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UPDATE

China respects the IOC will be returned within one week punishment Olympic gymnastics bronze

A Chinese site, sports.qq.com, seems to confirm:

… China news agency, Beijing, April 29 (Reporter Gao Kai) – The Chinese Olympic Committee and the Chinese Gymnastics Association, said the International Olympic Committee will respect the penalties handed over within a week the Sydney Olympics bronze medal women’s gymnastics team.

Google translation of the article

It quotes General Administration of Sport Gymnastics Management Center Director Luo Chaoyi, so should be official.

Thanks ZhongguoJiayou for the link.

==== original post:

This is a surprise.

I expected a complete denial. Or that some scapegoat would be blamed, capital punishment the solution.

An article several hours old by ANITA CHANG:

The Chinese Gymnastics Association said Thursday it is “pained” by the ruling to strip its women’s team of a bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics for using an underage athlete but respects the decision.

The International Gymnastics Federation found that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 during the 2000 Games. The International Olympic Committee then ordered China to return their medals, which will now be awarded to the United States. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible.

“We are pained over this incident. We will learn a lesson and further strengthen all kinds of administrative work on athletes and resolutely prevent a similar incident from happening again,” the Chinese association said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. “The attitude and stance of the Chinese Gymnastics Association is completely the same as that of the IOC.”

News that China was losing its bronze over age falsification was reported only briefly in the country’s entirely state-run media. Such an incident is considered hugely embarrassing to the communist government in the sports-crazy country that puts heavy emphasis on Olympic achievement.

The Chinese statement did not say who was responsible for the apparent age falsification or whether the gymnastics association was involved. …

AP – China respects IOC decision on underage gymnast

Update:

AP – China says no evidence gymnast was underage

AP – STORY REMOVED: The Associated Press has withdrawn its story …

What is the official reaction, then, of the Chinese government?

1 Gafuik (CAN) 86.250; 2 Offord (AUS) 85.850; 3 Yuguo (CHN) 85.550

via The All Around on Facebook

Congratulations Nathan and coach Tony Smith, from University of Calgary.

all-around results (PDF)

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

That’s an older photo. Here’s Nathan in action at Pac Rim, posted by Grace Chiu on Facebook.

AA: 1 Oroczo (USA) 86.450; 2 Maestas (USA) 84.300; 3 Shixiong (CHN) 84.250

via The All Around on Facebook

all-around results (PDF)

Song: “Don’t Rain on My Parade” – the Glee Version (yay)

Edited by my favourite new montage editor, spannytampson.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Selected by the excellent Quitter’s Try blog.

related – spanny tampson’s Big Fake Smile

Here’s the winning routine from Paris. Our World AA Champion.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

He’s great, obviously. But I much preferred the top routines under previous codes: Nemov, Hamm.

The current rules result in routines without connected releases. They are far too long. And, Rybalko skills should be banished.

(via Aunt Joyce)

Never loved Elvis? … neither did I.

But would we love Cirque doing Elvis?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

My summary:

• band = AWESOME
• vocalists = very, very good
• lighting = excellent, but nothing new

The highlight for me was the video editing. I cannot imagine the amount of time and genius it took to put that together. Who thought of using slow motion while Elvis straps on the guitar?

The 2,000-seat custom built theatre at the new Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas is stunning. Yet the show looks somehow too spare in that huge space.

It’s intended, I assume, to provide clean, traditional visuals, taking us back to a simpler era. That didn’t work for me.

There’s no such thing as a bad Cirque show, … but for me, and most acrobatic coaches, I feel, Elvis has too much dance, not enough acrobatics. For any gymnastics coach coming to Vegas first time, I’d recommend these shows over Elvis:

• LOVE
• Mystère
• O
• KÀ

Many Vegas shows have great song and dance, Jersey Boys, for example. But nobody can do acrobatics better than Cirque.

Like any new show, ELVIS is still evolving. No doubt it will be improving over the coming months. (The “Army Gymnastics” act in this show is perfect. Don’t change a thing.)

