… As Brian McKeever and his brother Robin raced toward Paralympic gold in the cross-country freestyle Monday, the announcers warned the raucous crowd to stop cheering and just wave to keep them on course.
But there was no silencing the spectators at Whistler Paralympic Park, who screamed wildly and flailed cowbells in support of the brothers from Canmore, Alta., who scooped up the country’s first Winter Paralympic gold medal on home soil.
“It wasn’t a quiet stadium when we rolled through so that was a lot of fun,” McKeever, 30, said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s quiet or not. I can see (a bit) so I just follow Robin.” …
With the recent success of Bridget Sloan, Coach Marvin Sharp has made a name for himself in the world of elite gymnastics. Marvin talks about how he got started in coaching gymnastics and why he ultimately decided to open his own gym.
Marvin is the Head Coach of Sharp’s Gymnastics in Indiana and the personal coach to 2008 Olympians Bridget Sloan and Samantha Peszek. Marvin has been coaching Bridget for 13 years and in October of 2009, he coached Bridget to an individual World All-Around title.
His name: Luo Chaoyi, director of the Gymnastics Center of the General Administration of Sport.
AP Sports Columnist John Leicester has a mainstream article getting wide circulation with the general public:
Lies and damned lies: China abandons gymnast who competed under age at Olympics
Does this 14yr-old look like a forger to you?
Here’s the translation from Manderin used in the Leicester article:
… The state-run newspaper China Youth Daily quoted Luo Chaoyi as saying that Dong was eligible in Sydney but then shaved three years off her age after retirement in 2001, and that “this must have been an act by her and her family.”
Such an explanation is barely credible — unless, of course, Dong is a master forger of official documents, which is even less believable. In China, as elsewhere, passports are government-issued. Coaches — and not just in China — have also long falsified ages for girls whose small and supple bodies give them a competitive advantage over larger and older young women. The reverse scenario — that a retired gymnast would pass herself off as a kid — makes no sense.
It also hard to believe Chinese officials didn’t know Dong was underage in 2000. Most of Dong’s childhood was spent within the state-run sports system that churns out medalists for China. Her CV shows she joined a sports school at age 4, a provincial team at 7 and the national team at 10. …
… the age of Dong Fangxiao is her personal matter and the fact that Dong’s age had been shifted 3 yrs younger after her retirement was Dong and her family’s personal practice. …
There’s not the slightest doubt that Dong was underage. Her personal resume today says she was born Jan. 23, 1986 making her two years below the minimum age requirement of 16 at Sydney.
The FIG is hoping for an April IOC decision on the Olympic 2000 medals.
… One worrisome new fact. She’s apparently returned to China for a visit. I’m slightly worried for her safety.
There are still plenty of questions regarding the 1st Youth Olympic Games to be held in Singapore this Summer.
How do athletes qualify?, for example.
Here’s how it’s going to happen in Asia:
The Asian Gymnastics Union is organising the 11th Junior Asian Championships in Trampoline and Artistic Gymnastics at the Makuhari Event Hall in Chiba (JPN). Eligible junior gymnasts from Asia will get a shot at qualifying for the 1st Youth Olympic Games …
The parallel event for Rhythmic Gymnastics took place in Tashkent (UZB) on February 16 – 19, 2010 …
YOG athlete eligibility
Artistic Gymnastics
A quota of 7, including one spot for host country Singapore, is allotted to Asian MAG juniors at the Youth Olympic Games. Girls compete for 5 plus 1 (host) spots.
The required age for Artistic gymnasts to be eligible to participate in the Singapore Youth Olympic Games is 16-17 years for boys (born in 1993 or 1994), and 15 years for girls (born in 1995). Gymnasts must qualify at their Junior Continental Championships and may not have previously participated at FIG senior competitions or multi-sport games. A maximum of one male and one female athlete is allowed per NOC. …
RISING Russian gymnastic star Kristina Goryunova will not be able to compete in the 2012 Olympics after being suspended for a year by her national federation on Wednesday for using banned medication, local media reported.
Reports said that the samples taken from the 17-year-old at the national championships in November 2009, contained traces of the forbidden substance (one of furosemide analogues).
Goryunova justified the results by saying she was taking a food additive trying to lose weight, adding she did not know that it contained the banned substance. …
Big increases in funding for high performance sport. They’re still adding up the numbers.
Some had feared funding would be cut drastically as soon as public interest in the Olympics waned. But politicans bandwagoneered on huge popular support of the Games.
Here’s a great example of why Canada’s “Own The Podium” is the right program, with the wrong name.
One of the great success stories is this guy …
He was shattered after finishing with a personal best, Canada’s best ever 5th place in the men’s 50KM Mass Start cross country ski race.
… “My goal was to stay with the leaders, conserve as much energy as I could,” Kershaw explained. “It’s a marathon. It takes over two hours. You have to be so calm and collected. I accomplished everything I hoped for, and more. But to be 1.5 seconds from the gold medal in a race so long …… when I see my technicians, it’s going to be really hard. It’s the best 50K of my life. But, at the same time, it’s really tough to place fifth.” …
… Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., and Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., were the last skiers on the course to cross the finish line.
Harvey was 32nd and Babikov 33rd, which called into question the decision to sit alternate Brian McKeever, the legally blind skier who was seeking to become the first winter athlete to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics.
Harvey and Babikov didn’t appear to have anything left in the tank after a series of earlier races, whereas McKeever was fresh. The 50-km race would have been his only Olympic event. …
My respect for Weir climbed a notch or two after hearing him fire back at broadcasters Claude Mailhot and Alain Goldberg of RDS, a French-language sports channel in Quebec. Here’s that interview.
U.S. men’s figure skater Johnny Weir says he was ‘frankly, pissed’ upon learning that the two French-language commentators questioned his gender and made other jibes during his Olympic skating performances last week. (Feb. 24)
The greatest emotional moment for me was the reaction of Frederic when his brother won Moguls.
Canada’s first gold medal winner ALEX BILODEAU greets fans with his brother FREDERIC BILODEAU and sister JENNIFER BILODEAU outside the Pan Pacific hotel Tuesday evening during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
… His older brother, Frédéric, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at a young age and told that he would be unable to walk by the time he was 10. Frédéric is now age 28 and still has the ability to walk. …
Frédéric inspires Alex as much as Alex inspires Frédéric.
Some feel that American Bronze medallist Bryon Wilson, a former gymnast, had a better second run than Alex. Wilson was brilliant. Look for him in the coming years.
It had one of the most calamitous beginnings in Olympic history. Now, as the 2010 Winter Olympics head into their final weekend, they are on their way to being celebrated as one of the best in history. …
That’s how most Canadians are feeling right now. Even the taxpayers from Vancouver … and they normally complain about everything.
Most of the hate I’m seeing online is directed towards NBC TV, especially their decision to tape delay coverage. People want real time live video in 2010. On the other hand, ratings have been far better than expected. The American Brian Williams left Canada a nice thank-you note.
