Wednesday, April 28, 2010

China Stripped of Olympic Bronze

China's 2000 Olympic team was stripped of its bronze medal after team member Dong Fangxiao was discovered to have been underage. Members of team USA will now receive a bronze medal 10 years later. This decision furthers the disaster that was the 2000 Olympic women's gymnastics competition.

I am more or less against age limits in sports. While I understand the concern of keeping young athletes healthy, there are already junior gymnasts doing Amanars and gymnasts not even age eligible for London doing full-in beam dismounts. Setting an age limit for senior international competition does not stop young gymnasts from doing really difficult skills, making them still injury-prone, more or less defying the point of an age limit rule.

That being said, China did break a rule and is being punished for it. Why is this not being enforced across the board? In 2002, Alexandra Marinescu, a member of Romania's 1996 Olympic team, admitted to being underage. Nothing has been done to punish the Romanians. Is racism at work? If the FIG wants to keep a silly rule in place, the consequences should at least be enforced unilaterally.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Catching Up With Jessica Jerome

Jessica Jerome, a member of the Unites States' women's ski jumping national team, is a seven-time National Champion. She has notched 15 career podium finishes on the Continental Cup Circuit and finished 6th at the 2009 World Championships. Jerome was also one of 15 women from around the world to sue the Vancouver Olympic Committee in an attempt to add women's ski jumping to the Olympic program. I recently had a chance to talk with her about her ski jumping career and the future of her sport.

How did you first get into ski jumping?
I got into jumping when I was 7. The local club in Park City came to my school and handed out brochures. I started in a 1 day a week program.

When did you realize you could be an elite ski jumper?

Probably when I was 12. My mom sat me down and said you can do this and try to be good at it and take it seriously or just do it as a hobby. When I at the Junior Olympic age, my biggest goal was trying to qualify for Junior Olympics. I was training more frequently and competing in more domestic competitions. I competed overseas for the first time at 14.

What is competing on the Continental Cup circuit like?
I have been doing it for long time and want to see it improve. We have been coming to same hills for 10 years. They are too small and too outdated. It is the only international competition we have. It needs to be given a little bit of makeover, more up to date venues and bigger hills. Lots of the hills we jump in winter the guys don't compete on anymore, which is not good. There are three levels of competition for men and one circuit for women, meaning that it is one size fits all. It is hard for lots of girls to get better when jumping with the best in world. If there was another competition aimed at less advanced girls, they could improve and come onto higher level circuit once ready. Sometimes we get to jump hills that are great. However, lots of the hills don't even have clubs that jump at them. The hills are only prepared the one weekend the girls are there. If they don't use them ever, why are they used for us?

Is there a women's Nordic Combined scene in the USA or internationally?

No, though when we were growing up and joined a [Nordic] club, we, and everyone else, did Nordic Combined. We messed around and played games. When we got older, we dropped cross country because we liked jumping more. Maybe there is a Nordic Combined scene at a club level, but jumping has to be developed internationally before there can be international Nordic Combined.
It will for sure happen eventually because cross country for women is really far along and developed internationally. Jumping is there as well but not recognized. Nordic Combined will happen eventually; it will be something kids grow up doing. They won't take ski jumpers and teach them how to cross country ski.

How do you balance school with competing in Europe?
I am on the 10-year plan with school. I take spring semesters off and take classes in the summer and fall in the US. In other places, for example in Lillehammar, they have a school in the same town as the ski jump. When I go to Europe, I stay in Europe for 3 weeks while the Norwegians can go in and out of countries for the weekend. It is impossible to go to school full time in the winter [for American athletes].

What do you think is the future of women's ski jumping?

I think it will go in the direction of all winter sports. It will be in the Olympics at some point, participation will rise, there will be a World Cup circuit. It will happen in time.

Do you think the sport will be included in the 2014 Olympics? Why?

I have no idea honestly. I hope it is, it is more than ready to be [in the Olympics]. Only positive things will come [from having women's ski jumping in the Olympics]. I am not the person that makes those decisions. I don't know yet.

Do you think that the fact that boxing for women will finally be added to the Olympics in 2012 will help women's ski jumping be included or do you think it is a completely independent thing?
Both, they are completely separate because boxing is part of the Summer Olympics, but it could help though because the IOC wants to make men's participation levels more even. It is a step in right direction.

Do you think the IOC needs new leadership to give women's sports more equitable treatment?
There needs to be more women in the organization. It is lacking there. The leadership they have has been success on some issues but not others. New leaders would not necessarily be a bad thing but it won't happen anytime soon.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Update Time

Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was hospitalized earlier today in critical condition. Twenty minutes after checking into the hospital with heart trouble, he went into shock and is now on a respirator.

