So eliminating the fact that there's ridiculously strong evidence that China cheated by having a team of young'uns that are more flexible and..well that makes things easier!

Step One: Americans win silver in the team competition. Yes, Alicia Sacramone screwed things up. So that silver medal was a tad unsatifactory. But at least the fault was ours.

Step Two: Yes. Shawn and Nastia went one-two. INCREDIBLE. First time ever I think?

Step Three: Vault Finals. Um, knees mean eight tenths of a point deduction.. not being square..more deduction, uneven hands on vault MORE DEDUCTION. yet who won the bronze? Nope. Not Alicia, who had a hop. ONE HOP.

Step Four: Floor Finals: Shawn Johsnon takes lead. Keeps the lead. The very last gymnast swipes the gold.

Step Five: Uneven Bars Finals. Nastia's a sure fire win correct? So the little Chinese girl went and got a great score. Then Nastia went and SHOULD HAVE blown the judges away. And got the same score. So then there's this weird "tie breaker" thing right? I learned in elementary school that tie breaker means you redo, and then whoever wins that, wins. Apparently not. So Nastia walks away with silver. And got the same score as the gold medalist who looks like she's twelve.

Step Six: Beam. Chung Fei gets a 15.9 something. What?! And then again, Shawn has sights on the gold, with one gymnast to go. But she WINS! And the Americans go one-two again.

I'm so glad it ended on a good note. Otherwise I was close to running out to KCI and hopping on a plane to Beijing to give the IOC a piece of my mind. If you hadn't noticed, sports can get me going.

It seems that almost every tie breaker between China and some other Country, China is favored.  I really don't like to be a sore loser and damn it I'm not!  (all this while my bottom lip is jutting out) but Nastia's performance was WAY better than He's.  For starters, she stuck the landing.  I'm no coach Béla Károlyi but anyone can tell that the Chinese girl almost ate the floor and Nastia landed beautifully.  Her routine was very difficult (from what I understand) and it appeared more elegant than the Chinese girls.  After all, at the ripe age of 19, Nastia may be more "beaten up" than He, but if you caught Nastia when she was only 11; she might be a little more fresh.

And not that I'm going down that sore loser path again or anything... BUT China did win the ping pong and badmitten gold medals.  *Giggles*  Heheheh.. that's just wrong of me.  I'm getting out of here before I dig myself into a hole I can't get out of!  Have a nice Tuesday everyone.

Lindsey

p.s. is it just me or does Béla Károlyi seem like SOMEWHAT of a pedophile wonderful coach?  I'm just throwing that out there!  I really need to slow down on the Haterade today, I must be dehydrated...

It has been most puzzling to me to see how the judges scored the Uneven Bars competition. How can you randomly select a winner for gold and silver in an event of this magnitude. There people who wait four years or even longer just to compete for themselves and most of all their country. Why would you dare to have a computer select a winner? I guess it is because the computer will not be bias or racial or anything else but that does not mean because it does not stereotype that whatever choices it makes will automatically be correct. That to me is like having a baby decide which one of us grown adults get to live or die. He does not have a clue of what each individual did, so how can he determine their destiny? I think there is one of two thing that could have happened: 1) award them both a gold metal or 2) Let them go head to head for gold and silver. I know that they blame the Australian Judge but I am blaming the computer and the persons who brought up that bright idea to let a computer decide who gets glory and who gets the heartbreak of a lifetime, from watching their well deserved glory go to someone else.

The Olympic gymnastics individual event finals, currently underway in Beijing, have already sparked controversy on more than one occasion, although they only began yesterday.

Talk of judging errors and judges' incompetency developed on the crest of an already controversial wave sweeping through Beijing:  that of the alleged age of the Chinese women's team.

The media has made comments suggesting some of the Chinese women do not truly meet the rule that states a gymnast must be 16 years of age or turn 16 during the games in order to compete.  Bela Karolyi, who has coached his fair share of champions, insinuated the Chinese government provides inaccurate passports to their gymnasts so they can compete.

