midjd
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Post by midjd on Jul 17, 2012 14:16:29 GMT -5
Now that's something I'd watch...
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 14:17:01 GMT -5
Maybe we should give the medals to the coaches in all the sports.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:20:22 GMT -5
Now that's something I'd watch...
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:21:57 GMT -5
Imagine if we strapped a little person to the back of all the sprinters in the 100 meter, and gave the medal to the little person riding the fastest guy. The actual sprinters would be totally and completely right to be pissed off, in my opinion. People give God credit for a lot more important stuff all the time
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 14:24:06 GMT -5
Like Tim Teabow?
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 14:27:58 GMT -5
Maybe Killer Whale riding should be an Olympic sport - you know how they surf on Shamoo at Sea World.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Jul 17, 2012 14:30:42 GMT -5
All I said was that four of the seven currently work in gymnastics, but three went on to do other things (and 973, yes, she did go on to do other stuff for awhile but I thought she now worked for or ran USA Gymnastics... feel free to fact check me on that one though).
FB I really am bored today so I did try and do a quick check to see what she is doing now. ;D Interestingly enough after reading her own website on the subject I have absolutely no idea anymore. She was an actress, she did serve on the Pres council on fitness and was pres of the woman's sports council. As far as now her website list's media analyst for Yahoo sports, motivational speaking and something called "clinical Gymnastics". From her website it looks like sh goes to gyms and helps them come up with better programs. I am not sure on that but her website gives no indication that she has any coaching or working at gym on it so I don't think she is part owner/coach of any particular gym. But who knows and maybe she just doesn't want anyone to know. Interestingly she was actually on three Olympic teams not just the one. Chow, Strug and Miller were on two. That is a hard accomplishment for any sport but with gymnastics it is incredible.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:34:39 GMT -5
Interestingly she was actually on three Olympic teams not just the one. Chow, Strug and Miller were on two. That is a hard accomplishment for any sport but with gymnastics it is incredible.
Three, really?!?! I wonder how I missed knowing that. I knew about the other three being on two, but I didn't realize she was in a third one. I wasn't paying super close attention in 2000, clearly.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jul 17, 2012 14:36:24 GMT -5
I remember that... she was "old" at the 96 Olympics (in her 20s, I believe). Really an amazing accomplishment considering most gymnasts peak at 13-14. I think Svetlana Boginskaya (sp?) was on 3 teams, too - she was 25 or so when she retired. I could get into a whole other rant about how stupid it is to have the Olympic minimum age set at 2+ years above the peak age for the sport, but I won't
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 14:36:55 GMT -5
Those sound a lot like the jobs people list on Linkedin when they are really unemployed.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:43:54 GMT -5
I remember that... she was "old" at the 96 Olympics (in her 20s, I believe).
19. She was 15 in '92, as was Shannon Miller.
And yes, Boginskaya was on her 3rd Olympics in '96. It's a really amazing thing to accomplish no matter how you do once you're there (although I found myself wishing she had won something... you have no idea how happy it made me when Shannon Miller won gold on beam).
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Jul 17, 2012 14:45:01 GMT -5
Interestingly she was actually on three Olympic teams not just the one. Chow, Strug and Miller were on two. That is a hard accomplishment for any sport but with gymnastics it is incredible. Three, really?!?! I wonder how I missed knowing that. I knew about the other three being on two, but I didn't realize she was in a third one. I wasn't paying super close attention in 2000, clearly. Yup you know your gymnastics! She was on the Sydney team with Chow that came in 4th then but later they disuqalified the Chinese team for having underage atheletes on it so they were declared the Bronze medal winners after the fact. And this is from Wiki about Chow. Talk about an over achiever. In addition to her gymnastic career, Chow is also a pianist. In 1994, she received an advanced level certificate of merit for piano. In high school she was also a competitive diver for Castilleja School, continuing with the sport even at Stanford. Chow has been a pole vaulter,[10] and has competed as an unattached athlete at "open" track and field events in the discipline. Because she received money following the 1996 Olympic Games, she was ineligible to be a collegiate athlete
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:46:21 GMT -5
Chow is freaking ridiculous. Gymnastics was never the only thing she had going on - in fact, I got the impression that the Olympics was sort of a minor hit on her list of achievements. And the girl freaking cracked her head on a balance beam at the Trials to get there. (Not strictly relevant but even at 10 I was deeply impressed when she got back up to finish the routine after that... holy chow.)
