The Olympic Games

A review of the best and the worst of the games.

The Worst

I've been trying to let it go. I've been telling myself it's all in my head. I've been sure it couldn't have been happening. I've been wrong.

The Beijing Olympics should be more accurately called The Biased Olympics.

I have two beefs with these games, and both revolve around China. (Hey, here's another reason to ban my blog from China)

First of all, there is an Olympic gymnastics rule that states that one must at least turn 16 years of age in the calendar year in which the games are held. Has anyone been looking at some of those Chinese gymnasts? Well, let's just say I'd never hand them the keys to my car! There are two Chinese gymnasts that I'd say are probably 16. One of them, I thought actually looked to be about 18. I saw she was listed as 20 and thought... hmm. well, maybe. Then I learned she'd competed at the Athens games, where she had to be at least 16... Right! I get it now. If she's 18 now, she was illegal then. (Since I first wrote this draft, documents have been uncovered that show all but one of the Chinese gymnasts were underage. An investigation has been initiated.)

Why does this matter? To be honest, it wouldn't if it weren't a rule. Are there 13 year olds that are the best gymnasts from your country? Send them! Is there a rule against it? Don't send them! I think it's amazing that the most talented gymnasts from China just all happen to have been born in the same year and it just happened to be a year where they'd all be 16 in an Olympic year! I feel bad for the 17 year olds who just happened to be born in the wrong year. So, point one: The Chinese are obviously cheating.

Point two: 51 Gold. 21 Silver. 28 Bronze. Never have I seen such a lop-sided medal total. The US had 36 Gold, 38 Silver, and 36 Bronze. Note the consistency. Among other top medal receiving countries: Russia 23, 21, 28; Great Britain 19, 13, 15; Australia 14, 15, 17; and Italy 8, 10, 10. Why such a lopsided Gold count for China? My best guess is that the Chinese government has all of the judge's and referee's passports and is holding them hostage in exchange for undeserved favorable judgements. The Chinese won 64% of the judged gold medals and medaled in 78% of the judged events.

I played it off as accidental the first time, and coincidental the second. I saw a pattern at the third and outrage the fourth. It only escalated from there. Allow me to list them: Women's Team All-Around. Several times there were gymnasts who clearly out performed the Chinese and yet the Chinese had better execution scores. I'm not even talking about the final score. I get the degree of difficulty thing and how it works. That was what peaked my interest. Then I saw that men's individual All-Around. It had been predetermined which Chinese male would win as long as he didn't break himself. Well, it was all gymnastics; maybe it was centralized there.

Then I watched women's springboard diving. In diving, identical dives are often done by different competitors. A Russian woman nailed her dive: Height, position in the air, vertical upon entry... Beautiful. The Chinese "Favorite" dove next and did the same dive: Great take off, less than perfect position in the air, twisted, over-rotated, big splash, better score. Excuse me? The Chinese won 7 of the 8 diving gold medals and the only reason they didn't win all eight was the final dive for the Chinese was terrible and the Aussie nailed it. It would have been far too blatant had they still given the gold to the Chinese. Then I saw that women's individual vault: The Chinese girl who landed on her knees won a bronze over other Olympians who landed their vaults. A Russian guy on rings does something no other Olympian has done and does it perfectly and sticks his landing and doesn't even medal so that two less perfect Chinese performances can be awarded with the hardware. And then the Individual Uneven Bars event. The "no-really-I'm-16" Chinese contestant nearly missed a release, couldn't keep her feet together and couldn't stick the landing. She tied (and subsequently won due to a "tie break") over the contestant who had one perceptible error. They had the exact same degree of difficulty. Only one gave a gold medal performance and she left the arena with silver draped around her neck. Travesty. Tie breaker? Should have been unnecessary. I look at the men's vault where one competitor landed the best vault of the games. Then failed to land his second and did not medal. Note: No Chinese involved. Let's not forget that the Olympic gold for Trampoline also went to a Chinese woman. Even though the Russian out performed her.

Oh, and gymnastics is the only elitist sport that doesn't award two medals to people who tie.

As they awarded the Chinese Olympian the gold medal for the uneven bars, as an act of protest, I muted my TV. I refused to listen to the national anthem of the country that was a) cheating (the "gold medalist" was one of the obviously not-sixteen-year-old competitors) and b) winning undeserved medals.

I was very disappointed. I want the following things to happen in the Olympics:

1)Either declare that golf is not a sport or included it.
2)2012 London: Debut of Olympic Ultimate Frisbee
3)Either fix the judging or have timed (Sprinting)/target (Archery)/distance (Discus)/team point (Volleyball) events only.

The Best

Now that I've complained, allow me to praise the sailing team from Croatia. It was the 14th and final race of the men's 49er sailing competition. Denmark lead second place Spain by 11 points.

The seas were choppy and the winds fierce as the competitors made their way to the starting line. On the way out, the unthinkable happened, Denmark's mast broke in half. Unable to race, they returned to the docks. Croatia was had already been eliminated from the competition. Seeing Denmark's misfortune they offered the Danes the Croatian boat. The Danish sailors Jason Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen gratefully accepted and raced out to the starting line.

The race had already begun. There is a rule in sailing that you have to cross the starting line at no more than four minutes after the start of the race to avoid disqualification.

At 3 minute 57 seconds the Croatian boat, carrying two Danish hopefuls flew past the starting buoys. They finished the final race dead last. However, two teams failed to finish putting the Danes in 7th place. It was enough for them to hold off the surging Spanish by 3 points and Denmark took Gold.

This is my nominee for "Greatest Sportsmanship Moment of the Olympic Games." (The Spanish have since lost two appeals. The result will stand.)

I love the Olympics!