Alledgely a 13-year Chinese gymnast by the name of He Kexin is competing in Olympics. Apparently, 16 years is the minimum age to "legally" qualify. For me 16 years is still too young,

Personally, I wish they delete all the subjective sports i.e. anything that requires judges to score like gymnastics, synchronize swimming, tae kwon do, etc. The Olympics have become too bloated for me. The competition should be based on who can the run the fastest, jump the highest, throw the farthest etc. Mano y Mano.

...and while there at it. Didn't I see Kobe Bryant in the NBA Championships. I rather see young college atheletes playing with passion than some overpriced prima donna.

Man I miss Jim McKay. NBC coverage sucks. Does anybody care about the Olympics anymore?

While I can't agree with you about eliminating subjective sports like gymnastics and diving, you are certainly right on about NBC.

If the only thing someone knew about the Olympics came from NBC's coverage, they would assume that the Olympics are about swimming, volleyball, and gymnastics because that is damned near the only thing NBC is covering - on three different channels mind you!

Now, I love gymnastics, so I've been glued to the TV pretty much every evening watching the gymnastics competition. And a good beach volleyball game is fun to watch too. While not normally much a swimming fan, I have been pretty well glued to the TV watching Phelps set superhuman records.

But one sport I love more than any other is equestrian. Steeple chase, dressage, jumping, all of it. I'll be damned if I can find any damned station covering so much as a moment of equestrian though. I guess NBC doesn't believe in much variety though. They would rather show preliminary swimming races than use that time to take a look at some of the other dozens of competitions going on at the same time. Shame on them.

They start training at very young ages.....and are primed by 13 or 14........I think she teaches now....won in Montreal in 1976, AP's female athlete of the year...hard to argue that's child abuse

a smooth olympics... the facilites look excellent - and in fact have partially been credited for the breaking of world swim and track records (which I agree they are showing little of).  However, the protestations, the CGI fireworks, the general air pollution, the Milli Vanilli singing... and now the questionable eligibility of a Chinese athelete....

I suspect that this Olympics - after all the hype has faded - will be remebered for only two things... Phelps... and the disgrace of the government of China for their inability to run a clean, above board and honest show.

Hundreds of prospective prodigies live in camps 24/7 beginning at age 3. Athletics take precidence over education. They see their families just a few days per year.

but these are some of "nicer" things that the ChiComms do.

At 13 she would be a 5/6 year veteran at the sweat shop and maybe even a supervisor, if she goes along with the party line.


Thank You
2008=27

-- Modified on 8/16/2008 2:56:54 PM

if we have a classic case of; women are from Venus and men are Mars delineation? I admit, I do not see the aesthetics of the grace, beauty and artistry of gymnastics, or the equestrian sports. I see a horse more as a tool, rather than something to be pampered. I sound callous don't I?

Now I do like to see a good rodeo, every once in while. That's fun, but to see a horse prancing around is not my idea of a sport. Yea, it's pretty, but how do you quantify beauty. I don't get that.

....by the way you write very well.


Respectfully,

Breaker

LOL Lets not even go there with the attraction between girls and horses *sweet smile*

Seriously though, it is an aesthetic thing, to watch the control and grace of a horse as it goes through its paces in a dessage routine. My favorite event to watch though, is steeplechase.

But as far as dressage goes, it is more than just the grace of the finished product. It is the fact that every individual gait, from the pirouette, to the collected canter, the piaffe, takes not just hours, but weeks and months to train a horse to do. A good dressage horse takes 3-4 years of intense training before they are ready for their first show. The horses you see competing at the Olympic level have been trained for years for this one moment, and even after all those years of training, it still five to six and pick em whether they will panic when entering the arena, or whether they will give their rider the performance of their life. Not to mention the fact that it is extremely physically demanding on the horse. After a 5 minute dressage course, the horse is ever bit as lathered as a racehorse after a mile sprint.

But its more than just a display of beauty. "Beauty" is quantified by the horse maintaining the proper pace, leg position, ease of transition from one gait to the next things like that. A good dressage routine is not only meausured by its beauty, but by the skill with which gaits are carried out.

But, I do love a good rodeo too though. But well, I have to admit, when I watch a rodeo, its not the horseflesh I'm ogling, its all those men in chaps. Nothing says SEXY like a well worn pair of chaps.

And thanks too for the compliment to my writing

the horse clears every obstacle on the course. Thank you for your illumination and I appreciate you attempting to teach me. Lol. Your swell. This morning I even attempted to watch the show jumping. I did like the views ol' Hong Kong, though.

Alas my dear I apologize, for I still prefer the ridin' and the ropin'. Would you like a ride in my surrey?

Graciously,

breaker



-- Modified on 8/18/2008 6:00:03 PM