The difference is, here it's lifestyle choice. In China, those girls don't have the option to quit if they want.
:lol: Either way, they'll be working 20hrs a day, 7 days a week. When those are your only 2 choices, gymnastics doesn't seem so bad.
ha ha. :lol:i know you didnt know she was talking about karolyi anyway, i wrote my point as clearly as i can. its all i can do. as far as the salt-n-pepa (push it real good---i know you dont get that) thing, youre right to an extent, but it looks worse than it is because i will rarely write a post that yes "yes, you're right. me too. i believe the same thing" even if it happens to be the case. (it often is btw.) i just dont see the value in that, and its no fun. so be it if i come across as a prick, i can handle it, at least online.
Is that to suggest that he's biased (most of NBC's "expert commentators" are former US Olympians or coaches), or is that a shot at US gymnastics (Karolyi trained Mary Lou Retton, Dominique Monceau, Kristi Phillips and Kim Zmeskal among his US gymnasts)? My statement about calling out the judges was in regards to the apparent bias for the Chinese girls, not about the age of the competitors.
Korolyi reminds of the Seinfeld episode with the Russian dude that lost it in the limo and threw Elaine's organizer out the window. Pretty entertaining stuff, to say the least.
Some of the girls are highly suspect as being under 16, in my eyes. Their developmental features strongly suggest that. The communist government can easily and will forge the passport to give themselves the advantage. Basically wasn't he implying that the international judges from countries with smaller programs may not be as qualified. I wasn't crazy about the judging as the marks/ deductions were up and down. A lot of them got put into these training camps at an early age of 4 to 5 by their parents..... I honestly think there is a little bit of bias on the part of Karolyi, although I do like him and respect him as an accomplished coach. He was quite OK with the outcome when the Rumanian gymnast took the gold from Johnson on the floor exercise. To my untrained eyes, I thought Johnson deserved the gold. I thought at the time deep down he must have been pleased to see his old country take a gold.
he may be biased. just sayin, take his opinions with a grain of salt, since he is a former US coach and his wife is the current US coach. the dude is probably right, but itd mean more coming from someone with fewer ties.