Alison Stoke put pole vault on the limelight, managing to set the bar really high as an athlete at a very young age. Her talent as an athlete was thrust into the media atmosphere because of a controversial photo. The young athlete unfortunately became the subject of criticism from the ever prying paparazzi, the media and of course public opinion from a very young age. When you carefully look at this photo though, you will realize that there is more than meets the eye.
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One more athlete
The field of athletics is dominated with thousands of athletes around the world. Alisson stoke was just one of the many added to this long list back in 2007. She was an American high school student in her senior year, and was working part-time as a model. By this time, she had already made a name for herself as a pole vault star. She had already broken so many records. However, it was when she was photographed during one competition that her life was changed for good. This specific photo went viral overnight and as it took over the internet space, Allison became an even bigger star. Seemingly, everyone had noticed her.
Who is Allison Stokke?
Allison Rebecca Stokke was born back in 1989, on March 22nd to be more specific. She spent her early childhood days in California alongside her parents Cindy and Allan Stoke. She had a sibling too, an older brother called David. Ever since she was really young, Alison was greatly influenced by elite sports and what it had to offer. She loved the idea of professional competition. David, her older brother was into sports as well, being a gymnast and even competing on a national level. Thanks to her brother’s participation, Allison was also pushed to join gymnastics but soon discovered that she didn’t really enjoy this sport much. It was then that she looked for a sport that she liked more.
Find your sport
After looking around for the best sport for her, Allison fell in love with the pole discipline. The moment she got a hold of the pole and started to run towards the bar, she knew that she had found her true passion. She knew right from the start that she had it in her to succeed in the pole vaulting world. Since she was very determined to excel at this, she wasted no time. She took it upon herself to sharpen her skills at the sport and very soon, Allison became one of the youngest pole vaulters and one of the most successful ones too in the entire country. When she was only 15, she became the United States Champion, and believe it or not, she managed to jump a whooping 10 feet.
Breaking their own records
During her early years in high school, Allison put in even more effort in trying to become the best and greatest pole vaulting star ever seen. Well, her hard work paid off and within a short time, she started breaking her very own records. Back in 2004, Allison managed to set a new pole vault record, where she jumped an incredible 12 feet and 8 inches high. In the spirit f a true sportsperson, this was not enough and she wanted to do even more. She later ended up breaking this very same record again, managing to jump 13 feet 5 ¾ inches high. This was undeniably very impressive, considering a lot of us cannot even manage to jump 5 ¾ inches even if we wanted to.
Allison’s last year
When she got to her senior year, Allison was able to combine her studies with an intense training program. However, she was always aware that all her efforts would pay off because slowly by slowly she was becoming the person to beat in the sport both on a national level and internationally. She was on top of the rankings and had so many medals to celebrate. She was a natural pole vault competitor. She had broken her own record but once again, in the same year, managed to break yet another one, with an impressive 4 ½ meter jump. In case you still can’t believe just how high this is, this height is equal to 13 feet 6 ¾ inches, literally more than two times the height of a professional basketball player, in fact, it’s more than twice Michael Jordan’s height. As you can see, it’s really no joke.
The infamous photo
Allison’s life was going on so well and she was thriving in her sports career. However, her incredible life took a turn, a rather unexpected one back in 2007 thanks to a photo that was taken of her at a pole vault event. The then 17-year old vaulter was waiting for her turn during a competition when suddenly a spectator so innocently took a photo of her. The photo would then be republished on With Leather which was a blog that was known to publish pictures of young ladies. It was a blog that was focused on a male audience. This changed her life in a big way.
The internet sensation
Unfortunately, this particular blog had a dubious reputation and sadly, when they published this photo, they added a rather demeaning caption to it. It really had nothing to do with how talented Allison was in the sport. The posted image was starting to have a negative effect on Allison considering it was rapidly spreading. It affected her life as a star in the sport. The person who originally took the photo of Allison threatened to sue the blog if they failed to take it down. However, it was too late because the internet never forgets and so it had been shared on multiple platforms.
Falling in love on the internet
When the photo first took the internet by storm, several fan clubs of the star and websites that supported her went public. They brought out even more images of the star and went ahead to publish them on different platforms for men to talk about more. The men did exactly that and would continuously comment on her photos and appearance, claiming that she was the love of the internet. Soon it was too much and Allison found herself in the midst of a media storm.
