Impressive performance by Bradley Wiggins... beating the field by 40 seconds in a 50 min race is really incredible.
***Official Olympics Discussion***
- Thread starter ISUCyclones2015
- Start date
I just saw this on ESPN:
2012 London Olympics -- Eight badminton players disqualified for trying to lose matches - ESPN
2012 London Olympics -- Eight badminton players disqualified for trying to lose matches - ESPN
I disagree. You don't usually lose flexibility when your "job" is gymnastics throughout the years. The girls who are 17 are just as flexible as an 11 year old if the 17 year old is an elite gymnast like all olympians are. If they weren't elite though, I would completely agree with you. I think SOME lose flexibility, but most don't lose enough flexibility to be completely noticeable. Also, there is way more to gymnastics than just flexibility. Some of the skills these people do take years to even learn, flexibility aside. Just doing an arabian on the floor could take you 1.5 years to get down really well. In men's gymnastics, it took me a solid year of practice to get an iron cross, and that's considered an easy skill in the grand scheme of things.
Ha they just had the report on tv! That is hilarious! They showed highlights of the two teams hitting their serves about 3 feet onto the ground.
I think everyone but the IOC pretty much agrees that it's complete ********. It's happened in the men's competition too with a few people. One of the best guys from Germany finished like 13th but he's out of the all around because two of his teammates did slightly better.
What do you mean you disagree? You see a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds performing in the Olympics? Let alone 25 year olds. For someone as close to gymnastics as you are, I'm baffled by your take on this. I don't know enough about the sport to tell you exactly why it is, but it's very obvious that 18 is just about the limit to compete at the Olympic level, at least for strong gymnastic countries like the US, China, Russia, etc.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
If you finish 13th, I don't think it's a real travesty to be excluded, because you're not a real threat to win anything.
If you finish 4th, you shouldn't be excluded.
My point is that a lot of these skills is more than just "holy **** i can bend backwards." Flexibility goes a long ways in women's gymnastics obviously, and it helps when you're more flexible for things, but if you're doing a skill like... Full In Full Out, the difference in flexibility between a 13 year old and a 16 year old isn't going to give much advantage to the 13 year old at all.
For olympic gymnasts, it's almost a full time job, honestly. They put in so many hours in the gym it's not even funny. You would be very surprised. For that level, I just don't think the difference in flexibility between a 13 year old and 16 year old is that great. The 16 year old should be able to maintain their flexibility throughout everything. If they couldn't, then they wouldn't even be deserving of the elite level 10 status.
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The difference between 4th and 13th sometimes isn't too great. The difference in QF on HB between 4th and 13th this year was 0.6 points, which IMO if you are normally good on that apparatus, is something correctable. It's all performance based, so maybe you would have done better than 13th on average. For individual apparatus they only take top 8 though anyway.
I've wondered about this but don't watch cycling enough to see anyone comment on it:
They just did a story on that German breaking his wrist in a fall and it was all due to a dude with a camera standing about 3 feet into the road as the bikers were trying to go 12 wide in the beginning. He made them all cut inwards and ended up causing a wreck. Does that happen often? I mean, holy **** would I be ******. Work so hard training for the Tour and its wrecked because some dip**** thinks he can take a picture in the middle of the road. That guy should get a beating.
They just did a story on that German breaking his wrist in a fall and it was all due to a dude with a camera standing about 3 feet into the road as the bikers were trying to go 12 wide in the beginning. He made them all cut inwards and ended up causing a wreck. Does that happen often? I mean, holy **** would I be ******. Work so hard training for the Tour and its wrecked because some dip**** thinks he can take a picture in the middle of the road. That guy should get a beating.
Physically, younger gymnasts, particularly those who have not yet gone through puberty, tend to be lighter, smaller, more pliable and flexible, which aids them in performing more complex skills and gives them a better strength-to-weight ratio. When a gymnast hits puberty, growth spurts and weight gain may affect her centre of gravity, causing mental and physical stress as she must adjust, and in some cases relearn, her moves to compensate.[9][32] Smaller athletes have generally excelled in the more challenging acrobatic elements required by the evolving Code of Points after the 1960s.[13] In addition, older gymnasts may be more prone to certain types of injuries caused by overuse of bones and muscles; younger gymnasts are less likely to have such problems, or more likely to be able to work through pain while injured.[9][13]
Wikipedia agrees with me. Puberty pretty dramatically changes a girl's body. Men too, but in general it seems to help men because they gain muscle.
ETA: and because of the low body fat on many of these gymnasts, I bet most of them don't hit puberty until 15ish. I actually suspect that Gabby Douglas hasn't yet made it. Kyla and McKayla are close. Compare the bodies of those three to Jordyn and Aly. They are much larger through the hips/thighs. Not fat, but just look more like young women instead of girls.
http://cdn.rickey.org/wp-content/up...ome-London-2012-Olympics-Qualifiers-Video.jpg
Wikipedia agrees with me. Puberty pretty dramatically changes a girl's body. Men too, but in general it seems to help men because they gain muscle.
ETA: and because of the low body fat on many of these gymnasts, I bet most of them don't hit puberty until 15ish. I actually suspect that Gabby Douglas hasn't yet made it. Kyla and McKayla are close. Compare the bodies of those three to Jordyn and Aly. They are much larger through the hips/thighs. Not fat, but just look more like young women instead of girls.
http://cdn.rickey.org/wp-content/up...ome-London-2012-Olympics-Qualifiers-Video.jpg
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Now I am no expert, but I tend to agree with you here. With men, the gymnastics seem to be more about strength than finesse.
I'm no expert either- but just from watching gymnastics for many years it's fairly obvious. Men have longer careers and a lot of their skills require strength and power/upper body strength which they are biologically more suited to than women. Not that men don't need the flexibility/pliability as well.......but not to the extent of the women.
I saw that and although it may not be in the best Olympic spirit, can you fault somebody for being strategic to win a medal?
I'm watching Team Handball; don't you all think that would be a fun sport to play?
I think ISU should add it to the intramural sports events; just as good as broomball.
I think ISU should add it to the intramural sports events; just as good as broomball.
Yeah we played this in PE in HS and it probably was one of the more fun games we played.
Time for the fail horn. That would be terrible to sit through that match.
Actually, it'd be terrible to sit in any badminton match, but that's besides the point.
