Best and Worst of the Olympics

They’re over. I’m sad. But I thought I would write a little about the things that were impressing versus that which made me cringe.

The Chinese Audience hosted a FANTASTIC OLYMPICS in my opinion. First off, the designs were astounding. From the Bird’s Nest to the Water Cube, the architecture was fabulous. The gymnastics venue was also wonderfully decorated inside. I am specifically talking about the colorful borders that ran through the arena; it looked GREAT on high definition TV!

On that note, the Chinese were a truly fabulous audience. They packed the arena and cheered so loudly for everyone! I was very impressed when the booed Jonathan Horton‘s high bar score during finals; they thought he should have beat their own countryman, Zou Kai! Great audience!

My personal pick for the team with the overall best leotards went to Russia. Hands down.

The above leo is what I would have loved to see on the USA. But EVERY Russian leotard I saw throughout the entire Olympic Games was GREAT.

Awesome that we saw astounding history in Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt! I am awating Phelps’ blood test because I think it will come back stating that he has part dolphin genes!

For gymnastics, the most beautiful display of sportsmanship winners were Shawn Johnson and Fabian Hambuechen. Fabian was SO upset with his personal performance during the high bar final! But of course that didn’t stop him from warmly congratulating the winners. Same thing with Shawn. Love them.

Who I already predict to be on the 2012 Olympic Teams: Fabian Hambuechen, Zou Kai, Kohei Uchimura, Ksenia Semenova.

There were some diappointing moments with the scoring. I won’t comment on a lot of it because it makes me angry.

The two athletes that that made me the saddest were definitely Cheng Fei and Anna Pavlova. Cheng Fei’s disappointing EF showings on VT and FX. Pavlova for not receiving a medal, and she should have had Cheng’s beam bronze. Now that I think about it, Alicia Sacramone made me quite sad as well. I am so sad she didn’t come away with an individual medal! That vault bronze I thought should have been hers. The rest of the judging that really angered me I won’t go into.

I disliked the way NBC presented some of the gymnastics. First off, starting it at 10 or 11 (Eastern time) at night was not good. I hate that it just HAD to be live to get those ratings in. I also did not like that we saw ONE routine from the bronze winning Romanian team.

A couple of posts ago we went into what REALLY aggrivated me the most. There is no reason to reiterate. Let’s just say there are a few people who I no longer have any respect for anymore.

I am trying to get the “what could have been” thoughts out of my head had Chellsie Memmel competed all four events. Sigh. I heard she is planning to continue though! Good deal. At least she has an Olympic Medal.

Dasha Joura not competing at her best also makes my heart break. Maybe 2012???

One more note about the hosting of the Chinese: Opening and Closing Ceremonies were AWESOME! Way to go China for putting on a truly spectacular show.

Also, my hat goes off to trck star Bernard Lagat, whom I have blogged about before. Lagat was the 2007 World Champion on both the 1500 and 5000 meter runs. A bronze in Sydney, a silver in Athens, I really wanted that gold for him!!!! I heard he had a foot injury. That is really sad. I don’t know the time span and age ranges for runners. Will he be able to compete realistically in 2012? If anyone knows the answer to that please comment and let me know!

That is it for now, if I think of more things I will add them to this post.

2008 Olympics: SHAWN GETS HER GOLD!

Ahhhhh, finally!  I am so happy for Shawn Johnson winning a gold medal on what I think is her best event: beam.  Truly a great moment.  I love that kid.

I love Cheng Fei so much, but I believe the bronze medal rightfully belonged to Anna Pavlova.  I am very disappointed for Pavlova; along with Nastia Liukin she had qualified to the most individual finals.

Also, another big shout out to Jonathan Horton!!!!  What an AMAZING routine to win a silver medal.  I actually thought he should have won the gold!  I admit that I know less about MAG though.  I am curious to see what everyone else thinks because it seemed that even the Chinese thought that he should have won!

