Almost shocking that this is here. It seems I’ve been waiting for this for years. Four, perhaps… I’ve always loved the Olympics. I remember watching Nadia in 1976, and just wishing I could be like her. And, for a while, I guess most little girls in Romania wished the same thing, because they were most certainly the dominant team and athletes for decades. Then, Octavio left coaching, and now, they have a “kinder, gentler” coach, who hugs the girls if they fall, and encourages them even after abysmal failures.
I’m not saying the rough style of Karolyi and Octavio was the right way to coach little girls, but there certainly is no denying, that style of coaching brings about huge sports stars. China still coaches that way. Push push push until the girls cry, then berate them for crying and remind them that they have the weight of their country on their shoulders, and they’d better suck it up and hit every routine.
Sadly, Romania no longer is even a remote contender, either for the team medal, or any of the apparatus medals. Their gymnasts are not as physically fit, they aren’t as mentally focused, and there aren’t as many to pick a team from. Little girls now never saw Nadia compete. They never saw the amazing 1.00 score go up to the utter astonishment of the crowd and the reporters, who didn’t at first know what to make of it.
And now China is the one to be reckoned with. They are in their home country, and although they typically have “choked” (The China Syndrome, the press calls it) in Olympic competition, one has to believe that being on their home soil, will make things different. Although, it is also much more pressure on these children, most of whom, despite their “passports” saying they are 16, are not a day over 14. The government-run newspaper reported He Kexin to be just 14, earlier this year. Now suddenly she has a passport that says she’s 16? Gee… how quickly they grow up.
Are we living in a soap opera? One day, the child is in diapers, the next day, they are graduating from High School. It seems that China has the ability to simply choose the age of their citizens, to fit whatever they want. What bothers me most about this, is that the IOC is simply turning a blind eye, saying that “the passports show these girls are of competitive age”. Well, duh… that is because they are fake. Helloooo?? Why don’t they go look at the birth records for pete’s sake? I mean, anyone who has seen a teenager, is going to know damn well that some of these Chinese girls are nowhere near 16. One of them barely looks 12. And that’s WITH make-up on, which makes girls appear older than they really are.
Tonight, we have the poor US Men’s gymnastics team, trying to eek out a medal, against really, pretty bad odds. Without the Hamm brothers (and what a real shame that was, for them both to have to pull out due to injuries, so very sad) and with athletes who are less than consistent, (sorry Artemov, I know you come from great gymnastics blood, but you’ve let us down so many times we can’t trust you), I’m just not sure they have even a shot at the Bronze medal. The one bright spot is that Raj FINALLY got to go to an Olympics. He was completely robbed 4 years ago, he totally deserved to be selected over 3 other athletes, and wasn’t. Crappy move on part of the selection committee, and again, this year the same thing. But, with Paul Hamm pulling out, Raj, as alternate, was in. This is a great thing.
I will have many more rants over the course of the next two weeks, and comments, and discussions (with myself, since nobody reads this, 
) and first up I think I will comment on Michael Phelps.
