All this Olympic whining on the part of the US broadcasters is embarrassing. Spoiler Warning.

[Bonobo]

Really sour grapes. And I'm sick of the right-wingish China bashing on this board too.

I'm talking gymnastics, womens, uneven parallel bars.

It's like if they don't get ALL the gold medals, someone is cheating. Jeezus.

No wonder everyone sues each other here. Most people think that if it weren't for the unfairness, they would have been elected President or something.

Who is this male broadcaster anyway? Former gymnast? A real sour-grape sucking whiner if you ask me.

I have been watching gymnastics a long time too. It was NOT a bad decision.

[LSparkle]

1. Sounds like Shawn Johnson didn't get her gold ...

I'm sorry, but I went through the Michelle Kwan mess
TWICE and you can NEVER anoint an Olympian before the
competition is over.

[MiniMe]

23. Shawn Johnson wasn't even in this particular competition

To leave the countries out of it, 2 girls tied for the best score. Apparently the olympics don't allow for ties, and they used some obscure tie breaker to decide who got first and who got second. There was a lot of confusion and nobody really understood what was going on. The only people whining were the announcers, the US coaches refused to file any kind of protest because they said that the rules had been applied correctly, and the athlete didn't complain. In this instance, I feel bad for the athletes involved because they both performed well and they ended up tied. I wish they could have both gotten the gold medal. And to be fair, once the announcers finally figured out what the tiebreaker was, they quit their whining other than to say that they disagreed with the judges opinion. This was another instance of something coming down to one judge.

[Warpy]

2. Best way to do it was the way I did it on Thursday night

I had to rush a sick kitty to the emergency vet and watched a couple of hours of it on a set with the sound off.

It was easy to see what was going on and the scores were put on the screen along with the athlete's name and country of origin.

Announcers rate themselves much more highly than they deserve.

[ColbertWatcher]

26. Maybe we should rate them? n/t

[donco6]

3. I HATE when they do that.

It's very unsportsmanlike.

I think of judging like referees on a football field. Yeah, maybe once in a while one gets in the way of a play and farks things up, but they're part of the field. You deal with it.

[AnnieBW]

4. It's not as egregious as last night

on the vault, though. That was a fucking crock.

I just wish it hadn't been one of the underage Chinese girls that got the gold. That might sound like China-bashing. It is. And, as for getting "all the gold medals", I think that's the Chinese. Of course, if they don't get the gold, they're probably sent to some re-education camp out in the middle of the Gobi Desert.

[Bonobo]

6. We push our underage girls just as hard.

All those girls have been pushing their bodies past their limits while still growing and at ridiculous ages.


The fact that Chinese are generally smaller with smaller breasts, hips, etc. should not make you jump to conclusions about the age thing.

[LisaL]

9. There are rules on how old they have to be to perform at

the Olympics. Have they ever performed in international competitions before? What age did they declare there? If they had not performed in international competitions, why not?

[Malikshah]

19. So-- do the US girls get taken from their parents prior to age 4?

Just wondering....

Do the US coaches state they'll jump off the highest building if the team doesn't get gold?

Just wondering....

It's a competition--yes, but at least have a level playing field.

Furthermore-- no sports should be judged except by time....

[SidDithers]

24. Read "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" by Joan Ryan...

if you have any illusion about how "well" US elite gymnasts are treated.

Sid

[malaise]

29. Those who do not study the Sports Industry

have an awful lot of illusions.

[Malikshah]

30. Never said they were well-treated, but in comparison to China, it's

a damn sight better.

Key issue: There is a choice.

[Bonobo]

32. Parent's choice. Usually parents that were themselves the product of that environment. nt

[bluestateguy]

10. The North Korean girl got the gold on the vault

And I noticed that NBC didn't show the medal ceremony where the North Korean anthem would have been playing. That would have set off the American patriotism police for weeks of whining.

[Hardrada]

12. I still haven't heard the German national anthem

and they've won a bunch of golds!

