Summer Olympics: Beijing, China

[MsDiva2007]

Originally Posted by Susan Elizabeth

Well, you may be right, but doesn't there seem to be something wrong with that? It seems to be almost a case of arrested development. Not very normal. I don't know, but this has bothered me for years. I think it's pushy parents. Very much like stage mothers. It just doesn't sit right with me.

The US girls this year actually look like the age they are. If those girls on the Chinese team are 16, well then honey I am 25. The only time I will see 25 again is when in approx 4 yrs it stacks to make me 50

[Google]

 

[Bearcata]

Originally Posted by Susan Elizabeth

Well, you may be right, but doesn't there seem to be something wrong with that? It seems to be almost a case of arrested development. Not very normal. I don't know, but this has bothered me for years. I think it's pushy parents. Very much like stage mothers. It just doesn't sit right with me.

I think the girls look so young is that they keep their body fat so low so long that what regular puberty does not set in and we end up seeing girls that ar 16 , 17, 18 with bodies of 10 yr olds.

Amyway I saw the 2 female Russian gymnast finally on floor (tape from Sunday) and while the general consensus is that the mightly have fallen I must admit the two girls were fasinating to watch on floor ex because they actually danced choreography to the music they did their tumbling passes to the music. Their routines made sense in relation to the music that they were using unlike the majority of the girls (and as previous poster have mentioned)were they music is just a lot of noise to tumble to.

Also caught the men's synchorinzed platform event. Wow, it was fascinating to watch and I liked the technical expert she was explaining what to look for in a way that we, the veiwing audience could understand. The Chinese men's pair were so in sych it was uncanny.

Ah...US men's gymnastic's team won Bronze and they are so happy. I guess no one expected them to win anything. Still I don't think it is a good idea to go swimming in the Yantze River.

[Critical]

Back in '83-'84, I went to school with Julianne MacNamara, who was on the Olympic gymnastics team in '84. She was 18, but looked TINY: like a little doll or something. Still, she didn't look like she was twelve. Tracy Talavera (sp?) was also on the team that year and I remember seeing her at the mall one day not long before the Olympics and just thinking how short she was. I didn't think she looked 12.

Some of those Chinese gymnasts DO look too young, not in the body, which is normal for the sport, but in the face. Most sports in which girls begin competing at a very young age, can forestall puberty, especially if the athlete is competing at a high level. Usually, female gymnasts do look younger, but not THAT young for their age. Something's fishy.

[CrossingGuard]

This is my first ever Olympics that I've followed religiously (I'm still young, the first Olympics that I've watched on TV is the 2000 Sydney games). I've stayed up long nights watching many sports and rooting for USA all the way. And I gotta say that I'm enjoying it!

Even though they had a chance to win silver, I'm totally proud of Team USA for winning bronze. Even without the Hamm brothers, they still managed to pull off what no one thought they could! Good for them.

Jonathan Horton and Justin Spring did awesome in the high bar! I'm not expert with the new gymnastics scoring, but I thought they deserved higher than what they got. But they still did get very good scores (they were both in the 15 range). I think Horton and Spring (esp. Horton) did the best out of everyone altogether, so props to them.

AshleyPSU, I felt bad for Kevin also for messing up badly on the pommelhorse (sp?), but there's no one I feel worse about than David, the third substitute. The other 2 substitutes were lucky enough to participate in the Olympics after the Hamm brothers dropped out, but that left David alone to watch in the audience. My heart almost broke for him when the camera showed him crying. I don't know if they were tears of joy after seeing his team miraculously winning the bronze or tears of sadness seeing that he was thisclose to being in the Olympics. But whatever the reason is, I totally felt for him.

Originally Posted by Critical

Sorry guys, I LOVE beach volleyball! I grew up in a volleyball-centric house in Huntington Beach and I'd be really disappointed if they got rid of beach volleyball. The two types of volleyball are very different and I enjoy watching both of them. When the Games were in LA in '84, my mother's boss organized the volleyball venue, so we saw so many games (in addition to a day of track & field and the closing ceremonies). I never played as a kid, but I've always loved watching it.

I like beach volleyball too! I would be sad if they took it out, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. But a huge reason for me liking beach volleyball is that Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor dominate in that sport. Like I said a couple of pages ago, I go to the high school that Walsh graduated from, so it's nice to see an alumnus do so well! Walsh is actually still active with the school; she's donating a beach volleyball court to our school.


ETA: I'm surprised that no one has talked about Kirsty Coventry yet! Either that, or I just didn't read it. The girl is awesome. She's definitely representing her country of Zimbabwe well.

[Bunny555]

Originally Posted by CrossingGuard

My heart almost broke for him when the camera showed him crying. I don't know if those were tears of joy after seeing his team miraculously winning the bronze or tears of sadness seeing that he was thisclose to being in the Olympics. But whatever the reason is, I totally felt for him.

I suspect it was a bit of both and it was hard to not feel all the emotion pouring out of him.

[CrossingGuard]

Originally Posted by Bunny555

I suspect it was a bit of both and it was hard to not feel all the emotion pouring out of him.

I know. Definitely a very emotional moment for him, and it struck a chord with me.