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and Armenia are scratching from the men's European Gymnastics Championships due to travel difficulties following the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Since these countries are not members of the European Union, securing visas to travel across Europe by car or train was too costly. Russia is making every effort to send its women's team to Birmingham as the competition begins later.

The South African government will be issuing free visas to any foreigners holding World Cup tickets. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Ryan Miller signed 139 pucks to commemorate the number of saves he made during the Olympics. President Obama will get one of them.

I am heading out of town again and will probably not be able to post again for a bit. Until then,

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

News and Notes

Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot won the Boston Marathon. Ryan Hall finished fourth in the fastest American time ever.

Michigan won the men's NCAA gymnastics title while Wolverines Chris Cameron won the All-Around and Ryan McCarthy won high bar. Oklahoma's Steve Legendre won floor and Alex Naddour won pommel horse, Stanford's Eddie Penev won vault and Ryan Lieberman won parallel bars, and Ohio State's Brandon Wynn won rings. Pommel horse standout Daniel Ribiero failed to qualify for event finals.

Wayne Odesnik accepted a voluntary provisional suspension after pleading guilty to importing human growth hormone to Australia.

Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh won their first beach volleyball tournament playing together. The past weekend's tournament marked May-Treanor's return to competition after tearing her Achilles and a calf muscle on Dancing with the Stars.

Undefeated Venezuelan boxer Edwin Valero committed suicide in jail after admitting to killing his wife.

Kevin McDowell and Kelly Whitley will represent the US in Triathlon at the Youth Olympics.

Contrary to popular belief, Shawn Johnson is not the only Olympic level athlete to attend normal school. Weighlifter Sara Cowles is a full time student at Northern Michigan University.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Gender and the Olympic Games

South African middle distance runner Caster Semenya has been making headlines recently for all of the wrong reasons. Instead of being praised for her 2009 break-out year, in which she won the world title in the 800 meter run, her gender has been called into question. The muscular teen has had to undergo intensive gender testing and has not been allowed to race since the World Championships. Regardless of the outcome of the testing, her career is in jeopardy.

Semenya is not the athlete to have her gender heavily scrutinized and tested. That honor most likely belongs to Spanish hurdler Maria Patiño. According to Anne Fausto-Sterling's bookSexing the Body, Patiño, member of Spain's 1988 Olympic team, failed a gender test just before the competition began. It was later discovered that she had androgen insensitivity, meaning that, although she had testes and a Y chromosome, her body could not process testosterone. Therefore, the estrogen produced by her testes (which were hidden behind her labia) at puberty, allowed her to develop external female features such as breasts. Initially banned from competition, she was reinstated after fighting the ruling for two and a half years.

There have been other cases of gender ambiguity in Olympic competition as well, though none as high profile. Stanislawa Walasiewicz, better known as Stella Walsh, competed as a sprinter for Poland in the 1930s. Walsh was killed in 1980 during a robbery at a Cleveland shopping mall. Her autopsy revealed signs of mosaicism, namely male and female chromosomes and male genitalia. Brazilian Judoka Edinanci Silva was born with male and female sex organs and surgery in the mid-1990s to allow her to compete as uncontroversially as possible, going on to enter three Olympic tournaments.1964 Olympic track and field medalist Ewa Klobukowska of Poland was banned from competition in 1967 after failing a gender test.

Formal gender testing first began at the Olympics in 1968 after Capitalist countries began speculating that Communist nations were disguising men as women to win more medals (in reality, it was later discovered that many of these competitors were women that had taken large amounts of steroids). Before this, women had to stand naked in front of a board of examiners to confirm that they did in fact have breasts and vaginas.

Why do women have to go through such extremes to prove gender? Is it because men are considered to be faster and stronger? Would anyone care if a male competitor was found to be biologically a woman? (I have never heard of this occurring but would be interested to learn more if any of you have).

Androgen insensitivity gives competitors no advantage. Lying about gender has also pretty much been a non-issue in Olympic competition; the only documented case occurred in 1936 when Hermann "Dora" Ratjen, a member of Hitler Youth, competed in the women's high jump. For the record, he finished fourth behind three "certifiably" female opponents.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Today's News

The volcanic eruption in Iceland is wrecking havoc on the Olympic sports world. Two dozen runners including Moroccan elite Abdellah Falil are stuck in Europe trying to figure out a way to get to the US for the Boston Marathon. The European Gymnastics Championships, scheduled to be held in Birmingham, have been postponed a day.