An international fan base
As is expected, the internet is wide and soon the photo crossed boarders and suddenly, Allison gained a big international fan base. She continued to dominate different international blogs and websites and soon, even news stations were talking about Allison. Newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post featured her. Her fame spread to the UK, Germany and even as far as Australia where her amazing story got featured in one of the popular talk shows.
Trying to take control
With all this fame, Allison started getting disturbed. This is considering she had spent so much time and many years perfecting her skills in pole vaulting and now, she was suddenly everywhere thanks to a photo that had been taken and misinterpreted by a dubious website. It didn’t seem fair to her and after a while, she decided that it was time to take control of the unfortunate situation. Sadly, the media was too powerful. As such, she had to hire a good manager to handle all her emails and the many phone calls she would often receive during these times. She also had to deal with an even darker side of the situation, that is the stalkers.
Your intent
After some time, Allison knew that she had to find a better way to handle the situation and divert the attention from her viral photos. She therefore decided to arrange an interview with a major media outlet. In this interview, Allison gave other young and budding athletes tips that would help them perfect the art of jumping poles. The video of this was then uploaded on YouTube but did not do as well as Allison would have wanted it to. Instead of the viewers commenting on how talented she was, most of them just talked of how beautiful she was and what a great physique she had.
Get some help
Fortunately, when things seemed to fail, Allison didn’t have to look too far for help. Her own father Allan Stokke was a brilliant attorney. As would be expected, he set out to help Allison in any way possible from any dangers that came from this fame and also the unwanted attention. Allan took his time and delved into the comments on the website as well as those that were on YouTube to check for any illegal or any legally inappropriate ones, so that he could see if someone was on a mission to harass his daughter. He managed to eliminate the immediate danger but sadly, he wasn’t able to restore the already damaging effect this situation had on his daughter.
Find the positive
Regardless of the terrifying and obviously awkward situation Allison had to face, she tried to look at the positive side of things amongst the many negatives. As her images continued to spread rapidly, CBS saw it asan opportunity to send out a warning to women in sports and every other young woman in the world. They used their educational news segment to create awareness of how easy it has become to turn young and vulnerable women into overnight public figures without their permission. CBS wanted to bring to light the dangers and effects of social media and generally the effects of the internet on young people.
Closing the doors
Unfortunately, all the efforts to shift the situation had been too late and too small because everything that happened had permanently scarred Allison. Allison even stated that she was scared of attending pole vault competitions, something she was passionate about because every time she would, she would get overwhelming attention from fans who always wanted to get close to her. She went on to say that this particular situation had started to take a tloll on her mental well-being and that she would only feel safe when all doors around her were closed. In short, her life had been turned upside down.
Get hold of your talent
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Allison was not happy with the fact that suddenly a bunch of photographs and her physique had overtaken her talent in pole vaulting. By 2010, any search on the internet for Allison Stoke would bring up millions of results and none of them had anything to do with how talented she was in pole vaulting.
Your college career
After a number of stressful years Allison decided to step away from the limelight and went to college where she was open to the new life and opportunities it presented. Being the incredible pole vaulter that she was, she managed to win a full scholarship to go to a California college which was good for her as this way, she would stay closer to her home, her friends and most especially her family. She was also able to keep pole vaulting while in college with the Golden Bears. In her college years, Allison kept a low profile and would rarely be spotted on social media. She avoided this so that she could have a few years to enjoy some much-needed solitude.
Set new records
Deciding to step away from social media and the press allowed Allison to keep a level head and avoid unnecessary attention. She was therefore able to focus on her studies and her athletic career. She managed to excel in both. By the time she was through with college, she had managed to obtain a master’s degree in sociology and had also managed to set even more records in athletics. If anything, Allison had jumped even higher than she ever did before and for every competition she participated in, she managed to place in the top 10. For any athlete, the ultimate dream is to make it to the Olympics and well, things were no different for Allison.
Setting your sights high
After Allison’s graduation, she pushed herself even harder, maintaining a strict regimen that led to her achieving a new, amazing personal best. She managed a 14 feet 3 ½ inches jump. As the year 2012 approached, Allison had the dream of participating in the London Olympics. However, she had to qualify for this first.
A disappointing ending
She trained like she had never done before with her eyes on the price. In this case, the price was to get to the Olympic games. When the time for the qualifiers came, she unfortunately missed the opportunity and narrowly. Like the other 12 contenders for the coveted spot to represent the United States, Allison was unable to exceed the stated required height. Although she was already managing 14 feet, the pressure that came with this competition proved too harsh for her to handle. She felt that her Olympic dream was lover because of this.
