Does anyone pay attention to the Olympic Games anymore?

[Soulstation1]

2nd best basketball team at the Olympic Games = USA Ladies

[papsrus]

What's the deal with the ages? Does it matter? Is there some kind of age restriction?

Whether you agree or not, the age limit for women's gymnastics is 16, so under 16 y.o. girls are ineligible. It's very clear that many (most?) of the Chinese gymnasts are 14 and 15.

Huh. I didn't know that.

I believe that 15 is within the rules, as long as they turn 16 by the end of 2008.

Same deal in parts of West Virginia ... or so I've been told.

[Hot Ptah]

One of the top Chinese woman gymnasts looks like she has just lost her baby teeth in the front, and her permanent teeth are just starting to grow in. They are little nubs of teeth. It would seem to be very unlikely that she is anywhere close to 15.

[papsrus]

One of the top Chinese woman gymnasts looks like she has just lost her baby teeth in the front, and her permanent teeth are just starting to grow in. They are little nubs of teeth. It would seem to be very unlikely that she is anywhere close to 15.

Well, lemme ask ... what's the advantage to having an underage gymnast? Wouldn't a 16-year-old who has trained longer and is more developed muscularly have an advantage over a young child? ... I'm not quite making the connection here with younger (than 16) = an advantage.

[RDK]

One of the top Chinese woman gymnasts looks like she has just lost her baby teeth in the front, and her permanent teeth are just starting to grow in. They are little nubs of teeth. It would seem to be very unlikely that she is anywhere close to 15.

Well, lemme ask ... what's the advantage to having an underage gymnast? Wouldn't a 16-year-old who has trained longer and is more developed muscularly have an advantage over a young child? ... I'm not quite making the connection here with younger (than 16) = an advantage.

I think it's a size/weight advantage. Otherwise, yeah, I think the age requirement is pretty much arbitrary. Then again, there has to be a minimum age requirement, doesn't there?

[ejp626]

One of the top Chinese woman gymnasts looks like she has just lost her baby teeth in the front, and her permanent teeth are just starting to grow in. They are little nubs of teeth. It would seem to be very unlikely that she is anywhere close to 15.

Well, lemme ask ... what's the advantage to having an underage gymnast? Wouldn't a 16-year-old who has trained longer and is more developed muscularly have an advantage over a young child? ... I'm not quite making the connection here with younger (than 16) = an advantage.

On the one hand, they've trained longer. On the other hand, most of the routines favour ultra-light frames. In fact, even in the US, it is rumored that the gymnasts routinely starve themselves -- and maybe take hormones -- to stave off puberty. Once puberty hits, the center of gravity drops, you have to relearn all your routines. Of course, some gymnasts keep going, but it is ultra rare for any females to be any good at the sport after 23 or so. Another issue, perhaps a little overblown, is that younger competitors are too young to know the difficulty of what they are attempting, so they actually have better nerves than older competitors. (I've seen this a little with helping out on a high school athletic team.) One SI columnist said that the Chinese gymnasts had Kool-aid in their veins. Probably 14 is an acceptable age limit, but it is quite clear that the Chinese did cheat this year, but they will get away with it.

[papsrus]

One of the top Chinese woman gymnasts looks like she has just lost her baby teeth in the front, and her permanent teeth are just starting to grow in. They are little nubs of teeth. It would seem to be very unlikely that she is anywhere close to 15.

Well, lemme ask ... what's the advantage to having an underage gymnast? Wouldn't a 16-year-old who has trained longer and is more developed muscularly have an advantage over a young child? ... I'm not quite making the connection here with younger (than 16) = an advantage.

On the one hand, they've trained longer. On the other hand, most of the routines favour ultra-light frames. In fact, even in the US, it is rumored that the gymnasts routinely starve themselves -- and maybe take hormones -- to stave off puberty. Once puberty hits, the center of gravity drops, you have to relearn all your routines. Of course, some gymnasts keep going, but it is ultra rare for any females to be any good at the sport after 23 or so. Another issue, perhaps a little overblown, is that younger competitors are too young to know the difficulty of what they are attempting, so they actually have better nerves than older competitors. (I've seen this a little with helping out on a high school athletic team.) One SI columnist said that the Chinese gymnasts had Kool-aid in their veins. Probably 14 is an acceptable age limit, but it is quite clear that the Chinese did cheat this year, but they will get away with it.