A broken ring is causing havoc at the NCAA men's gymnastics championships. Follow the action live here.

Misty May-Treanor will publish an autobiography in June. It details her childhood, growing up with two alcoholic parents, and her life as an elite beach volleyball player. She also talks passionately about wanting to be a mother but does not mention wanting to make a comeback for 2012.

Love this mount sequence:

Thursday, April 15, 2010

News and Notes

World Cup tickets are selling for as little as $20 and are not selling as quickly as predicted. Now if only I had the time and money to go to South Africa...

Amy Palmiero-Winters, an amputee ultra marathon runner, won the 2009 Sullivan Award. On New Year's Eve, she beat all able-bodied men and women competing the Race to the Future, a 130.04 mile event. Read about her impressive accomplishments here.

China will be sending Zhou Qiaohong, Zeng Siqi, Tan Sixin, Huang Qiushuang, He Ning, and Jiang Tong to Pacific Rims. The US's nominative team is Bridget Sloan, Rebecca Bross, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, Jordyn Wieber, and Sabrina Vega. That team is rather meaningless though because the selection camp has not been held. I hope that Aly Raisman is not sent to three major international competitions in a row.

Russia is sending to Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova, and Ksenia Semenova to Euros. Their junior team will include Viktoria Komova, Violetta Malikova, Anastasia Grishina, Anastasia Sidorova, and Maria Paseka. Their Pacific Rim team includes Anna Rodionova, Kristina Sidorova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ekaterina Kramarenko, Yuliya Belokobylskaya, and Ramilya Musina. Zamo will be a judge at PRC.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

An Overdue Update

I'm back and kind of caught up. Think long and hard before taking any lengthy train trips no matter how much money it may save. Here is a brief rundown of the past several days in Olympic sports.

Piotr Nurowski, the head of Poland's Olympic Committee, was among those killed in Saturday's tragic plane crash.

UCLA looked great at regionals while Georgia failed to advance to nationals for the first time in 26 years. Missouri advanced for the first time since women's gymnastics became an NCAA sport. Vanessa Zamarripa is interested in trying elite gymnastics.

Nordic Combined athletes Billy Demong, Johnny Spillane, Todd Lodwick, and Brett Camerota are visiting troops in the Middle East.

Yelena Isinbayeva, the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist in women's pole vaulting, has decided to take an indefinite break. She has, however, vowed to return for the 2012 Games.

Canada won the men's curling world title, defeating Norway and their famed pants in the championship match.

In an effort to find the best synchronized diving pairs for the 2012 Olympics, American divers can now compete with more than one partner. This led to David Boudia and Nick McCrory finishing first, Boudia and Thomas Finchum finishing second, and Finchum and McCrory finishing third at the USA Diving World Cup Synchronized Trials.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Andre Inducts Steffi into Hall of Fame

I am heading out of town again (it's a really busy month). In the mean time, enjoy Andre Agassi being adorable.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

News and Notes

The IOC has supported FIFA's decision to bar the Iranian women's team from the Youth Olympics because the IOC believes it is up to individual governing bodies to establish and enforce rules. Though I can see why they would be hesitant to set a precedent, I still find this to be a very disappointing decision. I plan on exploring the nuances of this issue a bit more when my life calms down a little (probably sometime next week).

Caster Semenya's lawyers told South African press that gender test results have shown that she can compete as a woman. A more contextualized look at this is also coming.

The official investigation into Nodar Kumaritashvili's death concluded that there was no one cause.

Send good thoughts to tennis great Martina Navratilova who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Routine of the Day:

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Gymnasts Update

Anna Li will be giving elite gymnastics another try following her graduation from UCLA this summer. This is great news because the US definitely needs bar workers. Kytra Hunter is apparently injured right now, as is Lauren Mitchell, so neither of them will be at Pacific Rim Championships.

The Australian team will be:
Georgia Wheeler
Emily Little
Larrissa Miller
Amelia McGrath
Georgia Rose-Brown
Emma Collister

The rumored Chinese team is:
Huang Qiushuang
Wu Liufang
Jiang Tong
Tan Sixin
Zhou Qiaohong
Zeng Siqi

The US's provisional team is:
Rebecca Bross
Bridgette Caquatto
Kayla Williams
Lexie Priessman
Jordyn Wieber
Sabrina Vega
However, this is pretty meaningless, as Marta will just choose whomever she wants a couple of days before the meet.

Caster Semenya has agreed not to run until the results of her gender test come back. Her first meet should be in Zaragoza June 24th. This is getting ridiculous. Let the girl run!