With the age argument already brewing, the judges came under attack during the first two nights of women's individual events finals.  Night 1 brought problems at the vault.  Alicia Sacramone, a 20-year-old American, delivered two solid vaults with lower difficulty values than China's Cheng Fei, who brought higher starting values to the table but who committed several errors, including landing on her knees, during her second vault.  Cheng Fei's scores placed her in third, earned her a bronze and knocked Sacramone off the podium. 

Karolyi, who comments on the performances for American news station NBC, called the outcome a "total ripoff" and said his heart goes out to Sacramone, who deserved to be on the podium.   American commentator and former gold medal gymnast Tim Daggett added that the judges should have penalized Cheng Fei for more errors than they chose to acknowledge.

Karolyi and Daggett would have more to say the next night when the women took the uneven bars.  He Kexin of China performed first and earned a rightly-deserved 16.725 for an impressive routine.  American Nastia Liukin, the 2008 Olympics all-around champion, also delivered a solid performance and also received a 16.725.  An automatic tie-breaker was enacted, and the computer system shortly declared He Kexin the gold medalist.  Liukin and father Valeri, former Soviet gold-medalist, sat silently on the sidelines as the remaining gymnasts performed, but sought to clarify the situation with Team Coordinator Marta Karolyi (and yes, wife of Bela).

Six judges score each gymnast.  The highest and lowest scores are dropped and the remaining four are averaged.  In the case of a tie, judges look to each gymnast's execution score.  Since both girls shared the same execution score, the judges then drop each lowest score and recalculate each average.  He Kexin was declared the winner based on 0.033 of a point.

Karolyi said both girls deserved the scores they received and both girls deserved gold medals.  He argued that other sports issue two golds in ties and that gymnastics should do the same.  He also said the tiebreaker method was unfair, as it reduces the balance in the judging system.  Karolyi explained that no judges from participating countries could sit on the panel and thus, judges with little experience or low competency levels from nations with weaker gymnastics programs decide who gets the gold.  He expressed concern about the tiebreaker method and argued that reducing the gymnasts' score to the average of three marks only heightens the chance for incompetency or inexperience to show through.

Daggett said Liukin should have won based purely on a superior routine.

I'd have to say I agree with Karolyi in both situations.  On vault, Sacramoneimpressed more with two well-done vaults than Cheng Fei with one good vault and one difficult vault full of errors.  I cannot understand how a gymnast who lands on all fours places above a gymnast who committed only minor errors.  I've felt as though the judges have been more biased toward the Chinese gymnasts throughout the whole competition, although I know there are no judges from China sitting on the panel when their girls compete. 

The uneven bars tiebreaker controversy was ridiculous.  Bothgirls excelled and delivered beautiful routines and bothgirls deserve gold medals.  There is no reason why gymnastics should not issue gold medals; I feel as though a factor that comes down to warped etiquette or an obsession with perfection prevents two girls from sharing a podium.  Karolyi has a valid point when he says the balance of the judging system is thrown off by the tiebreaker; gymnastics is a subjective sport and reducing the number of scores reduces the range of this subjectivity.

Amid the faults on vault and controversial ties, I did truly enjoy some moments in the last two nights of individual events.  First was Oksana Chusovitina, a 33-year-old who moved from Uzbekistan to Germany to get better medical treatment for her young son, winning silver on vault.  Her son Alisher, who suffers from leukemia, seems to be the driving force behind her campaign for Germany, and I enjoyed seeing someone with such a cause stand on the podium. 

Second was 18-year-old Romanian Sandra Izbaşa winning floor.  Performing last, she delivered a passionate, energetic and technically-excellent routine.  She hadn't been a popular name in the competition until this point, but she edged in front of American Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin for gold.  Izbaşa actually appeared to have a similar style to Liukin:  graceful, with long lines that emphasized her slender physique, also similar to Liukin.

Individual events continue today, August 19th, in Beijing.  Women will compete for the balance beam title.  Liukincurrently has the highest score on beam with her all-around performance, but after tonight, it's very obvious that a statistic like that does not guarantee anything.

