Olympic winner wants to be a body-positive role model

On Friday, 30-year-old Michelle Carter won the gold in women's shot put. She the first American woman to do so, and she's using her newfound fame to send a powerful message.

Carter preaches body-postivity and embracing who you are. In a feature she wrote for Redbook in late July -- before her gold medal win -- she discussed how observers perceived her by her looks. People have told her that athletes are masculine and thin; Carter is neither, and proud of that.

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"I'm girly and curvy, but so many people expect an athlete to look tough and masculine," she said.

Carter continued, "I've been a bigger girl all my life. So if you're not one of the folks who expects all athletes to look like linebackers, you might be someone who assumes that all athletes come equipped with a six-pack and visible muscles everywhere. Sure, that works."

"But my body works too," she assured.

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In addition to being an Olympic athlete, Carter is a professional makeup artist; she also sells makeup packages under her own line called "Shot Diva." She proudly gets her nails and eyelashes done before competing, and does not care that others criticize that routine.

After her win, Carter took to Instagram to expressing how happy she is:

"This has been an amazing journey. It wasn't easy, but worth it," she wrote.

Carter proves that anyone can be an athlete -- an Olympic gold winning athlete at that -- no matter what they look like.