15 August 2008

The U.S. finally got gold and silver medals in gymnastics last night, and the finish of the Women's All-Around event actually had some tension to it. It seemed like the judges were being overly biased and giving extra points to the Chinese team (and really I think one of the Russians should have taken the bronze over the Chinese gymnast) that the other teams weren't getting. It was to the point that the commentators actually started discussing that maybe some gymnasts were getting a little help from the judges, as the judges were ignoring very obvious mistakes that the Chinese made while really nitpicking the other teams. I'm not talking about little errors in form and whatnot, but balance checks and stumbles that even an uneducated oaf like myself could see. But the Americans turned in a couple of very good rotations at the end and came out with the gold and silver medals. One of the best things about the women's competition was that there wasn't all of the trash-talking that the men (especially the American men) were doing. The competitors all shook hands and hugged after routines, and kept up a friendly banter throughout the event. It appeared that they had genuine excitement after a good routine and felt genuinely sorry when someone had a bad routine, no matter which country the other person represented. A little sportsmanship goes a long way.

1 comment:

  1. I felt the same about the judging and I think they were feeling the pressure after that totally biased scoring for the Chinese gymnast on the balance beam. I'm glad to see that talent and ability really showed through. Those girls, all of them, really worked hard for it.

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