World Champion Shawn Johnson is astonishingly good in media interviews for such a young athlete.
But the younger Peng Peng is even more eloquent, I think. She’s a natural.
Charismatic 14-year-old gymnast Christine “Peng Peng” Lee is the best Canadian gymnast coach Carol-Angela Orchard has seen in her 30 years in the sport. …
listen to the audiocast linked from the CBC Inside Track podcast page.
Click PLAY or watch Peng Peng compete Floor on YouTube.
Broadcaster Robin Brown also posted a commentary after the interview. (Peng Peng is too young to compete in Beijing.)
Olympic age minimums not always fair
… To compete at the Olympic Games you must be 16 years old. There are a few sports where the minimum age is even higher, such as marathon runners who must be 20 years old but generally speaking, 16 is the minimum.
And I’m not sure it’s entirely fair.
The rule was brought in, ostensibly, to protect the child athletes who are at risk of being exploited, pressured, mistreated and exposed to risk of injury. One of the arguments is that these young bodies are not mature enough to handle the extreme training necessary and that they are not emotionally mature enough to handle the pressure.
But 16 seems such an arbitrary number.
In some sports, the age rule doesn’t make much difference. It’s unlikely a 14-year-old is going to unseat a 22-year-old in a strength and endurance sport such as rowing, or that a 12-year-old could make the Olympic hockey team.
But in other sports, the minimum age is a hotly debated and controversial issue. In gymnastics and figure skating, young girls have often shown championship form at the international level. Nadia Comaneci scored her perfect-10 when she was 14-years-old. Tara Lipinski became a world figure skating champion at 14. …
Canada’s own Alexandre Despatie won Commonwealth Games gold in diving when he was just 13-years-old, earning him a place in the Guinness World Records. He’s still going strong 10 years later and is a medal favourite this summer in Beijing.
There is a young Canadian gymnast, Peng-Peng Lee, who is 14 years old right now and according to her coach, is the most talented Canadian gymnast ever. But come next summer, when she’s 15, Peng-Peng Lee will be staying at home to watch the Beijing Olympics instead of competing in them because she won’t be old enough, by a matter of months. She’ll have to wait until 2012. And in this particular case, that’s a shame.
From the Inside Out – Robin Brown
Most coaches like the age requirements as they are right now.
But I’m not at all confident that Peng Peng can stay at this level for another 4yrs. I hope she can.
related post: gymnasts too young for the 2008 Olympics
Gymnastics Coaching.com 