The Profile: The people running for 24 hours straight & the tennis rivals with a beautiful friendship

This edition of The Profile features Greta Gerwig, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and more.

Good morning, friends!

Sometimes, I read something that I can’t get out of my head.

Last week, I worked on a Profile Dossier on author Nicholas Sparks, and I watched an interview in which he said something profound:

“To me, love and tragedy are linked. You can’t have one without the other. And the greater the love, the greater the tragedy. You see, every day millions and millions of people around the world die, and we all go on, we all show up to work, we don’t care. But the moment that it’s someone you love — your sister, your spouse, your grandparents, your friend — it’s like your world collapses. And the greater the love, the greater the tragedy.

“So, by definition, all love stories have to end in tragedy.”

I don’t why this was so illuminating to me, but I guess I had never thought about it that way. No one can avoid grief. It’s only a matter of time. Although this may sound dark, I think there’s a really beautiful message: Although tragedy is inevitable, that great love story is possible for everyone. And it’s worth immersing yourself fully and unconditionally into loving those close to you because life is equal part love story and equal part tragedy.

Each is a different side of the same coin.

PROFILES.

— The tennis rivals with a beautiful friendship [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The woman behind the ‘Barbie’ film
— The Tiger Woods of bowling
— The people running for 24 hours straight
— The man trying to make condoms sexy
— The Barbie company making a comeback

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The tennis rivals with a beautiful friendship: After 50 years, tennis sensations Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova understand each other like no one else can. “It’s been up and down, the friendship,” Evert says. At the ages of 68 and 66, respectively, Evert and Navratilova have found themselves more intertwined than ever, by an unwelcome factor. You want to meet an opponent who draws you nearer in mutual understanding? Try having cancer at the same time. This profile of a decades-long friendship is goosebump-inducing. (The Washington Post)

“With all the experiences we had, winning and losing and comforting each other, I think we ended up having more compassion for each other than anybody in the world could have.”

The woman behind the ‘Barbie’ film: Greta Gerwig is the director behind the new ‘Barbie’ film, and she’s had many thoughts during production, one of them being, “I kept thinking: Humans are the people that make dolls and then get mad at the dolls.” Yes, Barbie is a polarizing toy and a juicy hunk of I.P., but Gerwig wanted to explore what else Barbie is: a potent, complicated, contradictory symbol that stands near the center of a decades-long and still-running argument about how to be a woman. (The New York Times)

“I’m doing the thing and subverting the thing.”

The Tiger Woods of bowling: Jason Belmonte, 39, has never conformed to expectations. When he first came on the scene, Belmo, as he’s known to his fans, resembled an alien species: one that bowled with two hands. And not some granny shot, but a kickass power move in which he uses two fingers (and no thumb) on his right hand, palms the front of the ball with his left, and then, rocks the ball back before launching it. Not everyone welcomed his arrival. He’s been called a cheat, told to go back to his native Australia; a PBA Hall of Famer once called the two-hander a “cancer to an already diseased sport.” Belmonte’s two-handed technique made him an outcast. Then it made him the greatest—and changed the sport forever. (GQ)

“He’s exactly like Tiger Woods. The domination, the difference, the electricity, the controversy.”

The people running for 24 hours straight: Most people do not run. Most people who run do not run long distances. Most people who run long distances do not run extremely long distances. And most people who run extremely long distances do not decide to do so on a 400-meter track for 24 hours straight. But this year, at least 36 people did, enough to fill the high school track field in Sharon Hills where D3 was held in mid-May. D3 is known as the ‘Dawn to Dusk to Dawn’ ultramarathon—a grueling 24-hour race in Sharon Hills, Pennsylvania. Meet the people crazy enough to try this. (Slate)

“I think when you’re doing these kinds of distances and putting yourself out there like that, it humbles you. And when you’re humbled, you’re more compassionate.”

The man trying to make condoms sexy: Ben Wilson is the man in charge of the condom brand Durex. Wilson is the ‘global category director for intimate wellness’ at Reckitt, Durex’s parent company. His challenge is to convince people, in whatever way possible, that condoms are about pleasure as much as protection. He has a way to go. (The Guardian)

“We have to be up there with the likes of Apple.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The Barbie company making a comeback: Another week, another profile on toy company Mattel. By the 2000s, Mattel’s signature Barbie doll was being viewed as a relic. Seven years ago, Mattel finally began making Barbies with more realistic body types, new careers, and a wider range of skin tones. Sales rose, but it wasn’t enough to reverse Mattel’s decline—that same year it lost its spot as the world’s largest toy company by market cap to Hasbro. It then burned through two CEOs, endured an accounting scandal, and recalled the Rock ’n Play Sleepers sold by its Fisher-Price subsidiary. Can Mattel’s new CEO Ynon Kreiz turn it all around? (Bloomberg)

“We weren’t connecting to the culture. We weren’t even a reflection of what pop culture looked like.”

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