Poor Fabian Hambuechen.  I am so sad for him!  But I am glad he still got a medal.  And what a great sport he is!  Truly the best in the field of those who are gracious.  But I am thinking that Fabian is going to be one of the front runners this next quad.  You will get your moment with hard work Fabian!  Look how long Yang Wei waited, and what a payoff he got these Games!

Kai Zou ends up being the most sucessful of the Chinese Men.  Without injury, I would already call him being on the team in 2012.  He is so powerful on China’s weakest events, he’s got gold medals for both of them too.

Wow do I hope Horton continues.  He and Sasha Artemev both.  They have plenty of years left in my opinion.  And I hope beyond hope they continue in the sport.

Also congratulations to Li Xiaopeng!  He is such a wonderful competitor.  If he had his second vault….China might have swept every gold medal!  Not that 7 out of 8 is bad…

Anyhow, it has been a wonderful Games.  I will soon do a post talking about the various things that were awesome in my opinion, for instance, how awesome I believed the Chinese crowd was!

Sniff, sniff.  It’s over.  Sadness.  I can’t believe I have to wait another four years….

2008 Olympics: Heartbreaks! Event Finals, Night One

So I accidentally saw too many of the results online before I got to watch the broadcast.  I WILL NOT let that happen the next two nights!  I will be banning myself from going online tomorrow until after the broadcast.

My heart broke wide open with the results way too many times tonight…

Cheng Fei–  I cried.  I did.  To hold every major title in the last three years and blow it the night it counts!  Floor was even worse, and oh how I cried for Cheng.  She should have had 3 golds these Games, and walked away with the only individual medal of a bronze.

Alicia Sacramone–  I WISH SHE WOULD HAVE HAD THE AMANAR!  Another person who has medalled at every event she has entered on vault.  Sigh.  I wonder if she hadn’t been up first….would she have won the bronze?

Three cheers for Oksana Chusovitina!  The highest AA placement ever for her, and during her fifth Olympics.  But more importantly, AN INDIVIDUAL SILVER MEDAL FOR HER!  How glorious!  I am soooo happy for her!  One of the best things to happen.

Shawn Johnson…..when will you earn your gold?  It might not happen.  But I will tell you this, if the Olympics awarded medals in the categories of consistency, maturity, graciousness, and heart….well then Shawn would have gold medals in all of those!  I am rooting for her heavily during beam finals.  It won’t be easy with Nastia Liukin slated to compete right after her.  Her comments in the news are just amazing.  I also think had she and Izbasa switched places in the lineup, so would the medals!

But I have no qualms with Sandra Izbasa winning the gold.  I really like her.  I just wish she didn’t have two full-ins in her routine.  Her reaction was adorable.  Way to go Romania for winning a gold!

Oh, Anna Pavlova!!!!  What is it with Russia and taking a zero on vault?  Then there was her floor routine, which is one of my favorites this Games.  That routine is just gorgeous.  I can only hope her beam routine goes very well for her so that she won’t end the Olympics on a low point.

One of the best things tonight was the fact that NBC showed ALL EIGHT ROUTINES IN FLOOR FINALS!  Now THAT is awesome.

I feel bad for Sasha Artemev.  If he had hit, he would have medalled, no doubt.  A great composition, my favorite of all the pommel workers.

Diego Hypolito also made me cry.  I feel so bad for him.  He is young, so I really hopes he stays around another quad and blows everyone away in 2012.

Marian Dragulescu also made me sad.  I am rooting SO HARD for him in vault finals tomorrow.

I wish Jordan Jotchev hadn’t drawn so soon, I want him to get a gold medal darn it.

Congrats to Xiao Qin. I felt soooo bad for him in Athens.  He was one I really wanted with the gold.

That is all for now.

2008 Olympics: Yang Wei is Golden but Other Dreams Shattered

Oh the heartbreaks and surprises tonight!

As expected, Yang Wei won the gold. I am so happy for him. What a truly glorious thing. He won by 2.6 points.

