Comments on: Olympic Bronze medal for American gymnasts

By: BCB

BCB — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:19:50 +0000

Awards should be given to those who compete within the rules of the sport. The China “team” broke the rules by allowing an under-aged gymnast on the “team”. By breaking the rules, which are well known ahead of time, China didn’t beat any other team there in Sydney. They lost…the medals they didn’t deserve and the respect for having been discovered cheating. And the American team who did compete within the rules has every right to feel proud of their achievement, primarily because they competed with honor.

By: Aek

Aek — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:44:57 +0000

Yes, Its sad to take away a metal from an entire team when someone was underage but in the end rules are rules. If the US was allowed to use someone under 16 then maybe they would of pulled out in 3rd who knows. I am just happy for the US Girls…. a dream come true just 10 years later.

By: shergymrag

shergymrag — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:23:53 +0000

“If I was the Americans I wouldn’t feel like I’d deserved that medal. I’m not saying they didn’t compete well, I’m saying they were beaten by China and that is still true regardless of their ages.”

Well, why should China be happy with the medal considering they felt they had to cheat to get it.

The US could have had better results all through 1997-2000 if they had used gymnasts that were too young. If they had cheated.

By: PolyisTCOandbanned

PolyisTCOandbanned — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:55:08 +0000

Taking the medals is the most common sense remedy and also the best way to deter future crimes. I think there was a pattern of this abuse. We should probably ban China from an Olympic cycle.

I’m still waiting for the “Western devil” whining. Haven’t heard any publicly, but I bet the Chinese boards are blistering with their attitude.

By: MunchTheSilivasFan

MunchTheSilivasFan — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:57:49 +0000

This sucks. I understand wiping the individual results but it’s not the teams fault she was underage is it? And it’s not even her fault they made her compete. What was she going to do? Say no?

If I was the Americans I wouldn’t feel like I’d deserved that medal. I’m not saying they didn’t compete well, I’m saying they were beaten by China and that is still true regardless of their ages.

By: TP

TP — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 06:04:56 +0000

They don’t even deserve that medal.

What I really love is that there are so many people commenting (on non-gymnastics site) something to the tune of this:

If she is 14 years old and THAT good, she deserves that medal! Why should there be a limit on that at the Olympic Level?

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:01:19 +0000

I agree with Kennedy.

By: Kennedy

Kennedy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:55:56 +0000

Gotta say that of the team, Jamie and Tasha are the most deserving of receiving the medal. They, especially Tasha, held the team together with huge performances in finals.

Dawes, Ray, Maloney, and even Chow were huge disappointments in that final. Chow in particular held the team back with her huge mistake on the DTY (2-3 tenths less than what she would have normally scored) and her beam dismount was a massive disaster (5 tenth deduction). That’s 7-8 tenths the US really needed. The other point could be equally divided among the the remaining members (except maybe Tasha, who pretty much stuck everything to the best of her ability).

By: IOCSUCKS

IOCSUCKS — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:27:31 +0000

No the IOC is doing this the FIG condones cheating and will do nothing about any of that.

they knew about the fake injury to Roza, They knew about the fake injuries in 85 and they let it sit.

Do a blog on fairness gymcoaching because this isn’t fair to anyone but this one team.

I want to know when they are going to fix it for everyone because the Soviets cheated for years and they did nothing

By: Calítoe.:.

Calítoe.:. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:22:52 +0000

But FIG seems to be “happy” about that decision: if they approve this one, they have to follow the example themselves… I still think the girls shouldn’t be punished at all, but the officials.