<p>Just read the NYT op ed (the Creep Show). I think the author is basing his opinion on the way the sport was in 1976 (the Nadia era of 14 year olds.) The girls do have to be older now. If you’ll notice, quite a few of the top gymnasts are coached by a parent. With a daughter in the sport for 8 years, in a metropolitan area with lots of gyms (and two of the top in the country), I’ve heard of only one “coach sexual abuse” scandal, and it seemed like the young lady got mixed in drugs and then made all kind of acusations against her coach. There are a lot of good, healthy programs out there. My daughter’s coach discouages the home school/30+ hours a week route - she knows the odds against making the Olympic team. But in her 15 hour a week program she has produced several girls who are now on college gymnastics scholarships.</p>
<p>mini:
I believe years ago an idea was floated around to separate swimmers (at least age groupers) into different competition classes according to their height.</p>
<p>According to the announcers, all Chinese gymnasts were 16 by their passports (to meet the new age requirements). I could not believe that.</p>
<p>Has anyone caught the story of the 33-year old gymnast from Uzbekistan? It made me cry. She is competing in her 5th Olympics (a record!) representing Germany where she moved so her little boy can get access to medical care for leukemia.</p>
<p>In a country of 1.4 billion people, you think you couldn’t find a bunch of girls who happen to be smallish?</p>
<p>I don’t really follow gymnastics, but that sounds crazy. 33 years old!!? Thats some dedication.</p>
<p>Is it her 5th Olympics or her 3rd? I thought they said 5th on tv, but her page on the German team page of the official Olympic website seems to indicate it’s her 3rd. Anyway, her backstory seemed to indicate it was the German gymnastics coach who helped her get medical care for her son’s cancer who got her back into competition after an absence. It is a wonderful story. (Oksana)</p>
<p>“In a country of 1.4 billion people, you think you couldn’t find a bunch of girls who happen to be smallish?”</p>
<p>Or someone to forge a passport that says they are over 16?</p>
<p>It isn’t just the physical stature of these girls. Their faces are not mature looking like a normal 16 year old, even when you consider that Asians often look younger than their true age.</p>
<p>Big country. Just because the U.S. athletes can’t reliable hold onto a bar or stay in bounds is no reason to diss their superior opposition.</p>
<p>My 12 year old daughter dances with a couple of Asian girls who are 12 and 10. They are TINY…but the 12 year old is truly about the size of the Chinese girls who they are claiming are 16.</p>
<p>My 14 year old D has a diagnosed Growth Hormone Deficiency and has been on HGH for over a year and has just started puberty. Even so, she is 4’10 and 71 lbs., bigger than most of these “normal” gymnasts are supposed to be at 16!!</p>
<p>Momof3stars, I bet also that you can see your daughter’s age in her face, even if she is small, right?</p>
<p>“Momof3stars, I bet also that you can see your daughter’s age in her face, even if she is small, right?”</p>
<p>At this point absolutely. Maybe when she was 10 or so she looked a lot younger in the face, she still had that baby chubbiness in her face even though she was painfully thin. I see that in some of the Chinese gymnasts. Maybe I am more aware of that bc of my D’s issues but trust me I would never be one to throw stones in this case as she has been accused of winning dance competitions “because she looks so much younger than she is” (even though age categories at most comps run a 2-3 year span). </p>
<p>FYI, she also dances anywhere from 12-15 hours per week. That is why I mentioned the Triad bc her endocrinologist brought it up at her last visit. He said many ballet dancers never menstruate bc of the low concentration of body fat. But placing that into context here, as Missypie pointed out, I would say you would still have a hard time finding a 16 year old intense ballerina with the baby face of a 9 year old, let alone a whole group of them.</p>
<p>Last night I was showing the girls videos of Nadia, and even though she had the body of a little boy, she looked her age in the face.</p>
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</p>
<p>You sound familiar. Running for president, are you?</p>
<p>After lots of negative publicity following the publication of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes (a book published in '95 by a journalist that came down hard on the training for gymnasts and skaters) USA Gymnastics began changing its handling of elite gymnasts and their coaches. The organization brought in nutritionists, sports psychologists and began working with coaches, gymnasts, and parents on issues related to healthy eating and overtraining. In addition, FIG (the international governing body for mens, womens and rhythmic gymnastics) changed the Code of Points for each discipline and started changing many of the required elements that were shown to contribute to physical problems in gymnasts. That continues. As for abusive training techniques–there are probably some coaches who scream and yell, but it’s not the way it was in the old days. The gymnast quoted in that OpEd article competed 22 years ago! She even says that there have been changes. Like anything else, it’s the “dirt” that makes news or sells books. I’m not saying there aren’t problems with the training of elite gymnasts, but the problems are those that occur in other sports or endeavors (music, dance, drama) where kids make serious commitments of time and effort.</p>
<p>I was just wondering about Mark Spitz.</p>
<p>This story was disappointing to read:</p>
<p>[Spitz</a>, once the star, upset over Beijing snub - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports](<a href=“Sports News, Scores, Fantasy Games - Yahoo Sports”>Sports News, Scores, Fantasy Games - Yahoo Sports)</p>
<p>What a faux pas by the Olympic Committee not to include Mark Spitz among the invitees & presenters in Beijing.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s sad, and yes, I think he should have been included. Too bad Mark Spitz couldn’t have gotten an agent or go-between to intercede - or at least to make the public comments about it. Coming from Spitz himself, it ended up sounding a tad whiney to me. </p>
<p>Mark Spitz’s name has been said over and over; no one has forgotten him or what he did, so he can take solace in that. But now it’s Phelp’s turn; the mantle has been passed. Mark Spitz could certainly use this situation to make some positive comments, and indirectly draw some publicity toward himself. And then, surely, someone ELSE would have noticed that he was left out, and speak up for him.</p>
<p>I wonder if the slight was deliberate, or an oversight.</p>
<p>I didn’t actually own one of the posters of Mark in his Speedo, but I do remember thinking at the time that Mark was about the hottest guy on Earth.</p>
<p>And Phelps has such a huge advantage over Spitz these days, seeing as he doesn’t have the drag in the water that Spitz’s 70’s moustache must have created. :)</p>
<p>I’ve been mulling over why the opening ceremonies were so disquieting to me. First of all, spending something like $300 million on this is obscene (estimates range from $150-300 million, and the Chinese aren’t talking). I keep thinking the whole tone of this games reminds me of newsreel accounts of the 1936 games. It finally occurs to me that it reminds me of Triumph of the Will even more. I wonder if Leni Riefenstahl is doing a “documentary” on the games?</p>
<p>My H says he thinks the next Olympics “bragging point” is going to be the country that advertises “authentic” opening ceremonies.</p>