The real news is with the heartbreaks that happened among those in the silver and bronze medal race. Less than a point separated places 2 through 10. This meet I watched alone. Here are the moments that my heart broke wide open:

Fabian Hambuchen was by far the biggest heartbreak for me. A hit high bar routine would have given him the silver medal. I yelled “NOOOO” a couple of times, mostly over this awesome young man. One thing that really gets me about Fabian is his absolutely wonderful demeanor to his competitors. Always congradulating them. I love it. How I wanted a silver medal for this guy. My only hope is that he clinches the gold in the high bar final.

Hiroyuki Tomita also broke my heart with that scary rings fall. (Another out loud yell). After all he has done, it would have been so nice to see him medal! An upsetting fourth place finish, just .175 out of the bronze position, and .225 out of the silver! Without that scary rings fall he would surely have been second. That sucks.

Jonathon Horton didn’t have the greatest performances, but after watching him during the Team Finals, I really wanted him with that bronze medal.

Sasha Artemev was great! He has really grown on me and now I am root, root, rooting for him to get a medal on the pommel horse!

Who is Benoit Caranobe? Why he is the Olympic Bronze Medalist! I had NO idea who he was before tonight, my knowledge of statistic for MAG is NOTHING compared to what I know about WAG. But his tears of joy moved me so much. Biggest surprise of the evening.

I hope Fabian is in London 2012. Tim Daggett also provided me with an education of who Kohei Urchimura is. The silver medalist I guess will be a power for years to come for team Japan.

Yang Tae-Young also provided more heartbreaking moments.

I don’t think a healthy Paul Hamm would have beat Yang Wei tonight.

NBC, I am mad you didn’t show me the medal ceremony, it had better be online! –Oh wow, they are playing it, they did this about 30 seconds after I typed this sentence. I take it back NBC.

It struck me tonight how moved I let complete strangers whom I will never know personally affect me so much. I guess that is what having our heroes means to us.

Ooh I am watching the medal ceremony, Caranobe is kinda hot! I love Yang Wei’s antics. Not only does he deserve to do them, but so much more exciting than the usual.

Tomorrow night is the real night for me. It is the night I have waited four years to know the outcome of. Of course I want Shawn Johnson to win. Badly. But I am thinking it is going to be Nastia Liukin. I hope I am wrong.

2008 Olympics: An Unexpected Team Final

Woooooow, craziness last night!

Of course the biggest surprise came with the fact that Alicia Sacramone made two major errors. I really think that China would have won regardless, but you never know. If those mistakes did not exist, China may have had the pressure get to them and maybe made a couple of errors themselves. But I hope there aren’t a whole bunch of ignorant gymnastics viewers out there blaming Alicia. She is one of the biggest heart and souls of the American program.

Gee Marta, maybe we would have done a lot better if we didn’t have half a team. Maybe we should lighten up on the selection procedure. This procedure is responsible to all the athletes we lost before and during the Olympic Games. I strongly think that after Nationals, Trials should have been held when the selection camp was. I don’t know, I am not an expert, but that sounds better than girls who are trying to stay in peak form for 3 months.

I really wanted Chellsie Memmel to be able to call herself and Olympic Gold Medalist. And has everyone heard the latest? The girl knew she was competing with a broken bone! There is no one tougher than Chellsie!

How wonderful it was to see Cheng Fei give the last performance of the night, putting the final hold on the gold medal. I love that she got to have that. I strongly think she is very likely to win two more golds on vault and floor. I am not surprised China won, and I am happy for them.

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin put in some very solid, feel proud about it performances. Congrats to them. I thought the congratulating amongst the two teams was very sweet.

Also, they looked pretty darn happy at the end! You didn’t lose the gold team USA! You WON a silver! And I really think that they viewed it that way too. Good for them.

Romania in third? What the hell happened to Russia? Congrats to the Romanians though!

Men’s All-Around tonight! I want Yang Wei, Jonathon Horton, Hiroyuki Tomita, and Fabian Hambuchen to have the performances of a lifetime! Good luck to the men!

Off topic, but my blog a couple of days ago celebrated it’s 50,000th hit! It has BLOWN UP during the Olympics, hitting more than 4,000 hits a day over its’s usual average! Thanks to all you readers out there!

