Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 Options

[towntown2]

I kinda feel for Laura Wilkinson.
At 30, diving can't be very easy for her body.
And her dives are inconsistent.

[swan]

Is it a he or she, they kept throwing 'he' into the article like it was a he instead of a she o_O Maybe I wasn't paying attention enough.

He Kexin is female. Her surname, He, calls for confused pronouns.

China probably anticipated such measures. The age limit is an important rule to abide to.

I kinda feel for Laura Wilkinson.
At 30, diving can't be very easy for her body.
And her dives are inconsistent.

I agree. Her right tricep was bothering her, too. She's so positive about it all, however, which is great.

[towntown2]

^^ She ended her career with a good dive, though.
Sometimes a gold isn't everything.

But that Chinese teenager was crying when she won.
That was sweet.

[Joanne]

^ Yeah, I just saw the rerun of that... is it weird that I got pretty emotional watching it? Whatever... it was awesome. And a Canadian got silver! SWEEEET!

[towntown2]

^^ I always get goose bumps watching people win gold.
Like Nastia and Shawn.
And Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh last night.

[Gigi]

And then Alexandre Despatie congratulated Ruolin (the diver) - THAT WAS SO CUTE! I love you Alex <33.

I have heard the Chinese anthem enough times when I was in Hong Kong to honestly hum it in my sleep. It's been ridiculous over there.

OHSNAP.

I am writing another essay.

That is quite possibly the MOST biased piece of journalism I have read in my life. But then I realized this is a blog, and people bullshit a lot on blogs. So she's getting investigated, but there's no reason to spew crap about China along the way.

I love how people have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER that's she's not 16. I mean, it's likely that she's not (and if/when the IOC discovers that she's not, I'll be VERY pissed off, but with the Chinese government, NOT He Kexin or the other gymnasts). But there is always a chance that this isn't the case.

The American media is being relentless in portraying the Chinese as evil, brainwashed robots that want nothing but to win, or else suffer the consequences from their Communist leaders. It's sad that in a country where free speech is a belief and a way of life (which is advocated so much for China), that the free speech spewed out is sometimes biased, one-sided, and completely misleading. This is only slightly better than the restrictions China sets on their journalists.

The U.S. and many other countries have had plenty of incidents in their past - performance-enhancing drugs, etc. While you might argue that a younger age give an advantage to the Chinese team, realize that these young gymnasts have actual talent, don't even go to the level of using drugs. I am in no way condoning what they did (if it's actually proven), but for a kid, doing what their country wants for them does not make them evil, conniving cheaters like all these ridiculous "objective" articles make them out to be.

Perhaps, instead of reading American articles that brainwash you (how ironic), take a look at this one:

http://news.imagethief.com/blogs/china/arc...d-babygate.aspx

At least attempt to view this from another angle.

[datass]

honestly, what i dont understand is why you got to be at least 16. so what if she's only 14? shouldn't american be shamed a 14 year old beat her? iono, but i just thought she's got talent. but if that's against the rule then that's too bad for her.

[Teesa]

^yeah, it's like competing against the best...but still :/

and they found no proof.

i stayed up until 2 last night watching the men's volleyball game against russia...it was sweeet! i seriously hope usa can win the gold!

and the stupid today show is on nbc right now instead of olympic coverage, but a live tracker shows me that usa basketball is beating argentina badly =)

edit//
oh, i also got He mixed up with the pronoun as well, lol.

and CONGRATS to an amazing bryan clay for winning the decathlon!

This post has been edited by Teesa: Aug 22 2008, 09:53 AM

[Teesa]

one more until gold for usa men's basketball!! pau gasol and spain. hmmmmm, we already beat them once

[hi-C]

honestly, what i dont understand is why you got to be at least 16. so what if she's only 14? shouldn't american be shamed a 14 year old beat her? iono, but i just thought she's got talent. but if that's against the rule then that's too bad for her.

Rules state that a gymnast has to be 16 in an Olympic year (so the gymnast could be 15 going on 16) in order to be eligible to compete. It's not a shame issue; a lot of gymnasts don't agree with the age requirement, but rules are rules and they should be regarded accordingly.

[Gigi]

honestly, what i dont understand is why you got to be at least 16. so what if she's only 14? shouldn't american be shamed a 14 year old beat her? iono, but i just thought she's got talent. but if that's against the rule then that's too bad for her.

The age limit was implemented a few years ago, and it was because that they believed gymnasts suffered from "child abuse" from their coaches and couldn't develop properly. What I don't understand is how changing the age limit will help anything. If you require them to be 16 to compete, then they're still going to train like mad during puberty, and the so-called stunt in growth is still going to happen. But still. Rules are rules, no matter how dumb they are.

What I really think the age limit was implemented for was to create an even playing field for older competitors, because they never do quite as well as the youngins. At a younger age, females do better in gymnastics because their body mass is relatively less than an older female. Because females don't develop much muscle mass like men do, the added weight at an older age makes it harder for them to do all those acrobatic swings, flips, and turns. The younger one has it easier because their body mass is less, and therefore easier to manipulate. That's why the US should not be "ashamed" of losing to a 14 year old because the younger one is the one that has the advantage.