Finally, just because we all need humor in our lives:

Soccer Team Out of Youth Olympics

The Iran women's soccer team has been kicked out of the Youth Olympics because players wear hijabs, which is against FIFA rules. The handbook specifically state that “basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.” Frankly, this is bad politics for FIFA. While there would be potential safety issues with a loose-fitting hijab, a tighter one should cause no issue because it is basically like playing with longer hair. Unless Elizabeth Lambert is on the opposing team, that is not an issue. Thailand has been nominated to take Iran's place.

Butler lost to Duke for the men's basketball NCAA title. They had two shots at the end that almost went in but rimmed out. I love smaller schools, mid-majors, and good stories, so I definitely jumped on the Butler bandwagon. It would have been cool to see. Maybe posting Trent Dimas last night was wishful thinking for the Bulldogs?

In my favorite cult sport, curling, the American team currently sits at 2-3 in the men's world championships. Pete Fenson, the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, is the skip for this team as well. Fenson owns Dave's Pizza, the best pizza place in Bemidji, MN. If you're in the area, you should go. I recommend pineapple pizza and cheese sticks.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Uneven Bar Development and More

The change in uneven bars style really fascinates me. I am a huge fan of the really quick, belly-beating bar routines of the 1970s. These routines just seem more creative and varied than those seen today. I also never realized how rare double salto dismounts used to be and thought Kim Gwang Suk was completely copping out with her tucked double back in 1991. Below is a montage that highlights the evolution very well. I do wish that the montage maker had chosen different footage for the 2000s though. The one-armed pirouettes are spot-on, but I would love to see a Def, a Jaeger half Jaeger combination, and a toe-on release skill.



Here is the Groshkova floor routine I meant to post a couple of weeks ago. Gotta love the double full in!



Finally, this just makes me happy. Such a great showing of joy and coming out of no where to take Olympic gold.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Weekend Update

At the Columbus Grand Prix, Eric Shanteau won the 200 breast, Caesar Cielo won the 50 and 100 free, Peter Vanderkaay won the 400 free, Nick Thoman won the 100 and 200 back, Tyler Clary won the 400 IM, and Arthur Frayler won the 1,500 free. In women's races, Chloe Sutton won the 400 free, Elizabeth Pelton won the 100 and 200 back, Corrie Clark won the 200 breast, Vanessa Garcia won the 50 free, Justine Mueller won the 400 IM, and Jasmine Tosky won the 200 fly.

The America's Cup circuit for bobsled and skeleton ended today. Annie O'Shea won women's skeleton while Matt Anoine won the men's race. Patrice Servelle drove the two man bobsled to victory with Ethan Albrecht won the four man.

The US women's field hockey team lost to Korea in the finals of the qualifier for the World Cup. Will Spear and Kat Holmes will represent the US in fencing at the Youth Olympics.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Euros Teams and More

The Romanian senior team for Europeans is Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Diana Chelaru, Raluca Haidu, and Cerasela Patrascu. The junior team will be Diana Bulimar, Larisa Iordache, Anamaria Baicu, Maria Balea, and Madalina Neagu.

The Russian training squad consists of Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova, Ramila Musina, Tatiana Nabiyeva, and Aliya Mustafina. Five of these women will compete in the senior division. Personally, I prefer Semenova, Afanasyeva, Myzdrikova, Nabiyeva, and Mustafina.

The Germans will be sending Oksana Chusovitina, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Elisabeth Seitz, Lisa-Katharina Hill, and Dorothee Henzler. Katja Roll, Désirée Baumert, Janine Berger, Rosa-Lynn Schmitz, and Isabelle Marquardt will compete as their juniors.

Chloe Sutton won the 200 and 800 meter freestyle races at the Ohio State Grand Prix. Elizabeth Pelton won the 200 IM and Corrie Clark won the 100 breast. Minot, ND's Dagny Knutson notched two 2nd place finishes (gotta love Minot). Peter Vanderkaay won the men's 200 free while Mathias Gydesen won the 100 fly and Marcus Titus won the 100 breast.

Jim Tracy is stepping down as the head coach of the US women's ski team.

Short Update

Caster Semenya's lawyers have decided that she has been effectively unlawfully banned from competition and are taking legal action in hopes of competing in Johannesburg on April 6th. If legal action does not succeed, it will be close to a year between races for Semenya. That is just ridiculous. In other track and field news, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, and Tyson Gay will race each other in Brussels on August 26th.

USA Triathlon is launching a project to put together the history of the sport. For more information, click here.