BEIJING (AP)—China’s He Kexin won a tiebreaker over all-around champion Nastia Liukin of the United States for the uneven bars gold medal Monday at the Beijing Olympics.

Both scored 16.725, but He got the nod because her execution marks were closer to a perfect 10 than Liukin’s.

Liukin would not criticize the scoring system that does not award dual gold medals.

“It’s nothing I can control, and honestly, I can say it has been very fair to me, and I got the biggest gold medal of them all,” said Liukin, winner of the women’s all-around gymnastics gold.

He, at the center of an age-eligibility controversy throughout the games, was fast and furious on the bars. Her twists and flips went by in the blink of an eye, and she won by about that short a margin.

Liukin, who sat stone-faced for much of the competition, now has four medals, two of them silver.

“I’ve tied my dad,” she said of Valeri Liukin, who also is her coach and competed for the Soviet Union. “I’m a little sad, but at the same time, it’s great to have four Olympic medals.”

Monday’s bronze went to China’s Yang Yilin, her third medal, including bronze in the all-around.

U.S. women have won six medals here; China’s women have five, including team gold.

courtesy Yahoo Sports!

What's your take on this????

Even though both scored 16.725, He Kexin won a tiebreaker over all-around champion Nastia Liukin of the United States for the uneven bars gold medal Monday at the Beijing Olympics.

As we reported on TicosLand.com, He has been at the center of an age-eligibility controversy throughout the games. We don’t know exactly how old she is, and perhaps we will never know unless she fesses up later on down the line. For now, her twists and flips went by in the blink of an eye, and she won by about that short a margin.

Nastia Liukin, who sat stone-faced for much of the competition, now has four medals, two of them silver, but she deserves better. She has been quite the Olympic champion with grace, beauty and charm. We congratulate her.

If He Kexin is 16, we offer sincere apologies beforehand.  However, both Kexin and Liukin deserve better.  Kexin deserves not to have all of this controversy swirling around her, and Liukin needs to know if someone ineligible won medals that would then be rightfully hers.

At TicosLand.com, we like to inform our readers in Costa Rica and around the world. We usually leave it up to our readers to comment on the things we report, but we cannot sit idly by and not make a comment on what we believe is a travesty. Even with her hair done up in Olympic style and with her make-up, she doesn’t look a day past 12. We invite you to look at her picture. In fact, we have posted a picture. Let’s stretch things. Let’s say she is actually 14 as had been officially reported. This could be almost believable. But we cannot be expected to swallow what they are feeding us. We cannot be expected to believe that she is 16. Shame on the IOC and the IGF for allowing controversy to cloud the Olympics and for preferring to remain silent on the matter in order not to offend the host country! We think the Chinese have already done enough of it themselves in prior World Games and Olympics. However, we always welcome our readers’ opinions on these matters.

As pointed out on the opening event, the vault, the Chinese women were definitely going to be a huge threat, along with the Russian, Skenia Semenova , and Romanian, Steliana Nistor.  As it were, after the first event the troubles began.  Nastia landed her vault perfectly and if looked at in slow motion, the execution was flawless, yet she scored in the low fifteens, because her start vaule was lower.  Still myself and the judges included were dumfounded by the amount of execution deductions they claimed existed.  It's perfectly fine to have higher standards and not want to give enormous scores easily, but when they are earned and deserved, they certainly should be deemed, rather than the FIG's political agenda.  Shawn Johnson, the reigning world all-around champion, and Yilin Yang the Chinese lead woman performed difficult vaults and recorded respectable scores.  After the first round Shawn Johnson was in second place and her companion and friend Nastia Liukin trailed in sixth on the way to uneven bars.  Romanian, Steliana Nistor, was in first place after an amazing Uneven Bars routine.