[Tung]

Haha. I feel sorry for Canada. They really thought they had the Gold Medal locked up in Women's diving. After she got that 95 score. But then round 5 came along, and she got like a 90 score, they knew they had gold. Then the Chinese girl came up and got a 101 score. And shattered the hearts of all Canadians. Canada will always finish 2nd in EVERYTHING they do.

[Joanne]

Shut up, Tung


I expected China to get gold - they pretty much ALWAYS kick ass at diving! And I'm glad that Emilie Heymans got silver! She was absolutely amazing. Even though it does suck for her to be so close and not get gold, I'm sure she's totally happy with the results in the end.

[Gigi]

Haha. I feel sorry for Canada. They really thought they had the Gold Medal locked up in Women's diving. loool.gif After she got that 95 score. But then round 5 came along, and she got like a 90 score, they knew they had gold. Then the Chinese girl came up and got a 101 score. loool.gif And shattered the hearts of all Canadians. rofl1.gif Canada will always finish 2nd in EVERYTHING they do.

LOL That's the sad, hardcore truth right there. You nailed it on the head.

I was watching that yesterday, and while I love Canada and was rooting for them, I CERTAINLY did not want them to break the hopeful Chinese diving sweep. I wanted her to get silver at the most. So when Ruolin got three 10's and a 9.5 I WENT NUTS!

It was different this time around because the Chinese divers were usually around 20-40 points ahead of the others, but it was close for this event. Much more exciting.

Yeah and Emilie should be nothing but happy - Ruolin rightfully deserves Gold after her amazing last dive. I mean, that girl knows how to WORK IT, crank it out at the last possible moment. Amazing performance under pressure.

[hi-C]

The age limit was implemented a few years ago, and it was because that they believed gymnasts suffered from "child abuse" from their coaches and couldn't develop properly. What I don't understand is how changing the age limit will help anything. If you require them to be 16 to compete, then they're still going to train like mad during puberty, and the so-called stunt in growth is still going to happen. But still. Rules are rules, no matter how dumb they are.

What I really think the age limit was implemented for was to create an even playing field for older competitors, because they never do quite as well as the youngins. At a younger age, females do better in gymnastics because their body mass is relatively less than an older female. Because females don't develop much muscle mass like men do, the added weight at an older age makes it harder for them to do all those acrobatic swings, flips, and turns. The younger one has it easier because their body mass is less, and therefore easier to manipulate. That's why the US should not be "ashamed" of losing to a 14 year old because the younger one is the one that has the advantage.

It was more than a few years ago; it was a decade ago. And I think the age requirement was raised officially for the reason you stated in your second paragraph, not the first.

[Gigi]

^ Sorry, sometimes I still think that 1997 is a few years ago. When it's actually 11 years ago. It makes me feel old. Yeah but it was raised from like 14 to 15 in the 80's, and then to 16 in 1997.

Was it? I read a few articles and from what I understood it was for the first reason, but it was probably a combination of both. I feel like, if it was for the second reason, then the age limit shouldn't have been implemented. Other countries could have put out some younger athletes as well. It would be like changing the rules just so that the other countries who sucked a little more could do better, which is unfair. Maybe it's a cultural thing in that, North Americans don't typically train as hard or at as young of an age as say, Russians or Chinese.

[hi-C]

Now, see, I was reading stuff on wikipedia earlier about the age restrictions, and it was really interesting, the earliest champions were hella old.

The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s; most had studied ballet for years before entering the sport. Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti won individual gold medals at the age of 35 at the 1956 Olympics. Larissa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, won her first Olympic all-around medal at the age of 21, her second at 25 and her third at 29; she became the 1958 World Champion while pregnant with her daughter.[2] Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals at the highest level of the sport, and won her final Olympic all-around title at the age of 26.[3]

But I'm going to check out those links at the bottom of the wiki page to see if there's a definitive answer as to why the age restriction was put in place.

[Gigi]

^ That's actually really interesting. Maybe back in the day, that extra training in ballet really helped. Plus, back in the 50s, the moves probably weren't as difficult or stressful on the body as they are now. What with the intense training that goes on at a young age, and athletes that are handpicked for the perfect body shape. I guess, in order to raise the bar, a lot of younger gymnasts were chosen so that the sport could evolve.

You hardly ever see anybody over 24 in gymnastics nowadays.

[hi-C]

^ I KNOW! I hate the way age is played up in the Olympics. Those a-hole commentators were talking about doubting if Nastia Liukin was going to return for the 2012 Olympics because she's going to be 23. Jesus Christ, when did 23 become old?

[towntown2]

Who caught the U.S.-Brazil men's beach volleyball finals?
Dalhausser and Rogers took the gold!!
The Beast is looking pretty hot at 6'9"

[Simba]

I'm not so sure about the scoring on the China vs. Ireland boxing match.

[Simba]

Best pics

http://stuff.thdesign.be/forum/varia/OS.html

[berrypop90]

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You can just feel the heartbreak.

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Lol convenient.

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o.0

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Dude went to my high school.

[Joanne]

Best pics

http://stuff.thdesign.be/forum/varia/OS.html

OMG poor poor girl whose boob popped out! And aww to the cross-eyed diver. =(

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I LOL'd.

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I smiled.

[Simba]

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I liked these fresh angles.

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lmao...