London Olympics: Gabby Douglas takes on criticism of her hair

LONDON -- If gymnast Olga Korbut were competing on the present-day world stage, no doubt there would be fierce debate on such pressing issues like hairstyle and makeup choices.

You can just imagine this on Twitter: Aren’t Korbut’s pigtails untidy?

Maybe the hashtags should be #frivilousitems and #lameconcerns.

It has gotten truly silly when it comes to the debate about champion teen gymnast Gabby Douglas and her hair.

OK, gotten? It already got silly on Twitter and Facebook long before the start of the London Olympics.

Douglas, who made history by becoming the first African American woman to win the all-round event in gymnastics, seemed bemused that there was back-and-forth on the social-media network about her hairstyle.

“I don’t know where this is coming from,” she said Sunday to the Associated Press. “What’s wrong with my hair? I’m like, ‘I just made history and people are focused on my hair?’ It can be bald or short, it doesn’t matter about [my] hair.

“Nothing is going to change. I’m going to wear my hair like this during beam and bar finals. You might as well just stop talking about it.”

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