Quote:
Originally Posted by SOPi_Jawbreaker
I'm more concerned about what they may have had to give up to be part of the gymnastics program. Are they attending school or did they have to give that up for gymnastics? Are they living with their families or did they have to move away to a gymnastics school? If they are under 16, they may be able to get a few more years of gymnastics in, but what will happen to them when they are too big/too old for gymnastics and they are replaced with younger/smaller girls?
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According to the commentary yesterday, it was said that girls are chosen from the "pre-school" age to become gymnasts. They don't live with their families, and the families are ok with it. They were talking about the "veteran" of the Chinese team....the one who's "20" and said that at one point of her training, she wanted to leave gymnastics and be with her parents. But b/c her parents knew what it meant to be on the Chinese team, that they told her "no."
Regarding the age, I seriously doubt the girls think they are living a lie. It seems to me that the gov't issued passports are only for the Olympics, especially since they didn't show birth certificates. I also don't think the girls care IF their ages were changed. This isn't the first time that China has done this. I remember in '96 when I watched the olympics (this one had Keri Struggs, Dominique Moceanu, etc) I saw the Chinese girls and noticed they looked about my age, and I was 11. That is why Bela made the comment about the age....he's been around for many years and he's been able to see it first-hand.
I really don't see the difference if they were 14 or 16. They blew the U.S. out of the water, and even if Alicia had landed on her feet instead of her ass, I don't think the U.S. would have beat the Chinese for the gold. If those girls had legitimately waited til they were 16, imagine how much BETTER they would be. The U.S. would have definitely lost by more than 2.3 points.
I know a lot will probably disagree with me, but I think the age limit should be lowered. I don't understand why gymnasts have to be 16, but there were divers who were 15, and there was a British athlete who was around 13-14.
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