2008 : Thoughts on Qualifications

Ok, so keep in mind that all I have seen is what NBC aired on TV. I am pretty sure that NBCOLYMPICS.COM has more to view. But I looked online at the results and that plus what I saw here is the random things flying through my brain: (keep iin mind, I am writing this on a few glasses of wine, this could be out there. And again, my disclaimer: I mean no disrespect to any individual athletes, this is purely my own opinion).

• Nastia Liukin on floor ahead of Alicia Sacramone already shocked me, Nastia qualifying into event finals???? I am not knocking her, I just think that is crazy. Alicia landing OOB didn’t exactly shock me but DAMN! Bridget Sloan did well on floor. I was proud. The Samantha Peszek injury shocked me.
• What was up with Nastia scoring the same as Shawn Johnson on beam? I have major beef with this, but maybe I am wrong: Nastia broke her connection of the Onodi-wolf full in her routine. What is the connection loss for that? because she still got a 6.6 A-score!!! That should not be right unless the loss of connection was only .1 because I know she usually loses one tenth for her Liukin-Nistor whatever move, and in my opinion, that was done solid. The whole routine was solid with the exception of that connection. Meanwhile Shawn was near flawless on her routine… how did she get the samw score? Shawn should have been given the 7.0 on beam. Did the full turn get devalued? Because it was awesome I thought. I am angry about this. Her routine was the best I have ever seen! She was flawless minus the landing which was almost stuck! I would have given Shawn a 7.0 plus a B-score of 9.5 which makes a 16.500. Kind of high actually. At least over a 16 though!!!! Which brings me to my next thought!
• What did everyonne think of scoring? Sometimes I thought it was too tight, sometimes I thought too lenient! Bars scoring was tight, Jiang Yuyuan I thought might have been a little low on bars. I don’t know. I can’t thnk.
• He Kexin falling on bars was insane. Well, don’t put 14 year-olds in the Olympics! But I was sad for her, as I haven’t seen her miss a routine yet. But she did make EF, too bad she has to go up first for that.
• On that note…SHOCKING that Nastia fell on her dismount! I know that dismount has been her nemisis, but Nastia has looked GREAT, and during podium training I was amazed because she looked sooooooo much better on that! She will get 1st or 2nd though on that event. She does deserve it.
• Chellsie Memmel‘s fall almost made me cry. i can’t even comment further on this.
• Shawn’s score on floor made me sad. Not the judging though. Why the 6.3? What is the loss of her not doing the Rudi? Did she not get credited for the Popa 1.5 jump? I don’t think the mistake on the Rudi was an actual mistake; I think she did that purposely. I am pissed that she wil got up 1st in EF.
• On that note, Shawn was only like 3 tenths ahead of Nastia in qualifying. That worries the hell outta me. If Shawn repeats and Nastia doesn’t fall, she will win. That will devastate me.
• What the hell happend to Dasha Joura?????????????? She qualified for NOTHING! Her 12-something beam score tells me she fell like 3 or 4 times! I am so sad for her!
• Yaaaaaaaaay for Anna Pavlova! Qualifying 5th into the AA and also making VT, BB, and FX finals? AWESOME! GO GIRL!
• What is going on with Vanessa Ferrari? I don’t even know. Qualifying 21st into AA is sad. I feel bad for her.
• DAIANE DOS SANTOS MADE FLOOR FINALS!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
• Cheng Fei is EFFING BADASS! 3 event finals for her!
• Beth Tweddle must have fallen off bars with a 8.0-something B-score.
• Regardless of how crappy prelims may have been for the USA, team finals is going to be crazy! Can’t wait! calculate bars A-scores and can’t figure out what is different. Please, anyone who knows please explain this to me!
• EDIT-One more important thing: Does anyone know WHY Shawn was given a 6.3 instead of 6.4 on bars? I can’t

Okay, I need to go watch more stuff on NBC’s website. I may have missed some random thoughts. I got 3 or 4 phone calls from people who also watched, calling me “to see if I was okay”. Hahahahahaha. How much of a gymnastics nerd am I???