By the time the women had reached bars the tension was high.  Nastia turned out a very respectable score of 15.475 with the only visible mistake a small hop on the dismount.  Her routines start value was a 7.7, the highest in the competition along with Yilin Yangs Uneven Bar routine.  Almost an entire point of execution deductions were made.  The judges and the crowd were left wondering what happened to Nastia's score.  Shawn Johnson was clearly underscored as well.  Her start value was much lower, but she turned out a nearly perfect routine with the most difficult dismount being done on the apparatus with a stuck landing.  Russia's Ksenia Semenova received an enormous 16.475 to counter Nastia's 16.650.  However, China burst out with Yilin's routine, similar in structure and execution to Nastia with a 16.725.  Frankly, it was extremely high.  The Russian actually had the best bars performance overall.  In any case, disappointment and concern was in the air on the way to balance beam, with Nastia trailing in second and Shawn Johnson now in the 6th position.

The questionable scoring became evident again on beam.  There were some exquisite performances by the Russian girls, but Yilin's routine was full of awkward bobbles and no fluid movement.  She was obviously uncomfortable on the appartus.  She still managed to pull out the huge score of 15.750, which shocked the commentators and myself.  While Shawn Johnson's routine had a few errors in it and an even bigger score, it was executed 100% better still had little to do with the over-scoring of Yang.  Nastia made another seemingly perfect routine that did score big, but still left everyone wondering exactly what must be done to have a perfect routine.  Her lead was slight over Yang's, and Johnson and Semenova trailed slightly after that by the time Floor Exercise was reached.

Semenova had an elegant and passionate performance on floor with extremely fluid choreography and dance.  Her score was lower because of her start value once again, which seemed a shame beside such beautiful execution.  Yilin Yang followewed with a routine that's start value was much lower and execution almost clumsy.    She stuck her landings, no question, but her dance and actual form during tumbles were sloppy and awkward.  During the team competition she was not briliant here, but certainly better.  She scored a solid 15.000, which did seem fair and left the door wide open for Nastia, and the opportunity for Shawn, who is the reigning world champion on floor exercise to snub her.  Each did just that.  Both performed the best I have seen them all Olympics with beautiful and wonderfully executed routines.  Nastia was in #1, and Shawn in #2, while Yilin Yang managed to keep Semenova off of the podium with a #3 place finish.

After the Uneven Bars, I had felt nervous, but still exhausted as the competition was going past midnight on Eastern Time here.  But by the balance beam it had turned out to be one of the tightest and most exciting All-Arounds ever.  I was wide awake by the final Floor Routines.  Nastia was cleary the winner, with a near perfect night, though her scores didn't entirely reflect that.  Shawn, Semenova and Yang all performed well to and have much to be proud of too, but none could catch Nastia's quiet elegance and strength as she made herself Olympic Champion.  Her father, a former gold medal winning Russian gymnast and also her coach was full of proud tears watching Nastia on the podium and the American Anthem being played.  I joined both of them in pride and joy.  Some of the scores were questionable, but I think the results were fairly accurate.

The questions about scoring will continue throughout the mens inudivual apparatus finals tonight, along with the womens tomorrow.  Some people are complaining about a Chinese bias from last nights performance, but I don't know if that's the real issue.  The only thing clear is that there is enormous holes in the scoring system that creates inconsitancy in scores given, and isn't clear on when deductions are and aren't given.  If anything this gives off the impression that certain gymnasts are being favored while others not, and an investigation is both fair and worthy, especially when the Chinese government is already being fervently investigated for their competing women being underage.  Yuyuan Jiang undoubtably gives the appearance of a very young girl, but then so do many of the other women.  This is an issue of perception that will do no good arguing about if the FIG can't prove their accusations, which I think regardless they will never have.

Ignoring the indescrepencies of the scoring issues last evening, and the ones before, last night was exhilarating and exciting.  It's been the first time in many years gymnastic's has been so much fun for me.  Most of the women really raised their own bar and made it a very competitive night.  Even Yang with her Bronze was brilliant for the most part.  Small mistakes that both she and Johnson made is what separated them from Nastia, who left no room for error.  It was great to see another American women win the Olympic All-Around since Mary-Lou and Carly. 

