I can believe no one has started a thread on gymnastics last night. Personally I thought it was in poor taste that the U.S. coach kept bitching about the age of the Chinese girls and the delay in the announcement.
That American gymnast has to feel like warmed over shit for falling down twice. Bad luck there…
Who won the bronze?
I’d be more concerned that my gymnasts were getting beat by children, than the fact they were under-age according to Olympic rules.
Romania
16 is too high an age limit for gymnastics. That is the real reason they are complaining; they would by happy if every team could have 14 year olds.
If you aren’t going to let the best in the world compete, even if they are 14, then there is no point to even holding the contest.
This is especially true in an event which happens only once every four years. If the peak of a gymnast’s career lasts from their 13th birthday to their 18th birthday, this rule could prevent them from ever going to the olympics based on an unlucky birthday.
Who? Not Bela’s wife; I didn’t hear her say anything about it. And it is bullshit - one of those girls looks no more than 11 or 12. Several of them look under 16.
Alicia Sacramone. She does feel awful but they ran the numbers and the US would’ve still gotten silver without those 2 falls. No consolation to her now but one day that fact will make her feel better.
Do you mean the 13th to 16th? Because 18 - 13 > 4.
I agree that the age limit for competing should be reduced or just outright eliminated, but it’s the rules, and it definitely looks like foul play. If they’re still growing 6-7 years later, then it’ll be clear, then, perhaps. This’ll probably go down in history like a Barry Bonds type of affair; to most, it’ll be obvious that something was wrong, but there will always be die-hard defenders of their integrity.
I agree with this.
I thought most of the gymnasts were looking pretty shitty overall this year. Both China and the U.S. looked pretty rough to me in the prelims, but they started out looking more polished for the final. Their floor routines all look choppy to me, no fluidity of movement, no artistry, just technically hitting (oh god and don’t even get me started on the dismounts.)
It was fascinating to watch the U.S. team struggle to perform in their first Olympics under so much pressure–I’m not saying I didn’t root for the U.S. team – but the number of errors in these games have been staggering. I don’t remember it quite being like this, and I’ve watched the Olympic gymnastics since I was a little kid. Tonight in the men’s all-around some dude fell off the pommel horse twice. I’ve seen more people take nose-dives than stick landings. I am guessing it has to do with the fact that the new point system rewards more difficult routines, so they are going out of their way to do fancy shit they still struggle with. Also the better teammates had to drop out due to injuries, I guess you add all that together, throw in a heap of international pressure and first-time Olympic jitters, and you’ve got a plethora of screwups.
In case anyone here forgot what gymnastic perfection REALLY looks like:
Nadia Rocks the Perfect Tens
But you can’t compete unless you turn 16 during the year.
Think about what happens if you turn 15 in an olympic year.
Holy shit! I’ve watched gymnastics events during the Olympics only, so I don’t know much, but damn, that’s beautiful! The way she transitions so fluidly from movement to movement seems almost like CGI.
I miss the women’s gymnastics days of yore, when there was more emphasis on artistry. Now it’s just about stringing together a bunch of difficult elements. Shawn Johnson, while technically solid, just leaves me cold. Nastia Liukin performs with much more grace and artistry, and I’ll be pulling for her in the all-around tonight. Her uneven bars is really a thing of beauty when she’s on.
Interestingly, Nastia is poised to overtake Shannon Miller’s record of most medals won by an American gymnast. Shannon is still my favorite gymnast of all time.
Yeah, Bela’s wife:
And I know that it is bullshit, but it’s been through the process. Communist countries have been cheating in the Olympics for years. Their olympic teams are agents of the government. These gymnasts are taken from their homes at age 3 and allowed to see their parents once a year.
We all know that they cheat, but it always heartened me that we can still hang with them anyways. When we lose, we should at least do it with some class…
Tonight’s the individual all-around. Maybe Nastia or one of the other Americans can beat those little Chinese girls tonight; make them cry for their teddy bears 
Yeah, and among the communist countries that cheated was Romaina. Specifically, Bela Karoli cheated by lying about gymnast ages. He once entered a gymnast under another (older) gymnast’s name.
Not really surprising it rankles the Karolis so much, since they’ve been widely criticized for the same thing.