Yay for the Olympics even though I am seriously concerned!

Individual Hopes for Our Heroes

So I am currently out of town helping a friend move and haven’t even been online in days.  My friend bought a 60 inch high def TV with all the channels in the world so I decided to stay here until Friday to keep her company since I don’t start work yet.  Why not stay in my beloved Gainesville another week?  Anyhow, I apologize for not blogging.  I am afraid to really go online and see what the lastest news is because I don’t want to see the results of WAG Prelims before they air tonight.  After today, I will be in the loop and constantly reporting.  I had been working on a long post, but due to no time left I am now here posting a shorter version…

What I want for each athlete:

Shawn Johnson–  As my favorite gymnast I want Shawn to of course win the AA.  I also want medals for her on beam and floor as well.  However, I am in the boat that is concerned about some of Shawn’s skills getting credited.  And I heard she was puking at podium training!  I just want for that awesome little girl to do her very best, she deserves it.  She looks to be getting her questionable skills around and I feel a bit better.  Her beam sets were awesome during podium training.  In addition to the AA I want Shawn to qualify to beam and floor finals.  Please get all your skills fully around!

Nastia Liukin–  Nastia looks like she has cleaned up her bars dismount quite a bit!  Good for her because she deserves to be at her best especially on bars, and event in which she is truly one of the best in the world at.  I am kind of surprised she is slated to compete in the #2 spot on floor.  Despite my views on Nastia being an all arounder, I do want her to do well because she deserves it.

Chellsie Memmel–  The biggest disappointment for me these Games thus far is the fact that Chellsie is only competing bars.  Chellsie is my favorite feel good story, and before this injury, I thought she had a bigger chance to qualify for individual events than anyone else on the US team.  I am still hoping that she was somehow put in last minute and did AA in qualifications.  I hate dealing with this, Chellsie deserves this SOOOOOO much.  Either way, I hope for every routine she is as flawless as possible.  Of course getting into bars EF would also be great though I think a medal is unlikely due to the high level of people competing.  (BTW, I heard Berh Tweddle has a 7.9 A-score planned).  Please do as well as possible Chellsie.

Alicia Sacramone–  Alicia is in the same club as Chellsie.  The “I didn’t make the 2004 Team here I am now bitches!”  Her beam sets looked pretty solid during podium training, a lot more than Nats and Trials.  Floor is looking a little bit off, landing OOB and whatnot.  I am REALLY surprised her 2nd spot was given to Liukin.  I want Alicia to medal on vault pretty badly, she looks great there.  I think she is very likely the silver medalist depending on how Cheng Fei does.  But I hope she also has the performance of a lifetime. 

Cheng Fei–  How I love this gymnast.  I want to know her A-score on floor very badly as she is doing 6 tumbling passes (I counted right, right??).  Cheng Fei deserves to be at her very best as everyone in her country is watching her.  I want her with vault gold of course, and i would love it if she won floor as well.  Her beam looked pretty darn good too!  I hope Cheng has a completely error free Olympics.  My favorite international competitor, I am so excited for her.

Raj Bhavsar–  Raj is my favorite competitor for the US team, the one who provides me the sentimental routing.  I hope he goes completely perfect in Team Finals.  I am so happy that Raj can call himself an Olympian.  What I would really like is if Raj and company could call themselves bronze medalists.  It seems a longshot, but you never know with three up three count format!  The Men’s Team Final will be so exciting to watch, I can’t wait for the Chinese to be crowned champions.

Fabian Hambuchen–  I love this kid.  I want him as a silver medalist in the AA and also as the high bar champion.  He is so much fun to watch.

Yang Wei–  I am emotionally invested in Yang, I want him to win the AA SO BAD.  He deserves it.  Like Cheng Fei, he is holding so much pressure.  Even if Paul Hamm was competing I would still want Yang to win.  His parallel bars mishap in prelims sucked, he would have been great for the Final.

