Olympics Moments
(2004 Summer Olympics)
by Bill Sanders - August 25, 2004

Khorkina says, ‘judges robbed me’ - Gymnastics - MSNBC.com Off Site New Window - Svetlana (the "ostrich" or "stork" in gymnastics...) says SHE should be the winner, and if the judges hadn't planned it in advance that America would win, she WOULD be... Heck... I THOUGHT she looked like a B-I-T-C-H... Apparently, she's out to prove that I was correct!

Celizic: Hamm should give up the gold - Gymnastics - MSNBC.com Off Site New Window - To a WHINER? Yes... the judges made a .1 mistake in the start value of the Korean's score, but 1) it wasn't noticed or complained about until after the medals were awarded, meaning he missed his chance; and 2) he performed a move that should have accounted for another .2 deduction, so he shouldn't have even gotten the bronze. Notice how the Koreans don't have a complaint about THAT mistake? OBVIOUSLY, it's another one of those "American Conspiracies"... GEEZE. And this writer is an American! Hamm himself didn't expect to win the gold, but once it's around his neck...

Nemov says judges cheated him on high-bar - Gymnastics - MSNBC.com Off Site New Window - The Russian gymnast, Nemov, did a fantastic 6-release high-bar routine, and the judges scored him in third place, before Hamm went out. The crowd went nuts, booing and jeering. The judges changed the scores, basically not changing anything but the points, and until Hamm was about 1/2-way through his routine, the crowd continued making a lot of noise. THEN, the judges scored Paul tied in first place (and, with the "tie breaker" crap, he ranked #1 - GOLD! - again)! The NBC announcers asked "What are they doing to him... This leaves him with the potential to have to explain another gold..." Explain a gold medal? What the judges say and what an athlete does are two different things. Are the judges trying to make the world hate the American Gymnasts? Why? Because we beat the world in the World Games? Because Paul was ranked as the #1 even BEFORE the Olympics? As it turned out, someone else won gold, and pushed Paul down to Silver... and the Russian completely out of contention. Hamm now has to talk about how he feels and why he doesn't believe he should give the medal to the Korean (which I didn't think he should do even before I found out about the extra deductions) forever. Vidmir (look him up) was just on NBC talking about how he has to defend our wins in a "boycotted" Olympics 20 YEARS AGO! GEEZE! When Judges are involved (no finish line, longest throw, fastest touch, whatever), there are BOUND to be mistakes. There were a LOT of things I saw that I thought were wrong. 9.6+s for people who "fell off the apparatus" or out of bounds, bobbles even I saw that didn't seem to be counted, and what appeared to be fantastic routines that were counted low. This also occurred in diving. No one complained there... What is it about Gymnastics.

[And if the Russians think that everything was decided in advance, and the Greeks are the host country, wouldn't more medals have gone to Greece? GEEZE. How 'bout some bread with that whine?]

Even so, too bad there don't appear to be any HONEST and IMPARTIAL judges in the world, anymore. DO I, personally, like certain people more than others? Certainly. Do I, personally, DISLIKE certain people more than others? Certainly. Would I be able to be objective in this type of judging? I would like to think so... And I think most of my friends would be able to, too. Can't anyone else? Does that mean I'm better than everyone else? No... Only the judges of these events! ;-) And I wish I didn't feel that way!

And, apparently, the athletes were told to "tone it down", not wearing USA apparel on the streets, and not to be "the obnoxious American", flag-waving, proud of your country, etc.  (U.S. booed on field, warmly welcomed off it - Olympic news - MSNBC.com Off Site New Window) BULL! All the other countries people can wave their flags, wrap them around themselves, be proud to belong to the country they belong to. Why can't we. Because we are the "super power". The only one left. The one everyone else asks for help. The one MANY of the top athletes from other countries go to for school, training, etc. Heck, there are a couple of teams (China, I believe, is one) who have hired American COACHES. Yao Ming is playing for China, not America, where he is a star. Sorry... He's top-of-mind... there are MANY more. THAT would be an interesting story... How many athletes at the Olympics are going to school in America? ... play for American Teams (professional or otherwise) most of the time? ... Train with American athletes? ... Compete for American universities/colleges? LIVE in America, but compete against her in World competitions? Why shouldn't those who actually compete FOR America be proud of it (and allowed to show it)?

[Then, there are the interminable "doping" scandals. What kind of idiot athletes or trainers use banned substances, knowing they are going to be tested, and that at some point, apparently even years later, they are going to be caught? In the old days, "cheaters" were fined and the money used to erect a statue of Zeus at the entrance to the Olympic Stadium, with the cheaters' names chiseled in stone under them. Most, if not all, of these names are visible still. I don't know if their medals were "stripped". While today's press and tomorrow's history will make sure we never forget the cheaters' names -- heck, if we are still talking about the "boycotted Olympics" somehow tainting the medals those athletes won... -- if they prove that they can win without cheating, why can't we let go of the allegations or actual "convictions"? Heck, we give criminals, sometimes very violent and vile criminals, second chances. Why not athletes? HOWEVER, "cheat me once, shame on you, cheat me twice... YOU'RE OUT" should be the mantra, here, shouldn't it? Unless it falls under the following...

The flip side is the Romanian(?) gymnast who was given a "Sudafed-like" medication -- by a team doctor -- that contained a "banned substance", and was  kicked out of the games. Remember how young many of these athletes are. They are trusting their trainers and other handlers to take care of them. If your doctor gives you a pill, do you question him? Then again, do you know all the "trace elements" that would show up in your urine with all the medications you take? Yes, there are athletes, of Olympic age and younger who take "banned substances" to improve their physique, their endurance, their... performance. But, if you are a 15- to 16-year-old competing on "the world's stage,", knowing that after every performance you will be asked to "pee in a cup" and that sample tested for -- at this point, around 200(?) -- banned substances, and that if you were caught, your name would forever be tainted in the athletic world, why would you take that chance? Yes, you may be more mature than most your age, but you are STILL a kid. You trust the "adults" who are "handling" you to take care of this type of thing so you can concentrate on your performance.

So how should doping really be handled?]

And have any of you noticed that most of the music played in the background of events like beach volleyball is American Rock and Roll? Bet they won't allow that in the floor exercises of gymnastics any time soon! [Especially "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen!]