Watching the women's gymnastics....

[Firebird]

waiting for swimming to start this evening. And my wife loves it. Anyway, the Chinese team is just creepy. There is no way those girls are 16 years old. More like 12 or 13. What kind of people care so much about gymnastics that they'd falsify passports (which a local Chinese paper has evidence of)?

[CoveMom]

You forgot to add...."I just heard all this on the television broadcast..."

:D

I thought the first one looked 16. After that (except for the 20 year old), no way!

[Firebird]

You forgot to add...."I just heard all this on the television broadcast..."

:D

I thought the first one looked 16. After that (except for the 20 year old), no way!

Yeah, they're talking about it. I had read a bit about this before the games....There is no way those girls are 16:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=3083&art_id=nw20080806110452730C385899

[jtk1519]

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/3091/40712785tl1.jpg

[ktCarl]

waiting for swimming to start this evening. And my wife loves it. Anyway, the Chinese team is just creepy. There is no way those girls are 16 years old. More like 12 or 13. What kind of people care so much about gymnastics that they'd falsify passports (which a local Chinese paper has evidence of)?

Kinda like putting in a pro basketball team just to get a gold medal.

[Firebird]

Kinda like putting in a pro basketball team just to get a gold medal.

Actually, it is nothing like that. One is blatant cheating, the other is well within the sport's governing rules. One involves deception,the other is completely above board. No one is pretending that the USA Basketball team is amatuer, people are pretending that Chinese gymnasts are older than they really are.

[twcpfan1]

waiting for swimming to start this evening. And my wife loves it. Anyway, the Chinese team is just creepy. There is no way those girls are 16 years old. More like 12 or 13. What kind of people care so much about gymnastics that they'd falsify passports (which a local Chinese paper has evidence of)?

Women's gymnastics is right up there with swimming when it comes to what Americans consider are elite Olympic Sports.

Sad to see that the Romanians and the Russians are no longer competitive. They add a level of artistry to the sport that the US and Chinese aren't presently able to.

[Firebird]

Women's gymnastics is right up there with swimming when it comes to what Americans consider are elite Olympic Sports.

Sad to see that the Romanians and the Russians are no longer competitive. They add a level of artistry to the sport that the US and Chinese aren't presently able to.

Hard to remain dominant when some of the best talent is bailing for greener pastures in the States. We have a Romanian coach for our national team and the current American world champion is the (hot) daughter of former Soviet champions. Watching the American men last night, there is a Russian on that team, too. One of the member of that 1996 women's squad that won gold for us was a Romanian emigre. Can't recall the name.

China is now what the Russians and Romanians were then. They pluck those girls out at 3, 4 years old and turn their entire live chasing Olympic gold. They eat, breathe, sleep gymnastics or diving, or whatever. The Chinese implemented a program called "Project 119" whereby the authorities targeted 119 events they felt would be up for grabs in Beijing and then went out and strongarmed their young athletes into competing in those events. It would be amazing what the U.S. could do if we opened sports camp gulags and identified young talent at the age of 3 and gave them no choice with what they were going to do with their lives.

People in Russia and Romania got tired of that :Censor: and won't do it anymore. People in the states think that Russia is still this authoritarian type place, but in fact the intrusion of the state into your personal life is in some respects less there than it is here, and certainly nothing comparable to what it was in the bad old days. The sports machines ground to a halt and although we may miss out on some great performances, the people are the better for it. Still, Russia is a formidable force in world sport.

[HebronHawk]

People in the states think that Russia is still this authoritarian type place, but in fact the intrusion of the state into your personal life is in some respects less there than it is here, and certainly nothing comparable to what it was in the bad old days. The sports machines ground to a halt and although we may miss out on some great performances, the people are the better for it. Still, Russia is a formidable force in world sport.

Georgia might have something to say about that.

[twcpfan1]

Georgia might have something to say about that.

Actually the South Ossetians have the exclusive rights to gripe here. The Georgians were the aggressors here. The Russian response is being termed by the US press as 'disproportional'. Historically we have no leg to stand on as far as making accusations about disproportional responses.

Back to gymnastics, I hope....

There's a Georgia thread already.

[twcpfan1]

Hard to remain dominant when some of the best talent is bailing for greener pastures in the States. We have a Romanian coach for our national team and the current American world champion is the (hot) daughter of former Soviet champions. Watching the American men last night, there is a Russian on that team, too. One of the member of that 1996 women's squad that won gold for us was a Romanian emigre. Can't recall the name.

China is now what the Russians and Romanians were then. They pluck those girls out at 3, 4 years old and turn their entire live chasing Olympic gold. They eat, breathe, sleep gymnastics or diving, or whatever. The Chinese implemented a program called "Project 119" whereby the authorities targeted 119 events they felt would be up for grabs in Beijing and then went out and strongarmed their young athletes into competing in those events. It would be amazing what the U.S. could do if we opened sports camp gulags and identified young talent at the age of 3 and gave them no choice with what they were going to do with their lives.