Viva ELVIS home page.

=== UPDATE:

Click PLAY or watch some additional video clips from ELVIS on YouTube. Look for “aerial parkour” on the giant guitar and a new wall tramp set piece.

Russia takes the Junior European title with more than 9 points ahead Romania and Italy.

Russia dominates the AA with the top 4 positions despite several mistakes.

via The All Around Gymnastics News on Facebook

1st Russia 173.75 2nd Romania 164.7 3rd Italy 161.45 4th France 161.35 5th Great Britain 156.325

Does this officially usher in the era of Russian WAG dominance? Déjà vu, all over again.

One of many superb photo posted on Facebook by British Gymnastics.

The members of the 2000 U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team are Amy Chow, Jamie Dantzscher, Dominique Dawes, Kristin Maloney, Elise Ray and Tasha Schwikert, along with Morgan White, who was named to the team but was injured prior to the Games. Alyssa Beckerman was the alternate. Bela Karolyi was the national team coordinator, with Kelli Hill as head coach and Steve Rybacki as assistant coach. …

When do they get their medals?

…
“I was shocked and surprised and totally thrilled for each and every one of these athletes,” said Kelli Hill, the head coach of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. women’s Olympic teams and personal coach of 2000 Olympic team members Dominique Dawes and Elise Ray. “It was earned and deserved 10 years ago.”

Hill, who coaches in Maryland, said she had talked to both Dawes and Hill since the news broke. “Elise is just absolutely ecstatic,” she said. “She was absolutely thrilled, just kept laughing.”

When asked if she ever expected China to be stripped of its Olympic medal, Hill said: “No. Never.” …

Gymnastics Examiner – China officially stripped of 2000 Olympic team bronze medal; USA to be awarded team bronze

Click through for reaction from Steve Penny and Tasha Schwikert.

Who will be the next underage athlete to be investigated?

This isn’t the end.

… China have been stripped of their women’s gymnastics team bronze medal from the Sydney 2000 Olympics after one of the athletes falsified her age, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday. …

China stripped of Sydney gymnastics bronze medal

A 14yr-old from a totalitarian country cannot forge her own passport. In Sydney it’s unlikely she even knew about any age rule.

If we throw anyone under the bus, it should be the coaches and officials from that team. And the officials of the Chinese General Administration of Sport.

Update: Amy Chow, Jamie Dantzscher, Dominique Dawes, Kristin Maloney, Elise Ray and Tasha Schwikert will be getting a Bronze Team Olympic medal from 2000. They move up from 4th place.

details – IOC Strips 2000 Games Bronze Medal From China

_____ original post:

I saw this news report linked from Gymnastics Examiner – The gymnastics week in review

… During its two-day meeting, the IOC board is expected to strip China of an Olympic bronze medal in gymnastics from the 2000 Sydney Games because one of its athletes was only 14 at the time.

In February, the International Gymnastics Federation nullified all of Dong Fangxiao‘s results from Sydney and recommended that the IOC take the medal from the Chinese. The United States finished fourth and would move up to the bronze.

Age falsification has been a problem in gymnastics since the 1980s, after the minimum age was raised from 14 to 15 in an effort to protect young athletes, whose bodies are still developing, from serious injuries. The minimum age was raised to its current 16 in 1997.

AP

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

I can hear the indignant shouts from Beijing already.

Dong Fangxiao is the only underage gymnast to have been penalized since the very first, Kim Gwang Suk.

I liken Dong Fangxiao to Ben Johnson, the Olympic sprinter disqualified for doping in 1988. There were many other sprinters doping at that race, but only Ben was sanctioned.

Olympic Champion He Kexin is still not underage, despite a fair bit of evidence.

The heat will be on in China with all this loss of face.

I wonder what underage teammate Yang Yun, found innocent, has to say about her friend being sanctioned.

And … has Dong Fangxiao returned to New Zealand? Or is she still in China?