Dasha Joura–  I also want her at her very best, and wow do i hope she makes floor finals.  I would like to see her top five in the AA.  I don’t think a podium finish is possible.  But hey, “It’s the Olympics, you never know what could happen.” 

Marian Dragulescu–  I want Marian to get that vault gold.  I LOVE his vaults.  I am so happy he qualified first (and wow second for the floor final).  I haven’t really kept up on his previous meets for 2008.  I am torn about a gold medal on floor, because I want Diego Hypolito to win.  Be at your best for vault Marian.  No 2004 repeats!

Oksana Chusovitina–  PLEASE WIN A VAULT MEDAL!  For her one millionth Olympics I want her to do well.  She didn’t even qualify in 2004, sucked because she was the reigning world champ.  God I want her to medal.

Daiane Dos Santos–  Please tell me you brought it all for the Olympics.  I want her in floor finals.  I want her to have an Olympic medal on the event.  Period.

Anna Pavlova–  I want her to do well and to make beam and floor finals.  I bet she will make vault.  Sentimental fave.

This is it for now.  I can’t wait to watch everything tonight!!!!!!!!!

Again, I am sorry for the lack of posting!!!!  Anyone else mad that every event after tonight doesn’t begin until 10 or 11pm (eastern)???  I feel REALLY bad for those out in California.

I AM SO FRIGGIN EXCITED!  And i am soooooooooooooo tempted to go look at the results, but that will ruin the excitment for me when it airs in a few hours and I can’t do that….

By the way, this post has no pictures because this computer I am using is weird.

 

HAPPY OLYMPICS EVERYONE!

Chellsie Memmel is Injured

It can’t be. It just can’t be. Chellsie Memmel can’t be hurt.

Chellsie’s foot is in an aircast, she may only do bars. I didn’t believe this when I heard it but there are a couple of articles about it. Like here.  And here.

NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Please, please let this turn out to be not serious and everything is okay.

Sigh, in other news for those of you that don’t know, Daria Yelizarova has been taken off the Russian team and Lyudmila Yezhova Grebenkova has been put in. There is also rumors that Hong Su Jong is out as well.

Another Article With Proof He Kexin is Underage

Oh wow. This is getting crazy when publications like New York Times and USA Today take interest.  EDIT-  It is now on NBC’s site, as well as Yahoo.

USA Today releases this article:

Are Chinese gymnasts too young for Olympics?
Posted 7h 17m ago | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
BEIJING (AP) — Two female Chinese gymnasts, including a gold-medal favorite, might be too young to participate in the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Several online records and reports show He Kexin, the host nation’s top competitor on uneven bars, and Jiang Yuyuan might not yet be 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility. Both were chosen for China’s team last week.

On the Web site of the Chengdu Sports Bureau – Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province in southwest China – a file dated January 2006 shows He Kexin as being born Jan. 1, 1994.

Most recently, a May 23 story in the China Daily newspaper, the official English-language paper of the Chinese government, had He’s age as 14.

The newspaper story begins: “The 14-year old newcomer to the national team, who was recruited last year, has raised a lot of eyebrows recently after she broke two world records on the uneven bars in as many months.”

The New York Times raised questions about the athletes’ ages in a story Saturday. And Chinese officials provided the newspaper with copies of passports indicating both gymnasts are 16.

But in a speech on Nov. 3, 2007, in the central city of Wuhan, Liu Peng, director of general administration of sport for China, said: “The 13-year-old uneven-bar gymnast He Kexin, who defeated national team athlete Yang Yilin – she just won the bronze medal in the world championships – has demonstrated her ability.”

To be eligible for the Cities Games where Liu made his remarks, Chinese documents show athletes must be over 13, but under 15.

The New York Times reported International Gymnastics Federation officials acknowledged questions about He’s age had been raised and asked the Chinese for clarification in May.

“We heard these rumors, and we immediately wrote to the Chinese gymnastics federation,” Andre Gueisbuhler, the secretary general of the international federation, told the newspaper. “They immediately sent a copy of the passport, showing the age, and everything is OK. That’s all we can check.