People in Russia and Romania got tired of that :Censor: and won't do it anymore. People in the states think that Russia is still this authoritarian type place, but in fact the intrusion of the state into your personal life is in some respects less there than it is here, and certainly nothing comparable to what it was in the bad old days. The sports machines ground to a halt and although we may miss out on some great performances, the people are the better for it. Still, Russia is a formidable force in world sport.

Our gymnastics and Diving team have Chinese coaches now.

If the US basketball team do not get the gold this time around, they probably should hire a European coach.

[CyFallsMom]

Those Chinese girls - two of them at least - are no more than 12 and there seems to be nothing that can be done about it. Darn Commies!! Amazing that they can cheat like that.

On the flip side, it will be pretty sad if a bunch of 12 year olds beat our 17 year olds in the team competition. They need to get good and pissed off about it. Even the announcers were talking about it. But their passports say they are 16.

[KT2000]

One of the member of that 1996 women's squad that won gold for us was a Romanian emigre. Can't recall the name.

Dominique Moceanu (don't know if that is spelled right).

Most of the Chinese girls looked underage, especially the one who went Crouching Tiger on the uneven bars. Then again, a lot of them do because they have to be so small to compete.

And our Russian transplant (Lushkin?) got ripped off on her balance beam score as did our other main contender (Johnson?).

[Firebird]

Dominique Moceanu (don't know if that is spelled right).

Most of the Chinese girls looked underage, especially the one who went Crouching Tiger on the uneven bars. Then again, a lot of them do because they have to be so small to compete.

And our Russian transplant (Lushkin?) got ripped off on her balance beam score.


Liukin. It did seem that she got jobbed, but I am clueless when it comes to that stuff. I hope she does better in the finals, but this is why I can't get too into subjective judged sports.

Nastia Liukin is Mrs. Bird's new favorite athlete, though she also likes Phelps a lot. She's found a kindred spirit in the Russo-Texan. She really likes watching all the transplanted Russians competing for the States.

[KT2000]

Liukin. It did seem that she got jobbed, but I am clueless when it comes to that stuff. I hope she does better in the finals, but this is why I can't get too into subjective judged sports.

Nastia Liukin is Mrs. Bird's new favorite athlete, though she also likes Phelps a lot. She's found a kindred spirit in the Russo-Texan. She really likes watching all the transplanted Russians competing for the States.

I don't understand that stuff either. Even the announcers were clueless on the score. Normally, they are all over the deductions and all of the little mistakes they make.

[CyFallsMom]

The scoring has changed - I miss the old getting pissed off at the Russian judge for giving our girls a 6.0!! You won't see any more perfect scores - they can only get a 10 in one aspect of the scoring. In my opinion, just putting a 15.95 up there makes it even more suspiscious than before - how do they know how they came up with that number? I guess the coaches see a breakdown - who knows. It's even more subjective at this point either way.

[KT2000]

I don't see how people compete in a sport where subjective judging determines the outcome. You might as well play roulette.

[ktCarl]

Hard to remain dominant when some of the best talent is bailing for greener pastures in the States. We have a Romanian coach for our national team and the current American world champion is the (hot) daughter of former Soviet champions. Watching the American men last night, there is a Russian on that team, too. One of the member of that 1996 women's squad that won gold for us was a Romanian emigre. Can't recall the name.

China is now what the Russians and Romanians were then. They pluck those girls out at 3, 4 years old and turn their entire live chasing Olympic gold. They eat, breathe, sleep gymnastics or diving, or whatever. The Chinese implemented a program called "Project 119" whereby the authorities targeted 119 events they felt would be up for grabs in Beijing and then went out and strongarmed their young athletes into competing in those events. It would be amazing what the U.S. could do if we opened sports camp gulags and identified young talent at the age of 3 and gave them no choice with what they were going to do with their lives.

People in Russia and Romania got tired of that :Censor: and won't do it anymore. People in the states think that Russia is still this authoritarian type place, but in fact the intrusion of the state into your personal life is in some respects less there than it is here, and certainly nothing comparable to what it was in the bad old days. The sports machines ground to a halt and although we may miss out on some great performances, the people are the better for it. Still, Russia is a formidable force in world sport.


How can you tell how good a 3 yr old is going to be in a specific sport when they become a teenager? I had no clue my son at 3yrs old was going to be a good high school baseball player.

[KT2000]

How can you tell how good a 3 yr old is going to be in a specific sport when they become a teenager? I had no clue my son at 3yrs old was going to be a good high school baseball player.

They manufacture the talent.

[twcpfan1]

How can you tell how good a 3 yr old is going to be in a specific sport when they become a teenager? I had no clue my son at 3yrs old was going to be a good high school baseball player.

I saw a feature on it. They literally bend the 3 y/o backwards and see how far they can do it.

[twcpfan1]

I don't see how people compete in a sport where subjective judging determines the outcome. You might as well play roulette.

What's wrong with that?

Signed,

The BCS