One Photograph That Gave This Pole Vaulter Overnight Fame For All The Wrong Reasons (2 of 3)

Not The Right Age To Handle This

The photo of Allison was spreading from one platform to another like a wildfire, and as you all are aware of how the internet works, you will realize it was out of bounds for anyone to do something about the whole situation. The photojournalist who captured that photo was shocked to the core, too. It has made its way to every nook and corner of the world wide web!

Soon, Allison had tons of random followers and thousands of fan pages dedicated to her on the web. These fan pages began finding more photos of her in order to increase their reach and this increased all the lewd comments she was getting from people on the internet.

A lot of them crossed all lines of decency and proposed their love for Allison, and shared her pictures with others on the internet. Clearly, this wasn’t the kind of attention and fame Allison wanted for herself, as she was determined to achieve success at pole vaulting.

Everything Spiraled Out Of Control

Pretty soon, her name was known not just by her compatriots, but also by people from across the globe. As you know, the internet has no boundaries, and her sensational fame was blowing out of proportion – all because of an unfortunate photograph from that relatively low-key pole vaulting event.

Soon enough, it wasn’t just the internet that was obsessed with her. Newspapers like The Washington Post and The New York Times also jumped in, trying to cash in all the sensationalism in the name of newspaper reporting!

The same was the case with news and radio stations, who didn’t want to let go of this incredible opportunity to make some money and gain more followers. The reports kept pouring in all day, making Allison the center of attention in almost any and every news show across the nation, and in the rest of the world. From Europe to the UK and even Australia, Allison Stooke was the name everyone discussed – all because of one unfortunate photograph.

Allison Was Distraught And Frustrated

It would be tough to think what a teenager must have gone through when she became an overnight sensation – and not because of her amazing sports skills, but for her appearance! This unfortunate incident was blown out of proportion and threatened all the hard work and effort she had put into her sports career. Everything seemed to eclipse the real effort that should have been in the limelight, and it felt Allison would lose all the years of effort just like that.

The budding sportsperson even tried to fix the situation at her end, but that was impossible given the fact that the internet is beyond anyone’s control. The pole vaulter was getting countless emails and calls every single day, and ultimately, she was forced to keep a manager just to take care of these aspects alone!

There was another aspect that was bothering both Allison and her family – some of the creeps were not just happy with her pictures, they even wanted to meet the girl in person. You got it right, she even had stalkers trying to contact her all the time, which was scary and depressing for the young athlete.

Allison Felt Invisible

You might be wondering how a person can feel invisible when they are on the TV all throughout the day? Well, Allison definitely felt that way. Even though everyone in the world was looking at the photos of this young athlete, no one was talking about her sporting career. All they saw was a well-toned body, which was distraught for a young girl who wanted to achieve success as a pole vaulter and be known because of her skills, not looks.

The BBC broadcast a report about Allison and discussed in detail how she gained unexpected fame overnight, but even they didn’t care to mention her pole vaulting careers even for a second!

Appearing in one of the TV interviews, Allison even confessed at one point that being famous for her looks and not because of her sporting skills made her feel invisible. She stressed the fact that she wasn’t just a beautiful-looking girl, and was a leading athlete in the nation who was aiming to achieve worldwide success.

Trying Her Best

Allison put all her might into trying to stop the public from talking about the photos that made her an overnight sensation numerous times. After being advised by her manager, she appeared for an interview where she talked about nothing but pole vaulting and how she wanted to do big in this sport.

The teen athlete recorded this interview with a leading news organization, where she also talked about tips for people who wanted to try pole vaulting as a sport and women who were serious about the sport and wanted to become a professional.

Unfortunately, her interview was a dud and it failed to garner the effect that Allison wanted. The uploaded version on YouTube was filled with comments that talked about her looks and beauty and nothing else!

Allison Was Not Alone

Allison knew it was not possible for a young athlete like her to go through so much pressure and stress, with millions trying to get in touch with her. But there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop the unwanted publicity. Thankfully, her father could. Allan, her father, was a lawyer by profession, who certainly knew a few tricks in the book to keep his daughter safe from all the evil.

Allan scanned all the comments on various social media platforms and YouTube to see if there were people who tried to cross the lines of decency. When he found comments that were not appropriate in a legal sense, he was able to quickly see if those were from just a random admirer or someone who seemed like a stalker personality, in person or online. Regardless of her father’s tireless efforts, Allison suffered a loss of reputation in her sporting career because of all the bad publicity.

Important Lesson For Everyone

Allison saw the whole situation go from bad to worse every day until someone decided to step in. Popular broadcaster CBS prepared a news report on how there are so many young athletes, especially girls, who are mistreated by society as well as mass media. It almost seems like everyone is hunting down a young sportswoman!

CBS followed it up with a series of educational reports and pointed out all the harm associated with the web and social media sites, and how it makes people like Allison extremely vulnerable to constant bullying and abuse. It came down hard on mass media that makes young sports women popular without their active participation, or their consent.

In the internet age, just a phone camera can make a person attract unwanted attention from all quarters. It is, therefore, crucial for others to respect people’s privacy and be sensitive about other people’s aspirations and privacy.

Allison Was Sad And Scared

Despite what Allison’s manager and her father, Allan, did to stop the fiasco, the photo continued to make rounds, attracting more and more eyeballs every passing day.

Things got worse when Allison went through a bout of insecurity and nervousness. She started feeling scared about her well-being, all because of the countless stalkers that were trying to contact her. She didn’t think it was safe enough to go out for everyday practice as she might encounter thousands of people waiting outside the premises.

She became so scared that there came a point where she was not ready to attend any more competitions as people would just swarm the arena and wait for her there. She even felt threatened in her own house and started locking up all the doors and windows to ensure no one tried to step inside and tried to do something when she was asleep.

What About Allison’s Sporting Progress?

Naturally, the unwanted fame and controversy ended up affecting the mental health of Allison and even affected her physical health. He saw her life’s efforts going down the drain, as she witnessed the unwanted fame ruining what she wanted to do most – pole vaulting.

She felt as if all the hard work and training she had put in over the past few years was going to go waste and all people talked about was her beauty and appearance. However, things were not going to end so easily!

Allison felt down and out, as the photo controversy seemed to last forever. The year was 2010, and a Google search for her name threw up results to multiple websites and news, and not one of them was about her prowess as a sportswoman and a pro pole vaulter.

College Life

The unwanted fame and controversy died down to an extent after Allison went for her college education. The pole vaulter was still famous, but all the radio stations, TV shows, and magazines were somewhat over her story, as they seemed to be looking for something new.

Allison had earned herself a 100% scholarship and began her college education in California, as she wanted to stay near her family and friends. Naturally, she did not give up on her pole vaulting career and continued practicing rigorously.

The college years were somewhat normal for the budding star – she hardly made it on social media sites, and mostly stuck to her training and college education. She was starting to feel normal again and felt relieved that all the unwanted fame and attention was gone to an extent.