Gymnastics

[Deleted]

The whole over-16 rule is so stupid. I wish they would just get rid of it, since it clearly hasn't achieved what it was supposed to.

Just out of curiosity.....why was the rule instituted?

It seems like most gymnasts do their best work in gymnastics at or before 16. Didn't Nadia Comanecia score all those perfect 10s when she was 14? And the routines nowadays look like they're made for tinier bodies.

I've seen several 20 year olds in gymnastics but they never seemed to score that high in comparison to the younger ones.

With the new rule it seems like you'd have to be lucky that you turn exactly 16 around the time of the Games and if you don't you're pretty much screwed for the next set of games since you'll be around 19 and past your prime when you're finally able to compete. (Not that a 19 year old can't win any medals but the commentators used to act like 19 was ancient to even be competing in gymnastics. At least in something like figure skating you'll still be able to do the jumps when you're 19 and you'll have developed more artistry which makes being older in that sport actually seem like an advantage but it seems as if gymnastic routines are designed for extremely young girls with very tiny bodies.)

[Deleted]

Oh, sure, I agree with you that if they are cheating, they should be called on it. I guess I'm just frustrated with the discussion because everyone keeps saying that the FIG should do something, but no one says what that something might be. In the absence of any actual evidence, what do people expect the FIG to do?

The dustup started well before the Olympics even began, so it wasn't just the winning of a gold medal by the Chinese. It was the fact that they posed a threat to the US this time. There were rumors about an underage Chinese gymnast at some World Championship a couple of years ago (I can't remember which one, exactly, maybe 2003?) and Marta Karolyi didn't care then because the Chinese women weren't a threat. This time she was out on the floor during the competition calling the Chinese "little babies" and generally being an obnoxious snot in what I assume was an attempt to get the US team fired up (but which I suspect ended up being more of a distraction for the US girls than anything else).

I just can't take their complaints seriously after that kind of behavior. The American gymnasts seem to be handling the situation with grace and composure, but the media and the coaches keep saying (very loudly and rudely) that China needs to be called on their actions without saying how. Unless they have some evidence, they should just let it go.

ETA: ds1, it was partly because TPTB thought that viewers were being turned off by looking at wee little kids performing tricks (which is true, I did find it very uncomfortable) and raising the age requirement would make sure that there were less prepubescent-looking gymnasts.

The other factor was that they supposedly were disturbed at the young age at which kids started gym, so they wanted to raise the qualifying age in order to give kids more time to be kids, or some crap like that. It obviously didn't work, and it's just leading to a lot of unnecessary controversy. Plus, they do such a bad job of enforcing the rule. Why bother having a rule if you won't penalize the people who break it?

[koshergrit]

Watching Diego Hypolito's face after falling down during his last tumble pass was heartbreaking.

I really wish the cameras would get out of his (and others') faces when they're obviously trying so hard not to break down in public at the Olympics.

[lpatrice]

This is just horrible: Russian gymnast dies in car crash. He had recently placed third in the all around at the World Championships.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Anyone else watch the World Championships on tv last weekend?

The American women are looking awesome, with Simone Biles and Kyla Ross winning gold and silver in the all-around, respectively. And McKayla Maroney got her gold in vault!

But the men's routine that made my jaw drop was Epke Zonderland on the high bar. Holy crap.

[kostgard]

Simone Biles can’t be human.

I mean, she’s gotta be breaking some laws of physics.

Here it is in slo-mo.

Someone measured - she gets nearly 10 feet off the ground.

And this was after she already had an incredible dismount on beam.

[lordofthefries]

I know the gymnastics thread is dead, but qualifications at the World's was yesterday for women's gymnastics and both of the moves mentioned above are now officially named after Biles (they have to be successfully competed internationally in a FIG event)! This means that 3 of the most difficult moves in women's gymnastics are now named after Simone Biles. The Biles II on floor (the triple double) stands alone as having the highest difficulty value in both floor exercise and the entire sport of women's gymnastics. The Biles on beam (the double double dismount) is the highest difficulty value on the apparatus, despite its value getting low balled by the FIG for spurious reasons. The Biles vault is tied with the Produnova as having the highest difficulty score on the apparatus.

She also qualified first in the all-around and for every event final. I can't even deal with the greatness that is Simone Biles.

[tanyak]

I'll be here with you!!

I will say this, though. I love Simone. She is GREAT! But I've found NBC's coverage of her the past couple of years to be grating. It's become Michael Phelpian. Every when other gymnasts are performing, the camera seemed to be trained on her on the sidelines as she talked to her coaches, joked with her teammates, etc. I was actually dreading watching the Worlds. But I DVR'd the live broadcast of the women's team event on NBC Sports the other day, and I was super pleased with the coverage. They obviously talked and gushed about her, but it didn't go overboard. We saw lots of gymnastics from several girls from several countries. It truly felt like a world championship as opposed to a "Worlds starring Simone/U.S. Gymnastics plus a couple of girls from Russia and China."

I'm trying to stay unspoiled so I can watch the all-around tonight.

[lordofthefries]

Oct 10, 2019 11:57:13 GMT -4 tanyak said:

I'll be here with you!!

I will say this, though. I love Simone. She is GREAT! But I've found NBC's coverage of her the past couple of years to be grating. It's become Michael Phelpian. Every when other gymnasts are performing, the camera seemed to be trained on her on the sidelines as she talked to her coaches, joked with her teammates, etc. I was actually dreading watching the Worlds. But I DVR'd the live broadcast of the women's team event on NBC Sports the other day, and I was super pleased with the coverage. They obviously talked and gushed about her, but it didn't go overboard. We saw lots of gymnastics from several girls from several countries. It truly felt like a world championship as opposed to a "Worlds starring Simone/U.S. Gymnastics plus a couple of girls from Russia and China."

I'm trying to stay unspoiled so I can watch the all-around tonight.

I have some sympathy for the NBC coverage because I imagine it's hard to balance the needs of casual, once-every-four-years viewers and dedicated fans, and Simone is probably the only recognizable name to casual viewers. It also doesn't hurt that she's genuinely also the most noteworthy competitor out there currently, so it's not just that people are focused on her because of prior fame. But I agree with you, we don't need the third shot in the row of Simone chalking up versus seeing someone's actual routine. I've actually found the World's coverage to be pretty good and thought the AA was really well done. Spoilers ahead so stop reading if you still haven't watched.
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It helps that Tang Xijing's surprise second place finish and the meltdown of some presumed favorites and the ensuing fierce battle for silver and bronze were actually really compelling. In completely unsurprising news, Simone clinched her fifth All-Around title with a record margin, and I really enjoyed her Mic Drop finish.

[Deleted]

World Bronze for Ireland! He is the first ever to win in World Gymnastics and has qualified now for The Olympics,
Rhys McClenaghan makes Irish sporting history with bronze medal in World Gymnastics final
Woohoo! Congrats Rhys.