If they're cheating, somebody ought to call them on it.

... Saw the highlights of the U.S. - China bean-ball game, btw. Not too pretty. Apparently the Chinese catcher didn't realize he was fair game for a baserunner bearing in on home plate from third. The Chinese lost 9-1 and got their lone run on a solo home run, presumably long after the outcome had been decided. The bozo who hit it was showboating around the bases the whole way and stomped on home plate in a unmistakable gesture of bad sportsmanship. If this was a minor league game, the guy would have been taken out his next at bat. Seriously poor sportsmanship on the part of the "hosts." ... IMO. They obviously have no clue how to play the game.

[trane_fanatic]

I'm most aggravated about not being able to see highlights of the events on ESPN. NBC doesn't show the highlights frequent enough that I've been able to catch them, they just squirrel the footage away from everyone else. I want to see the men's basketball highlights, dammit!

You can pretty much watch all replays of NBC's chopped up coverage legally only on this site: NBC Olympics

What drives me crazy is the idiot commentators they have on there who obviously have no knowledge of Chinese history or culture making asinine comments.

Phelps is awesome, but I am getting sick of seeing shots of him and his mom every 5 seconds.

Edited August 19, 2008 by trane_fanatic

[RDK]

Interesting explanation last night (by Costas iirc) about why this is the last year for baseball and softball in the Olympics. It seems the IOC wants the "stars" of baseball to show up - like the pros who appear for basketball - but since pro baseball is a summer sport that's not possible. And the amateur/college players who now compete aren't considered good enough for prime time. Meanwhile, women's softball is a sport so utterly dominated by the U.S. that it's no longer considered much of a contest anymore. In other words, there's no one else out there good enough for the U.S. team to play.

[patricia]

homeboy does all that swimming too.

You see the torsos on those guys? Even when I was a younger man & worked out, no way I got anywhere near that.

Swimming, they say, is the perfect exercise. Can't say that I agree, but watching all those swimmers come out of their turns from the underwater cameras, there's plenty in common with what I do consider the perfect exercise, so maybe swimming is the perfect training for the perfect exercise.

That is the biggest reason I watch swimmers, divers and runners. They have perfect bodies, without the freakishly big shoulders, for the most part.

Did anyone see the Russian woman pole-vaulter clear EIGHTEEN FEET.

Apart from already having gold, she broke the standing Olympic record, then went on to beat the World Record.

I mention this, partly because the vault is spectacular and partly because she has the most perfect body I have ever seen, from a purely aesthetic point of view.

Those who saw her vault I think will agree with me.

She is fairly tall, slim but not skinny, long-waisted, nice bosom, not pendulous, or flat, evenly muscled, with not an ounce of extra fat anywhere.

Someone should sculpt her.

[vajerzy]

Chad's an idiot- and he's got some ugly teeth- you figure with all the money he's making he'd have better choppers..

How far behind the times is Powhatan, VA?

A little- civil-eye-zation is just down the road.

[Soulstation1]

In high school a guy was pole vaulting and the pole snapped and he landed on the pole in his man region area

He has only one buddy instead of two

[Van Basten II]

Anybody saw the the fighter in the light-heavyweight quarter-finals who went Mike Tyson on his opponent and got disqualified for biting his neck.

[Cali]

Did anyone see the Russian woman pole-vaulter clear EIGHTEEN FEET.

Apart from already having gold, she broke the standing Olympic record, then went on to beat the World Record.

I mention this, partly because the vault is spectacular and partly because she has the most perfect body I have ever seen, from a purely aesthetic point of view.

Those who saw her vault I think will agree with me.

I don't agree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and that's coming from an artist's point of view.

[patricia]

Did anyone see the Russian woman pole-vaulter clear EIGHTEEN FEET.

Apart from already having gold, she broke the standing Olympic record, then went on to beat the World Record.

I mention this, partly because the vault is spectacular and partly because she has the most perfect body I have ever seen, from a purely aesthetic point of view.

Those who saw her vault I think will agree with me.

I don't agree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and that's coming from an artist's point of view.

OK. Then we agree to disagree. I speak only from a still-life photography point of view.

