Why?


It also has its disadvantages. :yep:


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In my opinion, I'd take the article with a grain of salt for now. Perhaps a more...official investigation would be in order.

If there's a dropping of age restrictions and with youngsters there, we'd probably see Gary Glitter entering for the high jump :p

Or the pole vault:doh: (sorry, couldn't resist)

I've read bout this a few days ago, apparently they're not even going to worry about it because so many of the sites (official chinese ones) that had listed her true age were taken down as soon as rumours emerged...

I agree with steve in saying get rid of sports that require judges - anyone see the tied scores that went against the yank?? you either win or lose or draw. If you draw, thats the same as a win, you can't seperate them!!

And do away with team sports while we're at it:yep:

From mat length for a routine, to full body in air twists, flips, you name it, a small body has all the chips.

Where does it fail? What I speak about is a known fact. I am not aware of any negatives in this type of game.

-S

I'm not sure what the fuss is - is it only women's sports that may not field under 16s, or only gymnastics?

Britain has also entered a 14 year old in the Olympics. He didn't do too well though

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/EN...2/225172.shtml

Well, I heard it on TV, so I can't vouch for the accuracy, but it looks like the IOC at least claims they are going to look into the matter. :hmm:

Different sports have different age limits , IIRC Gymnastics is 16 though.

On the uneven bars and with vaulting (and no doubt there are other things). For the bars, a shorter, smaller (33kg in this case) has a harder time building the force to transition from the low bar to the high bar, and let alone add a maneuver to it. A longer, heavier (don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about obese people :D ) person would have a much easier time.

For vaulting, it's kinda obvious. The lighter person cannot deliver as much force to the springboard as a heavier person, reducing how high the gymnast can vault. Shorter vaults equal less time in the air, which equals less time for performance, which equals a higher difficulty.


P.S. I am an Olympics enthusiast. It's simply my nature to argue about things related to them. No hard feelings. :D



For this year, in women's artistic, the FIG rules state that the minimum age is 16 years old. However, except for last year, 15 year olds were also admitted to the World Championships (Olympics), and it was allowed this year. From next year on, the minimum age will be 16 years old, with no exceptions.


For the senior olympics, the minimum gymnastics age for men's and women's artistic is 16 years old, with the exception made above. For trampoline, it's 18, with a 17 year old special exception. Rhythmic is 16, Acrobatic 15, and Aerobic is 18.

For juniors (Junior Olympics), Men's Artistic is 14 years, Women's is 13. Rhythmic and Trampoline are 13. Acrobatic is 12, and Aerobic is 14.

None taken.

Looking at the transitions between the low and high bar - they are almost non-existant to start with. Longer people I have also frequently seen them hit the ground while on the shorter bar, limiting their entire routine almost to the high. Shorter people do not have this problem.

The spring board is used once for mounting - that is it. Seems to have no effect as you describe either.

I do not agree with either of your assesments.

-S

Not surprising the Chinese would lie about the ages of their athletes.

Once upon a time, Olympians had lives outside of the stadium. They had other jobs, they had other hobbies, and they went about these things as we common folk do. For some, this is still the case.

For a Chinese Olympian, life consists of training, lying, and discipline. That IS their job, their purpose: to make their country look all powerful and invincible...:nope:

Is it that much different from an American Olympian? I hope the lying part is the main difference....

Most American athletes in the Olympics do have other lives outside of competing. The fact of the matter is unless you're a superb Olympian, you'll have to get a regular job. It just won't pay for you.

Michael Phelps, for instance, has been a pro-athlete swimmer since 16 and became a millionaire at 18. He has never had a real job outside swimming (unless you count the jobs he did for his uncle, but family errands really don't mean much, IMO).

Phelp's job is to swim. He gets a ridiculous amount of money from companies and corporations like VISA, SPEEDO, etc.

If they can convince him to use their gear, then he'll get money... a sh**load of it. He can easily rake in $50 million by the end of the 2008 Olympics.

Michael Phelps is incredible

If he was a separate country, he'd be in the 9th ranking place in the world!

Btw - has anyone noticed britain's unbelievable performance? Third place, with Russia catching up fast, but wow, how did that happen?:rock:

The main benifit of being that young in female gymnastics is that they are more flexiable that older gymnasts. You get more strenght a they get oler but less flexiable.