Simple fix…5’ minimum height regardless of age. Easy to verify, just put a “you must be this tall” carnival cutout next to each apparatus.
And I never found you to be particularly dirty, either, whichever sense of the word you choose.
This is a good idea, IMHO. Height requirement (or height classes) rather than weight classes.
I agree with you completely. I have read that book, and another called Chalked Up, which was written by a former US National Champion. I have been a lifelong fan of the sport, but these books and my own observations of the direction the sport has gone in have caused me to have a real love/hate relationship with it. I think you are right that the training is too strenuous for young girls, and that parents and coaches put too much pressure on them. That Nastia Liukin and her dad concern me…he was an Olympic gold medalist himself, and the announcers last night were making comments about him saying that “we” (as in, he and his daughter) were going to win a gold medal, and that no other color was acceptable for their family. Well, that’s just effed up in my opinion. But, fundamentally, I think it’s different when it’s a family decision than when the government decides it for you. And I think even the most zealous of “stage mothers” in the US would never send their child away at age 3, knowing that it will be a year before they see each other again. I think it’s wrong when parents send their 10 & 12 year olds away for that purpose, as many do in this sport, but 3 & 4 is a whole different story.
And the only way it would be counterproductive is if the whole team got docked because it was discovered. As if that is going to happen.
OK, I can’t let this go by without a comment.
If you look at the scores, you will see that even if Alicia had scored a 17.00 on her beam routine, which is well beyond any Chinese score (instead of 15.100), we still would have finished second. Her mistakes were not what did it. The Chinese just flat out-scored us over-all.
I retract everything I’ve ever said about Alicia Sacramone.
And what would have happened if she hadn’t promptly followed that up with a fall on the floor?
Seriously, I don’t know. But if you subtract both falls, I imagine things would have been a bit closer.
You’d have programs, though, with two A++ competitors in one weight class, and no better than an A- competitor one class down. One of the A++ athletes would almost certainly be expected to drop weight.
Conversely, you might have cases where extreme, risky measures of some kind would be taken to increase weight (depending on how time elapsed between weigh-in and competition).
Vault
China - 46.350 (2)
USA - 46.875 (1)
Uneven Bars
China - 49.625 (1)
USA - 47.975 (2)
Beam
China - 47.125 (2)
USA - 47.250 (1)
Floor
China - 45.800 (1)
USA - 44.425 (3)
Floor is what killed us, but even if Alicia had scored at the level of her team-mates, the Chinese still would have taken first. It would have been closer, but the end result would have been the same.
OK, that’s not an impossible scenario. But, generally speaking, you are going to have the toughest competition in the lighter weight classes.
This I agree with. There seems to be no length people won’t go to try to gain an edge.
I remember watching the 1996 Olympics and flipping out that a female Chinese gymnast was supposedly 15. If she was 15, I was 112. She looked 8.
But, 12 years later, I am a middle school teacher, as is hubby DeathLlama. He teaches a multi-grade choir, and looking at the kids during a concert you would SWEAR some of the itty bitty girls in the front row were 8, and some of the big girls (and whiskered boys) in the back row were 16. Puberty does weird things to kids.
Not that I would be surprised to hear the Chinese government falsified documents.
Now, since someone brought up horse racing…at least in California, a thoroughbred must be physically age two (not just two according to Jockey Club calendar, where all horses turn one year older on January 1) before being allowed to race. Not only that, they must have xrays proving their knees have closed (immature horses have soft tissue in the center of the knee; it hardens as they mature). Pushing a young horse before this means disaster–I’ve seen 2yros with questionable connections break BOTH knees on the final turn.
Female gymnasts always seem a bit stunted to me, especially in their later adult years. They often have a short, squat appearance that makes me wonder if all the training prevented them from lengthening. Then again, maybe the sport caters to the short, squat body type.
deleted, Lance Armstrong questioning already posed
Sometimes I honestly wonder who the hell these IOC people are. In terms of ethics, justice, and simple humanity, they’re worse than Don King.
Seriously, does anyone think there will be even a token penalty? Hell, the Olympics are the damn birthplace of modern selective enforcement and naked blatant partisanship. In particular, have the Communists ever had to answer for one single goddam thing? (I heard that the women’s swimmers from…East Germany, was it?..abused steroids and it was freakin’ obvious to anyone who wasn’t blind.)
Consider also that there’s a long history of pixies in gymnastics. Nadia Comeneci wasn’t exactly a Greek goddess; neither was Dominique Moceanu, one of our shining stars right up to the point she fell on her butt twice. Thinking that slapping on some rule is going to fix this is lunatic fantasy. Fundamental changes take time to be accepted and adopted, and even then only if the people in charge of the sport want them to happen. Guess what: it didn’t happen.
Yeah, I know, athletic ideals and bringing the world together etc. Not easy to see this as just another crass business with its fair share of corruption and hypocricy. But you gotta call a 14-year-old spade a 14-year-old spade, know what I’m sayin’?
Personally, I’m far more disgusted (in addition to everything xtisme metioned) that judged, subjective, openly biased “sports” are allowed to have the same awards as legitimate events.
Oh, and fachverwirrt, this is gymnastics. Not horseshoes. 
Have you seen her lately ? Pretty damn fine, if you ask me…
Total hijack, but am I the only one who whenever he sees the thread hovering up there like it has for the past week or so sings the thread title to the tune of the Planet Express created version of Single Female Lawyer from the When Aliens Attack episode?
Are African gymnasts faking their ages, too?
Gymnasts are short mostly due to selection bias and partially to training. Male gymnasts usually have minimum calorie requirements rather than max ones, since they need to put on and maintain a LOT of muscle mass relative to their size, and yet the top athletes are all pretty short.
There are a few reasons most female gymnasts are at their best before puberty. Strength to weight is a big one. Post-puberty, women’s bodies like to have more fat than girls do. It takes a pretty strict diet to keep the fat off after puberty, which probably promotes eating disorders if the coach or dietician isn’t good about addressing psychological factors along with the nutritional requirements. This is something that actually would favor younger competition than the current rules allow.
Women also can’t gain the same muscle mass as men, and have slightly less robust skeletons. Their center of gravity and hip structure change drastically during the early stages of puberty, which means most female gymnasts are going to have a couple of years where they simply aren’t going to be as good just because their bodies are changing so much. Men have later growth and don’t change in the same ways, and the post-pubertal changes favor men’s strength-based exercises more.
There are some injury risks with gymnastics, which is no surprise considering how hard they push the capabilities of their bodies. The most common injuries I saw when I was doing gymnastics were wrist and forearm injuries, either from over-stress or traumatic injury. Guys would blow their wrists on the pommel horse more than any other apparatus. Ankle injuries from tumbling were kind of common too. On the other hand, the early training has a lasting impact on bone density later in life.
A couple of cites:
Most Girls Have Normal Growth After Gymnastics
Female Gymnasts: does their training reduce growth rates, delay maturation and increase the risk of long-term skeletal injury? Be sure to read all the way to the conclusions on this one since contradictory evidence is presented.
The IOC has launched an investigation.
This could be huge. What with the Chinese gov’t apparently providing a fraudulent passport as proof of her age…some very big heads could roll.