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:46:56 GMT -5
I could get into a whole other rant about how stupid it is to have the Olympic minimum age set at 2+ years above the peak age for the sport, but I won't SERIOUSLY YO. It wasn't always that way, either.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Jul 17, 2012 14:50:53 GMT -5
Chow is freaking ridiculous. Gymnastics was never the only thing she had going on - in fact, I got the impression that the Olympics was sort of a minor hit on her list of achievements. And the girl freaking cracked her head on a balance beam at the Trials to get there. (Not strictly relevant but even at 10 I was deeply impressed when she got back up to finish the routine after that... holy chow.) And then went on to become a licensed Physician and Surgeon.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:53:45 GMT -5
Yeah man. She's a tough act to follow. I wonder what her little brother ended up doing with his life.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jul 17, 2012 14:53:50 GMT -5
When my sister was still in gymnastics, we'd go to the regional competitions, where a lot of the competitors were 16 and over (not Olympic-level, but on the track for a full-ride scholarship) and those girls looked HUGE. In reality, they were normal-sized, but you get so used to seeing these prepubescent gymnasts on TV that you forget.
After my sister quit at age 14, she finally went through puberty - grew 8" and gained about 40 lbs in a year. It was kind of scary that the exercise regimen had been repressing her development to that extent (all the girls she trained with were about the same size, and went through the same transformation upon quitting). Apparently if you go through puberty while still in gymnastics, you basically have to start from scratch - different center of gravity, different muscle abilities, etc.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 14:56:22 GMT -5
They were all pretty amazing in their own ways, though. Little known fact: apparently Kerri did NOT need to do that second vault for them to secure the gold medal for Team USA. Their combined score was high enough without it to win. The commentators just said that everything depended on her last vault to drive up the drama. But technically they would have won even without it. I didn't know that.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 14:58:21 GMT -5
Cover band of "Flock of Seagulls" tunes.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 15:00:33 GMT -5
When my sister was still in gymnastics, we'd go to the regional competitions, where a lot of the competitors were 16 and over (not Olympic-level, but on the track for a full-ride scholarship) and those girls looked HUGE. In reality, they were normal-sized, but you get so used to seeing these prepubescent gymnasts on TV that you forget.
The girls do seem to be getting bigger with each new generation. I think it's a good thing - there's zero reason to drop the sport the second you hit puberty. You just need to adjust to your new size. It's not the end of the world.
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on Jul 17, 2012 15:28:03 GMT -5
I'm so confused! I thought this thread was about parents who "stole" their famous kids' money, while the kids were still, well, kids. And now it's all about the Olympics...
As for the Equestrian events- as far as the riders are concerned, trust me, you're giving their horse the medal. However, having competed in equestrian events (not Olympic ones, but still), there is a lot the rider has to do. And just like all the other sports, it includes a ton of training, but instead of training yourself, you are training a 1000lb animal to do what you ask on cue, and the cues have to be incredibly subtle- you shift your weight this way, you turn your heel that way, etc, and sometimes when you do that, the horse has to move in a fashion that isn't all that natural for it. And all that time, you have to hold your body in perfect position- just like in gymnastics. The horse could do perfectly, but if the rider sits back, gets off rhythym posting, or slumps a shoulder, you're done. And that's just dressage. Jumping gives the rider more wiggle room when it comes to body position, but the cues to the horse are even more important. Horses only see in 2 dimensions. That means they have no idea how high the jump is, and are dependent on the rider to give them a signal as to how high and long to jump. My favorite equestrian event is the steeple chase, which is like cross country running with hurdles, in a pack.
