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mental gymnastics over gymnastics

Posted By: Chuck Bower
Date: Monday, 25 August 2008, at 6:42 p.m.

This weekend on NBC, Bob Costas questioned the IOC president regarding the charge that some Chinese women's gymnastic team members were under the allowed age of 16 years (which is a gymnastics rule, not an olympic-wide rule as evidenced by a 14-year-old British diver, for example).

1) He said that the world gymnastics organization (I don't remember the body's exact name) was looking into it. This morning's paper said that they concluded, based upon birth records and family photos that indeed the athletes were at least sixteen. Huh? How solid could the evidence be?

2) Why is this rule there in the first place? The IOC president said something about it existing so as not to exploit/abuse children. Oh, then what can he say about the Chinese gymnast (who looked more like 17 :) who it was said (on the NBC telecast, so it must be true) was moved hundreds of miles away from her parents at the age of three(!!!!) to become part of a gymnastics training program. And when she was a teenager she called/wrote her parents saying she was homesick but they told her to tough it out, apparently because of the prestige (and $) of having a member of your family be part of the national team.

Do we really look so stupid as to fall for this IOC BS?

Messages In This Thread

• mental gymnastics over gymnastics
  Chuck Bower -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 6:42 p.m.
  • mental gymnastics over gymnastics
    Tom Keith -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 8:31 p.m.
    • mental gymnastics over gymnastics
      Bob Koca -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 8:41 p.m.
    • mental gymnastics over gymnastics
      Matt Cohn-Geier -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 9:19 p.m.
  • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
    Bill Riles -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 9:07 p.m.
    • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
      Stick -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 9:09 p.m.
      • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
        Bob Koca -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 9:14 p.m.
        • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
          Stick -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 9:16 p.m.
          • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
            Bill Riles -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 9:19 p.m.
            • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
              John Little -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 10:34 p.m.
              • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
                Stick -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 10:47 p.m.
              • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
                Chuck Bower -- Tuesday, 26 August 2008, at 3:57 p.m.
                • NonPC response
                  happyjuggler0 -- Tuesday, 26 August 2008, at 8:12 p.m.
                  • Ai! A Sociobiologist!
                    mamabear -- Tuesday, 26 August 2008, at 8:51 p.m.
                    • Ai! A Sociobiologist!
                      happyjuggler0 -- Tuesday, 26 August 2008, at 9:11 p.m.
                      • Ai! A Sociobiologist!
                        Barry Silliman -- Tuesday, 26 August 2008, at 11:30 p.m.
    • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
      Barry Silliman -- Monday, 25 August 2008, at 9:40 p.m.
    • Just the Typical Politically Correct Environment Found Everywhere
      Chuck Bower -- Tuesday, 26 August 2008, at 3:12 p.m.