<p>^^ Dunno, but it appears they were caught out with regard to this young lady.</p>
<p>I was a gymnast, DD was a gymnast, I am not addressing the issue of what age should be allowed, but I would imagine all the teams have some cute young prepubescent girls they could have substituted onto their teams.</p>
<p>The rules are the rules, if the tie breaker rule is what it is, then abide by it. if the age rule is 16, abide by it. If the rule about protesting a start value is it must be done by a certain time and the SKoreans did not submit it on time, abide by it.</p>
<p>Instant reply is tough when you can see that things should have been different- it was a catch, the runner was safe, their should have been deductions, etc. But, the main, simple issue is the rules are the rules, even when they are stupid, you must abide by them. Personally I have no problem with a tie for gold, why does gymnastics have to break a tie when other sport do not. I can understand Nastia being sad and frustrated, but she was classy in how she presented herself and she abided by the rules.</p>
<p>I am glad they are investigating this, it is ridiculous, the girl missing a tooth- those teeth come in usually 11-13, I have lots of dorky school photos with that same silly tooth missing in my kids, from the one with early teeth to the one who got hers late, no one was 16 or even 15!</p>
<p>Yeah, somemom, I made the comment on some thread that my (former) gymnast daughter piped up in her defense and said “I still have baby teeth.” The rest of us yelled at her in unison, “Yeah, and you’re TWELVE!”</p>
<p>So, if she loses the gold on bars, the former bornze medalist is also 14…I don’t suppose that her disappointed team mate would rat her out…I guess not in China…can’t let your parents be homeless.</p>
<p>I actually find these other two articles on the same web page more interesting.</p>
<p>[Commentary:</a> why so upset about He Kexin? For the US little matters more - Times Online](<a href=“http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4583394.ece]Commentary:”>The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines)</p>
<p>[Conspiracy</a> theories abound as Alicia Sacramone costs US gold - Times Online](<a href=“The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines”>The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines)</p>
<p>The bottom line is, according to your closest allies, that America will do anything to win. I too can not disagree with that.</p>
<p>Paul Hamm was not the only American athlete to benefit from a judge’s “mistake”. A Canadian synchronize swimmer lost out to an American the same way, and don’t get me started on soft wood lumber. I know the US IOC had been hiding positive test results for years.</p>
<p>The worst judging I have ever seen had to do with Nancy Kerrigan. After the Tonya Harding incident, I told my wife that Nancy can’t lose, that Hollywood probably is already writing a script for a movie, and that there are probably book deals in the work. Unfortunately, she did not skate anywhere remotely well, but falling up (not down) to a silver medal was more than fair.</p>
<p>Post BALCO, I can not help but note that Americans don’t win sprinting like they used to. As to dropping the batons, I am suspicious. I think it too much of a coincidence for both the men and the women to drop the baton. My feeling is that the sprinters don’t want to lose to Jamaica. They choose not to play instead.</p>
<p>I have no idea what your enemies think of you. ;)</p>