“As long as we have no official complaint, there is no reason to act, if we get a passport that obviously is in order.”

The American and Chinese women are expected to battle for the team gold medal when the Beijing Games begin Aug. 8.

He is one of the few athletes in the world who has scored over a 17 under the new scoring system. Using He and Yang Yilin, who also has scored a 17 on bars, the Chinese hope to use the uneven bars to build up a big advantage in the team competition.

The Americans, who won the 2007 world championships team title, have only one gymnast, Nastia Liukin, who’s gotten a 17 on bars.

If gymnasts He, a gold-medal favorite, and Jiang are under age, it would be yet another black eye for China in the buildup to the games.

In June, Chinese swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng and coach Feng Shangbao were permanently banned from the sport after Ouyang tested positive for anabolic steroids. Wrestler Luo Meng and his coach also were barred for life for a doping violation by the athlete.

The Chinese government is working feverishly to present a positive image of an open, friendly, progressive nation. But visa restrictions, toxic air pollution, freedom of the press issues and a problem-filled torch relay have presented a far different image to the world.
The Associated Press

Age Falsification Debate Gets Crazier!

The New York Times released this article. This is the most information received thus far about the Chinese Age Debate. Very interesting stuff, check it out….

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sp…in&oref=slogin

Issues of Age Seem to Follow Chinese Gymnasts

By JERÉ LONGMAN and JULIET MACUR
Published: July 27, 2008
China named its Olympic women’s gymnastics team on Friday, and the inclusion of at least two athletes has further raised questions, widespread in the sport, about whether the host nation for the Beijing Games is using under-age performers.

Chinese officials responded immediately, providing The New York Times with copies of passports indicating that both athletes in question — He Kexin, a gold-medal favorite in the uneven parallel bars, and Jiang Yuyuan — are 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility.

Officials with the International Gymnastics Federation said that questions about He’s age had been raised by Chinese news media reports, USA Gymnastics and fans of the sport, but that Chinese authorities presented passport information to show that He is 16.

Online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, however, seem to contradict the passport information, indicating that He and Jiang may be as young as 14 — two years below the Olympic limit.

Mary Lou Retton, the Olympic all-around gymnastics champion at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, recently watched a competition video of He and other Chinese gymnasts on the uneven bars.

“The girls are so little, so young,” Retton said. Speaking of He, Retton rolled her eyes and laughed, saying, “They said she was 16, but I don’t know.”

An advantage for younger gymnasts is that they are lighter and, often, more fearless when they perform difficult maneuvers, said Nellie Kim, a five-time Olympic gold medalist for the former Soviet Union who is now the president of the women’s technical committee for the Swiss-based International Gymnastics Federation.

“It’s easier to do tricks,” Kim said. “And psychologically, I think they worry less.”

The women’s gymnastics competition at the Beijing Games, which begin Aug. 8, is expected to be a dramatic battle for the team gold medal between the United States and China. At the 2007 world championships, the Americans prevailed by 95-hundredths of a point.

On the uneven bars, He and Nastia Liukin of the United States are expected to challenge for an individual gold medal.

In Chinese newspaper profiles this year, He was listed as 14, too young for the Beijing Games.

The Times found two online records of official registration lists of Chinese gymnasts that list He’s birthday as Jan. 1, 1994, which would make her 14. A 2007 national registry of Chinese gymnasts — now blocked in China but viewable through Google cache — shows He’s age as “1994.1.1.”

Another registration list that is unblocked, dated Jan. 27, 2006, and regarding an “intercity” competition in Chengdu, China, also lists He’s birthday as Jan. 1, 1994. That date differs by two years from the birth date of Jan. 1, 1992, listed on He’s passport, which was issued Feb. 14, 2008.

There has been considerable talk about the ages of Chinese gymnasts on Web sites devoted to the sport. And there has been frequent editing of He’s Wikipedia entry, although it could not be determined by whom. One paragraph that discusses the controversy of her age kept disappearing and reappearing on He’s entry. As of Friday, a different version of the paragraph had been restored to the page.

