Gab or Stormfront. You will, because your kind of economic "thinking" is popular with that crowd for reasons which ought to be fairly obvious.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday April 21 2019, @05:36PM (2 children)
There's way too much of this bullshit on the internet where people assert stuff and then tell me to back it up for them. Sorry, it's your job to sell your fucking arguments with those alleged facts. Just do your job.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 21 2019, @06:05PM (1 child)
The very first search result from DDG is this story from 2015 from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459100751/utah-reduced-chronic-homelessness-by-91-percent-heres-how [npr.org]
Of course, some more recent articles attempt to dispute this, but they all follow a similar track: conflating the "chronically homeless," who are the hard cases mentioned before, with all homeless people. The media itself seems to want to make the very poorest of us suffer; it's the main reason I trust virtually nothing they say when it comes to money. Pareto ratios pop up all over nature; any program that wants to make real headway here has to factor that in to begin with.
How goddamned lazy can you be? I know, I know, as lazy as it takes not to ever have to change your views or accept new facts. Your mind is petrified, and you like it that way. You think it's a brain boner. If beliefs remain ossified for upwards of 4 years, see a psychiatrist.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 22 2019, @08:23PM
He's almost as lazy as someone who said most homeless people aren't mentally ill.