Like I said, I like to stay up and watch these sports. Field hockey just got done, and it was intense. USA tied again, this time with Japan. I actually enjoy watching field hockey, USA (the channel) should try to air it earlier.

[Broadway]

Originally Posted by Critical

Back in '83-'84, I went to school with Julianne MacNamara, who was on the Olympic gymnastics team in '84. She was 18, but looked TINY: like a little doll or something. Still, she didn't look like she was twelve. Tracy Talavera (sp?) was also on the team that year and I remember seeing her at the mall one day not long before the Olympics and just thinking how short she was. I didn't think she looked 12.

Some of those Chinese gymnasts DO look too young, not in the body, which is normal for the sport, but in the face. Most sports in which girls begin competing at a very young age, can forestall puberty, especially if the athlete is competing at a high level. Usually, female gymnasts do look younger, but not THAT young for their age. Something's fishy.

I don't think I've seen it further upthread... but there were several articles out there prior to the beginning of the games about the Chinese girls and their real ages. Apparently the two in question have both been in several competitions over the last couple of years where their announced ages would put them much younger than 16 years old today. One in particular was just in a youth competition in October or November, 2007 in which they had to be 13 or under and they were announced as such by the head of Chinese gymnastics, I think it was. When presented with those facts and videotape, the IOC just relied on their passports as the legal proof of age and upheld their right to participate.

It's definitely fishy. And sad.

eta: Here's one of the articles I had read...

[Leo]

While on the topic of fakery, it looks like lip-syncing was the order of the day during the opening, too:

Olympic child singing star revealed as fake
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 20:26:00 08/12/2008

BEIJING—The little girl who starred at the Olympic opening ceremony was miming and only put on stage because the real singer was not considered attractive enough, the show's musical director has revealed.

Pigtailed Lin Miaoke was selected to appear because of her cute appearance and did not sing a note, Chen Qigang, the general music designer of the ceremony, said in an interview with a state broadcaster aired Tuesday.

Photographs of Lin in a bright red party dress were published in newspapers and websites all over the world and the official China Daily hailed her as a rising star on Tuesday.

But Chen said the girl whose voice was actually heard by the 91,000 capacity crowd at the Olympic stadium during the spectacular ceremony was in fact seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who has a chubby face and uneven teeth.

"The reason why little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation," Chen said in an interview that appeared briefly on the news website Sina.com before it was apparently wiped from the Internet in China.

Lin was seen to perform the patriotic song "Ode to the Motherland" as China's national flag was carried into the stadium, a key moment in the three hour ceremony.

"The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression," said Chen, a renowned contemporary composer and French citizen.

"Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in terms of voice, Yang Peiyi is perfect, each member of our team agreed," he said.

He said the final decision to stage the event with Lin lip-synching to another girl's voice was taken after a senior member of China's ruling Communist Party politburo attended a rehearsal.

"He told us there was a problem that we needed to fix it, so we did," he said, without disclosing further details of the order.

The Beijing Olympic organizing committee confirmed the episode with spokesman Sun Weide saying the decision was taken in the interests of providing the best possible show.

"A number of girls were on the short list for the show and Lin was the best actress while Yang had the best voice," he said. "So at the end of the day they decided to have both."

The ceremony directed by China's Oscar-nominated filmmaker Zhang Yimou and featuring more than 15,000 performers won high praise in China and overseas for its breadth, scope and flawless execution.

However criticism began to build after it emerged that another part of the opening ceremony had been faked.

Supposedly live pictures of fireworks depicting footprints moving from central Beijing's Tiananmen Square to the Olympic stadium in the north of the capital were actually partly computer-generated or pre-recorded for TV, organizers have admitted.

Wang Wei, vice president of the organizing committee, Tuesday insisted the fireworks had actually exploded on the night and that most of the television images used were genuine.

"However, because of the poor visibility of the night some previously recorded foots may have been used," he said.

Xiao Qiang, the director of the China Internet project at the University of California at Berkeley and former dissident, said the two incidents illustrated the political nature of the Games for China.

"I do not think the Chinese state realizes how unethical this is, they don't understand what kind of values they are reflecting," he said.

Earlier this year Olympic organizers preoccupied with the right image for the country were criticized for insisting that only tall, slim, young and attractive women could serve as medal award ceremony hostesses.

[Lois Lane]

Here's a photo of the "cute" girl and the "ugly" girl:

Beijing Olympics: Faking scandal over girl who 'sang' in opening ceremony - Telegraph

Call me crazy, but I think the ugly girl is pretty danged adorable! And if we're going to talk bad teeth, then Michael Phelps shouldn't be allowed to participate either 'cause he could use a nice set of braces. (and yes, I'm being facetious)

[Bearcata]

Originally Posted by Lois Lane

Here's a photo of the "cute" girl and the "ugly" girl:

Beijing Olympics: Faking scandal over girl who 'sang' in opening ceremony - Telegraph

Call me crazy, but I think the ugly girl is pretty danged adorable! And if we're going to talk bad teeth, then Michael Phelps shouldn't be allowed to participat
either 'cause he could use a nice set of braces. (and yes, I'm being facetious)

Cute kids, still to me the one in the red dress could be "too pretty" and the other one is more impressive as she looks like a kid her age should on top of that she can sing. I think some of these Chinese bureaucrats are going a tad overboard.