OK, so in case you haven't seen the news....the US Women's gymnastics team won the silver.
I think that's pretty damn awesome.
CNN.com's headline was "Heartbreaking loss for US women."
What??? We didn't lose. We WON the silver. Yeah, it's not the gold...but we still WON.
I think that's the problem with the Olympics...we have this mindset that if we don't win the gold, we're losers.
No, the people in 4th place...yeah, those are the losers. There's no medal for 4th place.
Oh and have you read the stories about the Chinese gymnasts? Apparenlty 2 of them (at least) might not be 16 -- the required age for Olympic gymnasts. Yeah, see this story. Some online records show the age of two Chinese gymnasts at 14, while their Chinese issued passports list them at 16 years old.
Um, I think they are lying. One of the girls is actually missing a tooth!!!! No, I'm not kidding.
From CNN.com: "And we do mean young. Their passports are issued by a Chinese government that is very, very interested in winning lots and lots of gold medals, so while they may say they're 15 or 16, five of the six team members have the appearance of pre-pubescent children. "The little babies," is how U.S. coach Martha Karolyi refers to the Chinese gymnasts when speaking to her team, and they certainly are little. Li Shanshan (16) is 4-foot-9, 79 pounds. Yang Yilin (15) is 4-foot-11, 77 pounds. He Kexin (16) is 4-foot-8, 73 pounds. Jiang Yuyuan (16) is 4-foot-7, 71 pounds. But the prize goes to Deng Linlin (16), who's listed at 4-foot-6 and a strapping 68 pounds. She could take a nap in Yao Ming's sneaker. Poor thing's also missing a tooth. Please, someone send baby food."
How many 16 year olds do you know who are missing teeth??? Oh man. I smell a controversy a-brewin'! One has to wonder...if it ends up that China broke the rules, do you think they'll lose those shiny gold medals?
[An aside: So far I haven't been too impressed with China's behavior during these games. First, there were fake fireworks during the broadcast of the opening cermony, then the cute little girl in the red dress was lip-synching the song "Ode to the Motherland" because the little girl singing it wasn't cute enough by Chinese standards. I mean, c'mon....who does things like that?]
I get madder each day! First the fireworks, then that poor little girl, now these "babies".
ReplyDeleteDon't even get me started on how they never should have been awarded the Olympics to begin with.
FOr China the standard answer seems to be "For the good of the Country".
Well, I guess lack of human rights, lying and cheating must be "For the good of their Country", but it makes a mockery of the Olympic spirit.
...climbs off soapbox.....
Well, I think they were just referring to the WAY they "lost". They had the chance to take the gold because the Chinese girl fell on the beam leaving the door open for the US. But since we fell (twice), the chance was lost.
ReplyDeleteAnd, the US men's gymnastic team was THRILLED with the bronze medal they won. They were crazy excited about it. So I don't always think the mindset is not gold = losing.
The women's team had high hopes and had the chance to win gold and didn't. So to them, I'm sure it was a heartbreaking loss. Even though in the grand scheme of things, it's not a loss.
yeah i see your point, Mickey D...it just bothers me a bit that a lot of the media has this "must win gold" mentality.
ReplyDeleteto me, it would have been better to have a positive headline "US Women Win Silver!" rather than the negative headline "Heartbreaking Loss"
I just don't care for their way of thinking. That's all I have to say about them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your disagreeing with the silver as a loss. That's dumb.
ReplyDeleteAlso, last night they mentioned several times that one of the Chinese gymnasts was taken from her home at THREE and trained to be an olympian. When given the choice to have their daughter back, the family said no, she should continue to serve China. WHAT?!?!
PS I was GLUED to the TV last night between swimming and gymnastics. Loved it!
ReplyDeleteiris...i heard that story about the chinese gymnasts too and i thought it was INSANE!!!! they said those robots, oh i mean "girls" are only allowed to go home once a year. OMG.
ReplyDeletei was glue to my Tivo tonight between the swimming and gymnastics.
go USA!