"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.
