Olympics

[Jen Reese]

Alla
> But I don't know about the age of Chinese gimnasts, really. Asian 
kids and teens DO look much younger than european or american girls 
of the same age will look, it is true.
> 
> I know a girl of chinese decent who was to be fourteen this year ( 
I have not seen her for probably seven months). When I met her for 
the first time maybe year and a half ago, I thought child was seven. 
I kid you not.

Jen: There *is* a difference in size, weight, etc.  I was on your 
side of the debate, arguing at work the girls were all of-age, until 
actually watching them several nights in a row, then hearing that 
several girls were entered as recently as 2007 in other events with 
younger birthdates.  I started to wonder.


Alla:
> And if the girls are under age, which is of course against the 
rules and they should be punished somehow, I think it makes it doubly 
> embarassing that they beat our team. Often ( not you dear!!!) 
peoplesay that chinese are under age that somehow makes the loss 
> understandable.


Jen:
I'm not even for punishment so much as thinking an International 
Gymnastics group needs to make certain there isn't a health risk.  
That was the reason for the age limit IIRC, more risk to growing 
bodies at younger ages. 

Alla:
> I mean, I agree that judges would give every possible questionable 
> deduction in favor of chinese and will deduct points from our girls 
> where they would deduct nothing from chinese, but I do not see how 
> under age factor alone will influence the win so much.

Jen: I don't think it factored into winning & losing as much as some 
claim.  Sure, flipping around 70 lbs. is easier than 90 lbs., and the 
smaller athletes might have an advantage for staying in bounds on the 
floor (although both the Russian & Ukraine gymnasts, who appeared to 
be similar in build to the Americans, did fine staying in bounds).  I 
assume there are disadvatages though, like spanning the distance 
between the high/low bars when you're tiny, or concentration/focus, 
experience, less muscle mass, etc.

Alla: 
> I was so screaming on TV when it was individual all around and 
> Chinese girl did not lose much after she had to check her balance 
several times and Nastia and Shawm got points docked for much smaller 
mistakes.
> 
> Of course it is all in my eye and I am so not a gymnast HAHA, and
> maybe I am way off base, but I do believe that judges were
> extremely biased and THAT contributed to Chinese victory as well.

Jen: I gave up figuring out the scoring.  I decided some of the 
variations must have been over style points because my attempts to go 
strictly by what the announcer said was a deduction never added up 
the same as the final score.