The other gymnast, Jiang, is listed on her passport — issued March 2, 2006 — as having been born on Nov. 1, 1991, which would make her 17 in November and thus eligible to compete at the Beijing Games.

A different birth date, indicating Jiang is not yet 15, appears on a list of junior competitors from the Zhejiang Province sports administration. The list of athletes includes national identification card numbers into which birth dates are embedded. Jiang’s national card number as it appears on this list shows her birth date as Oct. 1, 1993, which indicates that she will turn 15 in the fall, and would thus be ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games.

Zhang Hongliang, an official with the Chinese gymnastics federation, said Friday that perhaps Chinese reporters and provincial sports authorities made mistakes in listing He’s and Jiang’s birth dates differently from the dates given on their passports.

“The two athletes have attended international sports competitions before, and I’m sure the information is correct,” Zhang said of the athletes’ passports.

The International Gymnastics Federation said it had contacted Chinese officials in May about the gymnasts’ ages after receiving inquiries from fans and reading newspaper accounts, including one in The China Daily, the country’s official English-language paper, stating that He was 14.

“We heard these rumors, and we immediately wrote to the Chinese gymnastics federation” about He, said André Gueisbuhler, the secretary general of the international federation. “They immediately sent a copy of the passport, showing the age, and everything is O.K. That’s all we can check.”

If someone provided proof that any gymnast was under age, or filed a formal complaint, Gueisbuhler said, he would be “quite happy to check and ask again.”

“As long as we have no official complaint, there is no reason to act, if we get a passport that obviously is in order,” he said.

Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics, said he had asked Kim of the international federation about He’s age after receiving e-mail messages referring to newspaper accounts and comments made on blogs and in Internet chat rooms that said she was 14. But Penny said he was not really concerned.

“If they have valid passports, bring ’em on,” Penny said. “If they say they’re good, we’re going to beat them.

“You can’t worry about it. You do your job, and you expect other people are doing theirs and you expect it’s a fair field of play.”

Privately, some gymnastics officials said that even if other countries had real concerns about the Chinese, they might be reluctant to make accusations for fear of reprisals by judges at the Beijing Games.

If it is true that under-age gymnasts are competing, Kim of the international federation said: “It’s a bad thing. It should not be acceptable.”

Yang Yun of China won individual and team bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and later said in an interview on state-run television that she had been 14 at the time of those Games. A Hunan Province sports administration report also said later that she had been 14 when she competed in Sydney.

Bela Karolyi, who coached Retton of the United States and Nadia Comaneci of Romania to their Olympic gold-medal triumphs, said the problem of under-age gymnasts had been around for years. Age is an easy thing to alter in an authoritarian country, he said, because the government has such strict control of official paperwork.

He recalled Kim Gwang Suk, a North Korean gymnast who showed up at the 1991 world championships with two missing front teeth. Karolyi, who said he thought Kim must have been younger than 11 at the time, and others contended those front teeth had been baby teeth and that permanent teeth had not yet replaced them. Her coaches said she had lost them years before, during a small accident in the gym.

At the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Kim was 4 feet 4 inches, about 65 pounds and claimed to be 17. At one point, the North Korean Gymnastics Federation listed her at 15 for three straight years; the federation was later barred from the 1993 world championships for falsifying ages.

“Oh, come on, she was just in diapers and everyone could see that, just like some of the Chinese girls are now,” Karolyi said. “If you look close, you can see they still have their baby teeth. Little tiny teeth!”

But it is not likely that anyone could prove that the Chinese gymnasts are under age, Karolyi said.

“It’s literally impossible,” he said. “The paperwork is changed just too good. In a country like that, they’re experts at it. Nothing new.”

So what do you guys think?  Pretty interesting huh?  I keep saying this, but I must again: IF IT IS DETERMINED DURING THE OLYMPICS THAT THERE ARE UNDERAGE GYMNASTS AND MEDALS GET STRIPPED I MAY LOSE ALL MY FAITH IN HUMANITY.