[Berry Cool]

18. I have.

Can't remember who it was for now, but I did hear it.

[distantearlywarning]

31. I did.

It was for swimming.

And the North Korean girl didn't deserve the gold on vault, so I could care less if they showed her medal ceremony. The German girl who took silver on that event should have won it, and then maybe we would have heard the German anthem again.

[AnnieBW]

33. Absolutely.

She nailed both of her landings. The NK girl didn't.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I'd rather see them both get the gold for the tie, instead of using the tie-breaker system.

[Bonobo]

7. Agreed. nt

[bluestateguy]

8. It's debateable as to who did the better exercise

Liukin MAY have been better on the bars, but it's hardly an open and shut case, either.

[alarimer]

11. NO they were right.

The scoring system is asinine. Liukin did better than the Chinese child (looked about 10 to me) and yet only managed a tie and some stupid tie-breaking thing. The really ridiculous thing is that there can be no ties (according to the IOC).

[Trajan]

13. The scoring during the All Around was atrocious ....

I am no jingo .... But I have eyes ...

Both Liukin and Johnson, in my humble opinion, had less errors in their routines, but scored lower than other gymnasts with more errors .... irrespective of the degree of difficulty ...

One doesnt have to be a stark raving nationalist to see this .... Frankly: I would rather they LOSE and be scored fairly .... I didnt see it that way ...

[ComplimentarySwine]

14. Without China bashing

how else do you explain what we saw concerning the women's vault? Didn't the winning girl land on her knees?

[Bonobo]

15. Did not see it. My OP was about the uneven parallel bars. nt

[Renew Deal]

35. Then consider that you don't know what you're talking about.

Because there's history here, and it's in the mens events too.

[tridim]

20. She landed on her knees AND hands..

And she had big form breaks throughout the entire vault.

I was a gymnast back in the old 10.0 days and scoring was never this screwed up. They have to change it after these games.

[Hugabear]

16. Criticizing China is "right wing"?

Funny, I thought the rethugs enjoyed doing business with tyrants like those in China and Saudi Arabia. Since when did criticizing a country because of their abysmal human rights record become "right wing"?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

25. Oh, you just don't UNDERSTAND them......

...they just do things different over there. Respect their culture of oppression.

:sarcasm:

[PVnRT]

27. You forget. Americans cannot criticize anyone.

We are the worst country in the history of the world, and China is a true socialist worker's paradise.

[leftofthedial]

17. you don't have to be a right winger to criticize China

They were the worst example of "Communism" the world ever saw and now they are the worst example of capitalism in the world.

the country sucks and we'll be lucky if they don't destroy the planet.

[Elwood P Dowd]

21. The Chinese cheating will eventually be exposed,

just like the East Germans from the 70s and 80s.

[MiniMe]

22. I feel bad for the athlete, they both should have been awarded the gold

There was a lot of confusion, and it seems like the olympics are the only event that doesn't award both athletes the gold. It was kind of an obscure rule. The coaches got it right though, as did her father. They said that the tie breaker rules were applied correctly and there was no basis for a protest, and therefore refused to protest. I respect that. I don't think they should have. I did think it was interesting that her father had tied for a gold and both athletes got a gold medal in the past.

I've been watching gymnastics for years too and I'll be the first to admit that I don't know enough to know if the scores were fair or not. So my thing is that I don't care what country the athletes were from, they both did good routines with a lot of difficulty and they tied. They both should have gotten the gold.

[malaise]

28. It's like if they don't get ALL the gold medals, someone is cheating

Bingo. Great post.
Of course they won't mention the Marion Jones' of track and field.

[Renew Deal]

34. Sorry, but the American girl (Nastia) got screwed, and it's happening a lot.

China keeps getting breaks. Their gymnasts fall and yet they end up with higher scores than the American girls with better routines. Nastia got screwed last night. Sacrimone got screwed on the vault a few days ago. The US got screwed in the team all around. Johnson got screwed in the individual all around and still came in second. She could have won.

It's been happening in every gymnastics event.