^ Doesn't surprise me, think how hard they've worked for this and they get 1 chance every FOUR years. She's 16 now, in four years she'll be 20 and already starting to get old for a gymnast (the team all age 15-18 right now).
XXXth Olympiad - London
- Thread starter MacLeod
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All things being equal, I would agree - unfortunately, the genie's already out of the bottle in that regard. The likes of Football, tennis, basketball, etc are already in the Olympics, and it's highly unlikely that it will ever go back to just being the traditional sports. That being the case, why should some popular sports be included whilst others aren't?
Re the football, it's hardly surprising that games aren't sold out when you have fixtures like Columbia vs North Korea at a 52,000 venue. They should have been much smarter about utilizing smaller grounds - there are some fantastic < 10,000 footballing venues dotted around the country - Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium for example.
Last I checked Football is an Olympic sport.
German female gymnast Oksana Chusovitina (formerly USSR, formerly Uzbekistan) finished 6th at the vault yesterday. She's 37.
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Who knew that Maroney would mess up the easier of her two vaults in the most important meet of her life? She could do that vault in her sleep. She did it at Worlds last October and took gold running away. I have never seen her mess up that vault. Never. The average score costs her the gold by a tenth. She must be sick and--quite frankly--she has good reason. She knows she's a better vaulter than Izbasa, but Izbasa takes the gold and it's perfectly fair. At least Wieber was done in by an arbitary rule. Raisman lost her AA bronze because another arbitrary, tie breaking rule. Maroney had the gold in the palm of her hand, and she gave it away to a lesser vaulter. . The medal was hers to take. Oh.....how could she do that?I'm not bemoaning it. The other girl earned the gold on this day, but....sickening. This is going to stick in her craw for a long, looooooong time and there's no other medal coming to console her like the team medal was able to console Wieber.
I can't believe she fell on her butt during the first attempt, but you know, a silver medal ain't so bad. One quality I don't admire about some of these athletes, including Phelps himself, is the sense of hyper competitiveness. To them, they either win a gold medal or they don't. I suppose a lot of that has to do with pride or arrogance. I could see Maroney was really soured by the outcome, but she had only herself to blame. Whereas Danell Leyva was happy with getting a bronze in the individual all-around, Maroney was so unhappy she was reluctant to even congratulate her winning opponent. I think a lot of these errors have to do with nerves.
I watched that event last night, and I thought that Maroney was, IMHO, very unsportsmanlike. I understand she was disappointed, but come on. It's not like she was robbed. She fell on her ass!
Usually, athletes will at least fake congratulations for their opponents. If looks could kill, everyone on that floor would have been dead.
It is, but they should fook the current format off - either have it as a strictly U21/U23 tournament, or have it as an amateur competition.
German female gymnast Oksana Chusovitina (formerly USSR, formerly Uzbekistan) finished 6th at the vault yesterday. She's 37.
So after Beijing, how did Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin fare this time.
Sure you can find outliers but I think on average it's quite a young sport. Does McKayla have another Olympics or two in her? Possibly but it's a hard road.
Of course. But I was disagreeing with your claim than 20 is old for a gymnast.
I said "in four years she'll be 20 and already starting to get old for a gymnast" and I still think that's a fair statement.
Another GB gold in the velodrome......
Not any more it isn't. Maybe 30 years ago.
German female gymnast Oksana Chusovitina (formerly USSR, formerly Uzbekistan) finished 6th at the vault yesterday. She's 37.
Thanks, I was going to mention her. She started her career in Barcelona 1992 under the Unified Team. When they first showed her, I thought she looked rather older than the other gymnasts, and surely enough one of the commentators said she's 37. Man, she's been in the Olympics six different times.
That woman is a fanstastic marvel but I don't think her presence does not mean 20 is *starting* to get old for a gymnast.
Only 2 of the top 8 vaulters (finals) are over 20, and even overall only 7 of 18 vaulters are older than 20.
In the all-around only 5 of 32 are older than 20, the three medalists were under 18. The oldest in the all-around is 26.
Only 2 of the top 8 vaulters (finals) are over 20, and even overall only 7 of 18 vaulters are older than 20.
In the all-around only 5 of 32 are older than 20, the three medalists were under 18. The oldest in the all-around is 26.
Who knew that Maroney would mess up the easier of her two vaults in the most important meet of her life? She could do that vault in her sleep. She did it at Worlds last October and took gold running away. I have never seen her mess up that vault. Never. The average score costs her the gold by a tenth. She must be sick and--quite frankly--she has good reason. She knows she's a better vaulter than Izbasa, but Izbasa takes the gold and it's perfectly fair. At least Wieber was done in by an arbitary rule. Raisman lost her AA bronze because another arbitrary, tie breaking rule. Maroney had the gold in the palm of her hand, and she gave it away to a lesser vaulter. . The medal was hers to take. Oh.....how could she do that?
I can't believe she fell on her butt during the first attempt, but you know, a silver medal ain't so bad. One quality I don't admire about some of these athletes, including Phelps himself, is the sense of hyper competitiveness. To them, they either win a gold medal or they don't. I suppose a lot of that has to do with pride or arrogance. I could see Maroney was really soured by the outcome, but she had only herself to blame. Whereas Danell Leyva was happy with getting a bronze in the individual all-around, Maroney was so unhappy she was reluctant to even congratulate her winning opponent. I think a lot of these errors have to do with nerves.
I watched that event last night, and I thought that Maroney was, IMHO, very unsportsmanlike. I understand she was disappointed, but come on. It's not like she was robbed. She fell on her ass!
Usually, athletes will at least fake congratulations for their opponents. If looks could kill, everyone on that floor would have been dead.
I agree. Maroney did "accept" a hug from Izbasa, but she didn't even crack a smile. McKayla looked like she was about to cry.
None of the U.S. gymnasts won any medals today. It looks like Gabby placed eighth on the Uneven Bars. My guy Sam Mikulak didn't do too well either; he was Number 5 in Men's Vault Final.
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Ok, so I don't watch soccer and know very little about the rules, but it seems to me that the referee was really trying to give that game to the US in the 20 minutes of regular time. What with the free kick given for some unknown penalty (that ended up with a penalty kick that the US scored with) and then awarding a corner kick to the US despite the fact that they were the last one to touch the ball before it went outside!
