Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Ridiculous Comments about Gymnastics

This post is slightly rant-ish. No, I won't lie to myself; this is pretty much as rant. I apologize in advance =D



"The way [Chellsie Memmel] holds her hands and wrists should be a deduction."


-International Gymnast Editor Amanda Turner




No, you can't be serious, can you? Sure, Chellsie doesn't have the most artistic routine, but deductions for the placements of her hands? That's ridiculous. I can't believe that comment was actually posted on their site.




"I have nothing against pygmies -- just youngsters who go out of their way to grow no bigger than pygmies. [about gymnasts]"


-LA Times Columnist TJ Simers




Does this statement even deserve a reply? Gymnasts aren't these little three foot creatures wondering around in the forest doing giants on tree branches and flips on mushrooms. And I'm pretty sure they don't try to be short. They grow to the height the majority of their family does, loose about 2-4 inches from gymnastics, and work with what they got. This guy obviously hasn't seen Svetlana Khorkina.




"Female gymnasts are usually washed out for serious competition by the age of 18, if not 16."


-BlogCritics Writer Natalie Bennet




Before we even get to this statement, I would like to add that the title of the article in which this quote came from is called Why Gymnastics Should Be Banned. Banned? The entire sport? Wow. Now, back to this quote. This journalist obviously doesn't know that to compete in world competition, you have to be sixteen (proved by another quote you'll see later). She also doesn't know that at least four of the six gymnasts to be on the USA olympic team will be over eighteen. (Alicia Sacramone, Chellsie Memmel, Nastia Liukin, most likely Jana Bieger). Let's continue with this gem.
"The answer surely is to limit the age of participation - should children of 12 really be competing in Olympics and World Championships?"
-BlogCritic's Writer Natalie Bennet
Now, from this statement alone, you can see the painstaking hours of reasearch this writer put into this article - or lack of research. At this moment, you have to be sixteen to participate in any Olympics or World Championships (Bruno Grandi changed it so there isn't any exceptions, not even for the pre-Olympic worlds. This change starts next quad). The youngest World Champion known (at least to me) is Daniela Silivas, the 1985 Worlds Beam champion, when she was thirteen at the time. Not even twelve! Where did this lady get that number from? I guess only she and whoever visits her little magical world will ever know.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think all those comments are ridiculous except the one about chellsie's arms and wrists. arms positions and hand positions should never be ignored. if we'renot gonna be rewarding artistic routines, the least we could do is deduct chellsie memmel. it blows my mind how chellsie could score anywhere near nastia on beam

Anonymous said...

it is contested whether or not Olga Bicherova was 12 or 13 years old when she won 1981 worlds all around. she maintains she was 15. it's hard to say though, pygmies sure can be sneaky:-)

Anonymous said...

if they're going to deduct Chells, then they need to deduct Nastia for crossing her effing legs every time she twists (which IS a deduction but it never happens)

Unknown said...

I think those days were very crucial.when all the comments are against Gymnastics.....Placements in USA

Anonymous said...

they DO deduct nastia for crossing her legs, but it's only one tenth on beam so it doesn't really change her score that much

on floor, she does NOT cross her legs 'every' time she twists. it's only on the front double full, rudi, and the 2.5. that's 3 tenths which does not really make that much of a substantial difference in the total

Anonymous said...

Great post! I'm tired of people who don't know anything about gymnastics trashing the sport and its athletes. As for the comments from people who should know better... I don't know what their excuses are.