The men get to perform their event finals tonight and the women tomorrow.  Have a safe weekend and see you then.  Michael Phelps also races his 100 Meter Butterfly at 10:10 Eastern Time, and Track and Field begins.

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure and if you scroll down the results of the Top 14 women:

Here are the official results thanks to  yahoo sports:

Stella Stella Stella

And I'm a die-hard sports fan. I watch obscure sports. I'm a massive soccer fan, the World Cup is the greatest sports event in existence. I watched every minute of the 2007-08 New York Giants season. I can tell you the starting lineup for the Yankees, I travelled all around Los Angeles to find a bar showing regular season New York Ranger games.

I've watched cricket, rugby, gaellic football, formula one racing, golf and tennis. And I can't muster even a fraction of interest in 98 percent of Olympic sports. Why do we care about the Olympics?

Do you really take pride as an American in knowing that our 16-year-olds can handle the uneven bars better than Finland's 16-year-olds? The javelin throw? We can throw a stick further than Romania's stick-throwers can throw one. The rings up in the air. The twirling the ribbon dance. Synchronized swimming. There is nothing dramatic about any of these sports, yet from the press coverage and historical interest, you would think that some element of this has an ounce of importance.

I get it with basketball. I get it with hockey. They let the pros play. It's the equivalent of the World Cup with these sports. But that's two sports. One in the summer, one in the winter.

Ask yourself, honestly, if you really care about the Olympics. They saturate us with so many tear-jerking stories about cancer survivors and difficult upbringings, and getting hit in the leg with a lead pipe by your rival's husband. But this doesn't make the sport itself interesting.

Midget Olympics, however. Midget-throwing Olympics. Now we're moving forward.

Nationals Scores

Olympic Team –

Shawn Johnson

Nastia Liukin

Ivana Hong

Chelsie Memmel

Samantha Peszek

Alicia Sacramone

Alternates –

Shayla Worley

Jana Bieger

Mattie Larson

Olympic Team Prelims Lineup -

In Team Prelims, 5 gymnasts compete, 4 scores count. You want your scores to build until your strongest gymnast. However, you want a strong first gymnast to perform a good clean routine and start the team off right.

Olympic Team Finals Lineup -

In Team Finals, 3 gymnasts compete and all the scores count.

• I love this lineup.
• The main reason I chose Ivana Hong over Jana Bieger is because Hong can compete on Vault whereas Jana is not good on this event.
• The team is very strong on Beam and Floor.
• What do you think?
• I wonder how close I will be when the
  final team is announced around July 20, 2008.
• The Olympic Games begin August 8, 2008 in Beijing, China.

How would the team perform?

Based on scores from recent nationals and trials, here's how our team could score:

Recent Scores from Other Countries -

European Championships Team Competition

1. Romania 181.525
2. Russia 179.475
3. France 177.175

2007 World Gymnastics Championships Women's Teams Final Total

1. United States 184.400
2. China 183.450
3. Romania 178.100
4. Italy 175.450
5. Brazil 175.125
6. France 173.600
7. Great Britain 169.175
8. Russia 164.525

She (or rather, her longtime coach Boris Pilkin) is credited with some very original moves, including what International Gymnast Magazine Editor Dwight Normile recently described as "that crazy, whirling Shaposhnikova she used for years."

In 1993, Khorkina debuted an early version of that skill. It's a Shaposhnikova to a mixed grip, with a 180 degree turn after she catches the bar. And it's fabulous.

I've never seen anyone do that before (or since.) Mixed grips on bars are great, and perhaps under-utilized.

Svetlana Khorkina, 1993 French International, Uneven Bars:

Your Potential Uneven Bars People are:

Nastia (2007 Worlds, Stuttgart)

Lots of yelling in the background. Enough said.

Shawn (2007 Worlds, Stuttgart)

(Is her dismount really that much harder than Amy Chow's double twisting double back?) Shawn is at best decent, but she's not UB event finals material. (Yet. Knowing her, she'll probably go for broke.)

