“for both sexes, you get stronger and have better technique as you get older, but lose flexibility and enthusiasm, and that seems to be true in all sports.”
You are talking to someone who lived and breathed this for many years - and I’m telling you it is different in gymnastics.
I was once the 11 yr. old kid swinging bars and beating much older girls.
Then I became an older girl who hated bars and was getting my a$$ handed to me by the little tykes.
Everyone who has participated in the sport knows this.
“In today’s all around, you got to see superior technique and strength by the US women beat the flexibility and carefree attitude of the Chinese.”
What you saw tonight was a different format where 2 top gymnasts from each team HAD to perform on all four events.
The team competition format favored the Chinese because they put underage tiny girls up on bars.
That is the event that blew everyone away.
They put their older girl up on the other events, because often it does not pay to be little on vaulting and tumbling.
The little ones do not dance as well either.
Our girls are better all-arounders.
“In Tues. team finals, what you saw was the US team act like choking dogs and there is no other way to put it.”
You saw one girl make 2 mistakes. The Chinese also made mistakes.
You also saw screwy scoring - and there was screwy scoring again tonight - but our girls hung tough, and something was up with the head judge (Nelli Kim)
Can’t wait to see if that story manages to leak out somehow.
Me too. Clearly something was going on, just couldn't figure out what. Would be nice to find out, but we probably will never be informed what was happening.
Ok so you want to tell me that most if not all world class women gymnasts are better at 11 than at 16 and are better at 16 than at 20.
I know you won’t say that because there are plenty of counter examples.
I will say that some are better younger and some are better when they get older.
And you know that is true.
And I don’t understand this age limit anyway. US swimmer Donna de Varonna was 13 when she made the US olympic team, 14 year old Michelle Kwan was going to skate until Tonya Harding got reinstated, and of course Nadia performed for Karoli at age 14.