Olympics last night

[soldoutochrist]

I normally don't watch the olympics, but I've always loved some gymnastics and Michael Phelps.
Always entertaining to watch Phelps completely beat all other countries.

But about the womens finals in gymnastics,
is it just me, or do some of those Chinese girls not look a day over 12? I guess we'll have to take the government's word for it, but I wasn't buying it.

The US team was crushed with their silver medal,
but I'm suspecting they'll make a comeback when individual competitions come around.

Anyone else tune in?

[Michael Phelps]

Originally Posted by soldoutochrist

I normally don't watch the olympics, but I've always loved some gymnastics and Michael Phelps.
Always entertaining to watch Phelps completely beat all other countries.

But about the womens finals in gymnastics,
is it just me, or do some of those Chinese girls not look a day over 12? I guess we'll have to take the government's word for it, but I wasn't buying it.

The US team was crushed with their silver medal,
but I'm suspecting they'll make a comeback when individual competitions come around.

Anyone else tune in?

Ironically, we were just talking about this at lunch today, and I agree, I'm not sure about their ages.

Wonder if the governments have to provide birth certificates, anything like that? I know they do for Little League, but not sure about Olympics.

And, even if they did, how difficult would it be to fake the certificates?

Maybe someone knows more about this?

[Baron1710]

Originally Posted by Michael Phelps

Ironically, we were just talking about this at lunch today, and I agree, I'm not sure about their ages.

Wonder if the governments have to provide birth certificates, anything like that? I know they do for Little League, but not sure about Olympics.

And, even if they did, how difficult would it be to fake the certificates?

Maybe someone knows more about this?

Does it even matter how old they are at the Olympics? Little League it does because you don't want a 15 year old competing with a 12 year old.

[dizzyde]

Originally Posted by Michael Phelps

Ironically, we were just talking about this at lunch today, and I agree, I'm not sure about their ages.

Wonder if the governments have to provide birth certificates, anything like that? I know they do for Little League, but not sure about Olympics.

And, even if they did, how difficult would it be to fake the certificates?

Maybe someone knows more about this?

I don't know if anyone else mentioned it but I am particularly proud of you! You have done amazingly well, breaking all kinds of records, especially considering that you have also found time to post on the forum during all of it! Amazing!!

[soldoutochrist]

Originally Posted by Michael Phelps

Ironically, we were just talking about this at lunch today, and I agree, I'm not sure about their ages.

Wonder if the governments have to provide birth certificates, anything like that? I know they do for Little League, but not sure about Olympics.

And, even if they did, how difficult would it be to fake the certificates?

Maybe someone knows more about this?

I actually did some research.
According to most websites, the government provided government documents, such as passports, to prove their ages. The girls are sticking to their guns, though.

Question: "He, are you aware that people think that you are younger than 16 and what do you say about that?"

Answer: "My real age is 16. I don't care what other people say. I want other people to know that 16 is my real age."

Question: "Deng, I would also like to know what Chinese zodiac animal you are?

Answer: "A monkey." The answer tallied with her birthdate of April 21, 1992.

Question: "He, can you tell us a memory from your 15th birthday please, how did you spend your 15th birthday, did you spend it at home, did you spend it with gymnasts? Can you tell us about that special day."

Answer: "I was with my team. It was an ordinary day, I didn't go home, usually we don't go home when it's our birthday, we just celebrate with our team mates."

[soldoutochrist]

Originally Posted by Baron1710

Does it even matter how old they are at the Olympics? Little League it does because you don't want a 15 year old competing with a 12 year old.

The reason that they raised the age to 16 was because they were afraid of 12 and 13 year old athletes being pushed beyond their limits to win while the age was 14.

[rgcraig]

They don't look a day over eight!

It's amazing.

[Baron1710]

Originally Posted by soldoutochrist

The reason that they raised the age to 16 was because they were afraid of 12 and 13 year old athletes being pushed beyond their limits to win while the age was 14.

Gotcha.

[Baron1710]

Originally Posted by dizzyde

I don't know if anyone else mentioned it but I am particularly proud of you! You have done amazingly well, breaking all kinds of records, especially considering that you have also found time to post on the forum during all of it! Amazing!!

And $1200 for that swimwear, talk about costly apparel.

[Michael Phelps]

Originally Posted by dizzyde

I don't know if anyone else mentioned it but I am particularly proud of you! You have done amazingly well, breaking all kinds of records, especially considering that you have also found time to post on the forum during all of it! Amazing!!

Well, the posting portion has been easy, I've just been posting from my Blackberry. Getting back to work every day has been a bit tougher, and I'm suffering from serious jet lag. That's probably why I was a bit slow yesterday in the 200m butterfly, you could see the disappointment on my face when I didn't break my own record by more.

But, that just made me dig deeper, and we shattered the record for the next event, so it all works out in the end.

Fortunately, I have a day off today, so I can rest.