I think it's ridiculous that we consider 12-14 years old to be the peak age for anything other than being in middle school. I am perfectly happy with the lower age limit on Olympic athletes because I think it's ridiculous we put that much pressure on children. So the older femal gymnasts aren't quite as bendy, they will have more power and more time to train safely.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jul 17, 2012 15:28:27 GMT -5
Sure there is, and it's the same reason you don't see tall divers. It takes a taller person longer to do a flip. The more compact your body is the slower you can rotate and still complete one, two, or three, full flips in the span of time that you're airborne. Physics and strength limits being what they are, you just plain can't jump/vault/swing high enough, and spin fast enough, to get an 8' tall person to do a double or triple backflip. A 5' tall person can though.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 15:32:58 GMT -5
Yes - let's ban all gymnasts who are 8 feet tall.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jul 17, 2012 15:34:31 GMT -5
It doesn't really work that way, for the reasons Dark described. Look at the differences between male and female gymnastics - the male program is all about strength, the female program is about flexibility. Most of the male gymnasts are in their 20s and 30s, most of the females are in their teens.
It COULD work, but you'd really have to reconfigure the competition - more strength-based skills, less agility.
There is pressure either way - if the age limit is 12, there's pressure to get to Olympic-level by that age. If the age limit is 16, there's pressure to keep the gymnast thin enough that she won't get her period. I don't think you remove any pressure by moving the age limits, you just change the focus. (In the long run, I think the latter cutoff is more harmful, both for body-image and physical health).
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jul 17, 2012 15:36:12 GMT -5
That ban already exists. It's called the difficulty scoring system. You ever seen a tall Olympic gymnast? Because they're incapable of performing the highest difficulty vaults and whatnot, so they don't score as many points for their routines. All the tiny prepubescent girls beat the pants off them.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 15:37:24 GMT -5
I remember that one gal that towered over everyone else - turns out she was like 5'5".
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 15:48:41 GMT -5
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jul 17, 2012 15:56:46 GMT -5
I think it's ridiculous that we consider 12-14 years old to be the peak age for anything other than being in middle school. I am perfectly happy with the lower age limit on Olympic athletes because I think it's ridiculous we put that much pressure on children. So the older femal gymnasts aren't quite as bendy, they will have more power and more time to train safely. It sounds practical but gymnastics simply does not work that way. You really are at your physical peak for the sport in your early teens for the reason that Dark mentioned - that tends to be the last period of time when your body will do, literally, almost anything you ask of it. After that, physical limitations creep in. That being said, Dark, I don't know how familiar with gymnastics you are but there are PLENTY of gymnasts who are tall and well into or past puberty and still performing incredible stunts. Physical limitations do not necessarily equate to weaknesses. For an example of what I'm talking about, check out this video. Svetlana Khorkina used to be one of my favorite gymnasts, and her coach initially refused to train her because he insisted she was going to be too tall. She was BEAUTIFUL to watch (if you don't feel like watching the whole thing, just check out her mount and then the signature move she does at 1:08 for two highlights). I'm not saying that all gymnasts can continue to be competitive after they hit puberty, or that it doesn't present some new challenges - only that it's not impossible by any means, and they shouldn't be discouraged from continuing in the sport because they gain 15 pounds. ETA: Mid, I swear I didn't read your response before I posted mine. We must be the gymnastics fans in this crowd
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jul 17, 2012 15:59:08 GMT -5
Sure, the girl in the middle looks tall, but that's only because she's standing next to people that are under 5'. This is what a gold medal team looks like: Avg height: 4'9" Avg weight: 77lbs Avg age: Probably 12-13, even though China insists they're all 16. Chinese 16 year olds apparently have this odd habit of still having baby teeth fall out prior to and during international events. The one on the end doesn't smile much, but when she does you can see several gaps in her teeth. She's either a hockey player in her spare time and missing several adult teeth, or Chinese Olympic officials are lying their asses off about her age.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 17, 2012 15:59:46 GMT -5
I wonder how many Olympic gymnast actually get their period on a semi-regular basis. I would suspect the number is close to zero.
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