A season as a model
In 2015, Allison decided that it was time for her to try out something different. She finally decided to respond to several offers she had received from different brands to wor as a model. In that same year, Allison appeared in a Nike spring and summer collection spread. She also worked for Athleta which is a major sportswear brand. She took the modelling world by storm.
A collaboration with GoPro 20
After becoming a sought-after model, Allison received an offer she couldn’t turn down. It was an opportunity to work in collaboration with the famous GoPro brand. The brand that specializes in cameras was looking to offer a chance to sports and tech fans to see pole vault in a way that they had never before. They created several videos showing Allison doing what she does best, pole vaulting. The videos highlighted her skills from different speeds and angles. They made sure you could see the details of how she did it every time.
New collaborations
In the following year 2016, Allison proved to everyone once again that she was a natural athlete and also a natural model. She took on the job of modeling the Uniqlo fitness line. The brand did such a great job posting videos and photos of Allison running along the beach in her amazingly designed sportswear. Sadly she wasn’t compelling enough and unfortunately, she hasn’t participated in any other modeling campaigns since this Uniqlo one. However, there is still hope for her.
Love is in the air
As 2016 came to an end, Allison once again made headlines, this time because of the rumors of her new romance. Her new boyfriend was rumored to be Rickie Fowler and the two were spotted together at Motorcross Grand Prix. They were often seen together and rumors of their relationship escalated further when both Allison and Rickie posted photos in which they were together on their Instagram accounts. The internet wanted more proof of their relationship though.
Who is Rickie Fowler?
A lot of people wondered who Rickie Fowler was. Well, seemingly Allison is attracted to sports stars. Rickie was a t the time 28 and a golfer. Although he hasn’t managed to make a big name for himself internationally, it is just a matter of time. He is clearly talented seeing that in 2016 he made it to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and also participated in the US Open. He is yet to win in a major competition but fortunately, he is often ranked in top prolific games.
A famous photo
As it is, Allison and Rickie have a few things in common. The first is that they are both great at the sports they like and the second is that they have a lot of viral photographs attached to them. Back in 2016, Fowler was a member of the amazing American golf team that went on to win the Ryder Cup (considering the team had lost for eight good years in a row). While the team was celebrating after the big win, Rickie had nobody to kiss. Rickie made fun of the situation shrugging a pose that became all everyone talked about once it landed on the internet.
The truth is that nothing is known about this
After many months of speculation, the relationship between the two was confirmed although not by the two of them. Instead, one of Rickie’s teammates decided to be the bearer of the news and unveiled their relationship to everyone. During one of the many golf conferences, Jayson Day made a joke about Rickie’s absence from a team meeting they had the day before. He did this in front of the reporters and all the cameras in the press conference. This was hint enough that Rickie finally had a girlfriend and that Allison suddenly had a busy schedule with her new boyfriend.
A perfect relationship
Thanks to Jason, the relationship went public and both Rickie and Allison did not need to worry so much about keeping their relationship under wraps. In fact, they decided to no longer hold anything back. These two are often spotted together looking all charming, holding hands and even going on vacations together. They have also been spotted celebrating holidays together, for example the 4th of July. The two do not shy away from updating their fans on their relationship through Instagram.
Rickie’s cheerleader
Now that Allison decided to take a break from pole vaulting, she definitely has plenty of time to focus on her relationship with Rickie. She has also become his biggest cheerleader and often accompanies Rickie to his golf tournaments. She has often been seen celebrating with him in different competitions such as the US Open. They have become couple goals.
A potential distraction
Clearly, the internet loves to follow Rickie and Allison’s moves. While everyone seems to love them, one person isn’t particularly happy about their relationship. That is Rickie’s trainer. Apparently, he has even given Rickie an ultimatum where he has to make a choice. He has to decide whether he wants to be a social media superstar or if he wants to advance in his professional golfing career. Seemingly, Rickie has chosen to ignore his coach because he is doing exceptionally well in both his personal and professional life.
Golf competition
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From the looks of things, Rickie also has to play the role of a golf coach too. Well, Allison has been inspired by Rickie’s skills and has been seen on the golf course on several occasions. Who knows, perhaps Allison can put the pole down and get into the golf club.
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