Alpine skiing
Biathlon
Cross-country skiing
Wheelchair curling
Sledge hockey

Though the Opening ceremonies were sold out, CTV in Canada opted not to broadcast them live.

One of the big stories of these Games will be how Paralympic athletes “get no respect”.

Luca (Lazylegs) Patuelli hip-hop dancer

Good luck to everyone there.

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. …

SF Gate

Here’s another perhaps more accurate translation:

… 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. …

China Sports Review

Related: China Media Project – Chinese media tackle the national sports system

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.

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. …

read more – FIG – Chiba to qualify Asian gymnasts for YOG

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. …

Gymnastics star suspended

(via Full Twist)

Gymnastics Examiner reports it’s diuretic furosemide, the same drug taken by Daiane dos Santos and Do Thi Ngan Thuong.

… pretty much sums up the city from Feb.12-28. …

I’ve always been a bit of a Vancouver skeptic, myself, thinking it’s somewhat over-rated.

But I must now bow down to the city on Canada’s left coast. Congratulations on a job well done.

Amazing.

…
Sport At Its Best posted an interview with Clara where she talks about “winning”.

Nor surprisingly, the most amazing performances she’s witnessed in a very long career did not involve winning medals.

It’s a great read for all coaches.

Sport At Its Best – Clara Hughes interview

Thanks Brett for linking to this on Facebook.

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.

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.” …

Vancouver Sun

Devon Kershaw really believed he could beat Petter Northug of Norway, the reigning World Champion.

That’s the psychology you should have to compete at the Olympics.

Kershaw is pysically, technically and psychologically ready to win. That’s what Own The Podium is all about.

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That’s the same race, by the way, where coaches decided not to compete the alternate, blind skier Brian McKeever:

… 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. …

It’s too extreme. My inclination is not to watch him skate. I assume he’s more flamboyant style than substance.

And his antics play into many of the stereotypes about male figure skaters. Even gay pundits are asking: Is Johnny Weir “Too Gay” For Figure Skating? (VIDEO)

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)

Click PLAY or watch his interview on YouTube.

Still, I’m more inclined to cheer (or at least smirk at) the macho antics of Silver medalist, Russia’s Yevgeny Plushenko.

Plushenko and his coach want his competitors to man up and throw quad twists. I agree.

Comments? … Should I simply give up on Figure Skating completely?

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.