[Noj]

Well, from a person who's done a great deal of figure drawing, I've found a great number of the Olympic athletes to be amazing specimens of human anatomy--particularly the Jamaican sprinters but not exclusively. It is only through intense effort over a long period of time that physiques reach such maximized potential.

[DukeCity]

One of the top Chinese woman gymnasts looks like she has just lost her baby teeth in the front, and her permanent teeth are just starting to grow in. They are little nubs of teeth. It would seem to be very unlikely that she is anywhere close to 15.

Well, lemme ask ... what's the advantage to having an underage gymnast? Wouldn't a 16-year-old who has trained longer and is more developed muscularly have an advantage over a young child? ... I'm not quite making the connection here with younger (than 16) = an advantage.

I think the real point is that at 12-15 years of age, those Chinese girls should be sewing $10 jeans for Walmart for sixteen hours a day instead of wearing sparkly leotards and jumping around in a gym.

[patricia]

Well, from a person who's done a great deal of figure drawing, I've found a great number of the Olympic athletes to be amazing specimens of human anatomy--particularly the Jamaican sprinters but not exclusively. It is only through intense effort over a long period of time that physiques reach such maximized potential.

I agree with you.

I was just mesmerized by the perfection, IMO, of the Russian pole-vaulter, to MY eye.

The proportions of each aspect were, to MY eye, perfect.

I know that it takes training and tremendous dedication to every detail to produce the physiques that we see and I am not saying that some athletes are not perfect for their sport, or from an artistic perspective.

I thought though that the work that obviously went into developing the over-sized upper bodies of some of the runners seemed out of balance to my eye. It would seem to me that the lower body and legs would be the area in which strength and endurance training would be concentrated, for their sport.

Why would their upper body be disproportionately larger.

Edited August 20, 2008 by patricia

[RDK]

Well, from a person who's done a great deal of figure drawing, I've found a great number of the Olympic athletes to be amazing specimens of human anatomy--particularly the Jamaican sprinters but not exclusively. It is only through intense effort over a long period of time that physiques reach such maximized potential.

I remember when I thought about trying to achieve my maximized physical potential. I was seven. It didn't take.

[Noj]

I've been much more successful at maximizing my beer intake while avoiding a hangover. Perfect balance, Ray.

[RDK]

I'd never heard of her before, but hurdler Lolo Jones is also pretty easy on the eyes. Tough break for her tonight.

[Soulstation1]

Bolt wins the 200M in world record time

[Cali]

Did anyone see the Russian woman pole-vaulter clear EIGHTEEN FEET.

Apart from already having gold, she broke the standing Olympic record, then went on to beat the World Record.

She set a new world record of 16' 6 3/4", which is spectacular but nowhere near eighteen feet.

[Jazzmoose]

In fact, even in the US, it is rumored that the gymnasts routinely starve themselves -- and maybe take hormones -- to stave off puberty.

I don't know about that. Most hardcore female athletes delay puberty just by being hardcore atheletes. Heck, my sister didn't start menstruating until she was sixteen. Her body was just too damned busy being a softball star...

[Hot Ptah]

One of the top Chinese woman gymnasts looks like she has just lost her baby teeth in the front, and her permanent teeth are just starting to grow in. They are little nubs of teeth. It would seem to be very unlikely that she is anywhere close to 15.

Well, lemme ask ... what's the advantage to having an underage gymnast? Wouldn't a 16-year-old who has trained longer and is more developed muscularly have an advantage over a young child? ... I'm not quite making the connection here with younger (than 16) = an advantage.

On the one hand, they've trained longer. On the other hand, most of the routines favour ultra-light frames. In fact, even in the US, it is rumored that the gymnasts routinely starve themselves -- and maybe take hormones -- to stave off puberty. Once puberty hits, the center of gravity drops, you have to relearn all your routines. Of course, some gymnasts keep going, but it is ultra rare for any females to be any good at the sport after 23 or so. Another issue, perhaps a little overblown, is that younger competitors are too young to know the difficulty of what they are attempting, so they actually have better nerves than older competitors. (I've seen this a little with helping out on a high school athletic team.) One SI columnist said that the Chinese gymnasts had Kool-aid in their veins. Probably 14 is an acceptable age limit, but it is quite clear that the Chinese did cheat this year, but they will get away with it.

If they're cheating, somebody ought to call them on it.

China has financed our national budget deficit for years. We can't call them on it. We can't complain too much about anything to them.