Olympics 2008

[blueerica]

Originally Posted by Tenigma

Once you develop some semblance of hips and breasts, your career is OVER.

Hey now, hey now... I don't know about anyone else but I kinda thought Alicia Sacramone was a little on the 'stacked' side of things... And that Shawn Johnson... anyone looked at that ass. Might be the best one I've seen all games long.

And as much as I said that tongue-in-cheek, I am actually rather serious.

You know the irony of women's gymnastics? There is a single person on this planet solely credited with its current state of using little girls: Bela Karolyi. He was Nadia Comaneci's coach back when he worked with her in Romania, and he is credited with helping her perform the perfect 10s in the 1976 Olympics. It changed the entire landscape of female gymnastics. Up until then, most female gymnasts were oh, in their early 20s. There was a bit of controversy that Nadia was so young, but that all flew out the window when she did so well.

After that, there was a big movement to start them younger, to mold them earlier, and get them prepped to be Olympic-ready as soon as they were age-eligible.

Though I mostly agree, the pressures of 'communism' cannot be ignored for its treatment of not only gymnastics, but of other Olympic events, perhaps most notably swimming and diving. Watching the diving competition, you hear nothing but tales from athletes and correspondents of the age they are taken from their families to be (somewhat) isolated and begin training - much more rigidly than in the US.

In fact, they are crediting a recent change within the American system that has encouraged increased isolation (i.e. when they are starting their teens many world-class-potential divers move to Indianapolis where they can begin intense training at the HQ), a la China, with improving scores.

I'm not saying it's right, wrong, or anything - it is what it is, IMO.