Shayla (2007 Worlds, Stuttgart)

Shayla’s best UB score came in team finals: 15.575. She would have just barely made it into event finals had she done that in qualifications. She really needs to work on that shaky dismount of hers (she always seems to be taking big steps and/or falling).

Ideally, that's all we have. (Do we have anyone else eligible? I assume some juniors will be cropping up, in the style of McCool, but I don't know any juniors, except for Rebecca Bross, who's too young.)

Internationally, Bridget, Ivana, and Sam Peszek couldn't break 15, Jana's all but fallen off the radar, and Martha K. won't let Alicia train bars, even though she might have improved (only very little).
But anyway, for your consideration:

Bridget (2007 Test Event, Beijing)

Um, I really like the leotard? Other than that, it looked like she was kind of falling out of her handstands.

Ivana (2007 Worlds, Stuttgart)

It's kind of painful to watch this, not because it is bad (quite the contrary, I thought it looked very clean), but because Ivana looks really tired, and she gets a 14.800 for her pains.

I can't find a good video of Sam P. on bars (and as much as I love Sac, her bars routine hurts my eyes after I've seen the likes of Nastia) so...well, there you have it.

And as for the former world champion Chellsie Memmel...I can't find a video of Chellsie on uneven bars at the Test Event (or any time recent), but suffice to say that she is a huge question mark at this point. (That is, she didn't do well.) Now people are doubting that she’ll ever be the same on UB again. I don’t want to doubt Chellsie’s grit, but…

The balletic origins of the sport are on full display here; even the men's floor exercise has wonderful dance-like sequences.

What surprised me most  were the performances on uneven bars and how for the most part, the moves were done with a great deal of continuity, a rarity for the time period.

The ABC-produced video "Gymnastics' Greatest Stars," made in 1990, gives a lot of credit to American Doris Fuchs-Brause for being the first to have truly "swung bars," which she did during her highly controversial performance at the 1966 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany.

But with the exception of pausing to pose before the dismount sequence, the Chinese look close to doing much the same thing. Seems that like Fuchs-Brause, they were ahead of their time, even at the dawn of the modern gymnastics era.

Certainly not I. German Marie-Sophie Hindermann's fourth-place finish on uneven bars at the 2007 World Championships is one more piece of proof that you don't have to be short to have fluid swing, smooth transitions and graceful release skills on the event.

Marie-Sophie Hindermann, 2007 World Championships Event Finals, Uneven Bars:

Other tall gymnasts who were exceptional on bars include current World silver medalist Nastia Liukin, Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, France's Isabelle Severino, the Netherlands' Verona van der Leur and former U.S. National Team members Alyssa Beckerman and Ashley Miles.

Severino's hop-full, Def combination at the 1997 World Championships:

Khorkina's signature originality on display at the 2000 Olympics:

Liukin's intricacy at the 2005 World Championships:

Seven years after her retirement, China's Liu Xuan continues to amaze me with her creativity. Xuan, who was considered too old by her coaches to be competitive at the 2000 Olympics, stunned everybody by striking gold on balance beam with the routine of a lifetime during event finals. Not to mention the bronze she got in the all-around when Andreea Raducan was stripped of her title.

Liu's golden routine on balance beam from the 2000 Olympic Games:

Thanks to Aleksas Trotter's Youtube channel, I discovered that Liu was perhaps the first to perform a Jaeger with a half turn on uneven bars, which countrywoman Li Ya amazed everybody with at Cottbus in 2006 by performing it in combination with a second Jaeger.

Liu Xuan on uneven bars at the 1998 Sagit Cup:

Li Ya on uneven bars at Cottbus in 2006:

Liu also pioneered a one-arm giant, which she performed in combination with a second one-arm giant into a Geinger in 1995 and 1996.

Svetlana Khorkina is given tons of credit for her innovations on all events, particularly bars, and deservedly so. But the Chinese gymnasts of the 1996 generation, especially Liu, deserve the same.