Posted on 07/30/2012 8:36:30 AM PDT by tonyome
Did anyone else watch the Olympic women's gymnastics last night? One of the young girls on the U.S. team is black. She is a great gymnast, but during last night's competition, she fell off the balance beam, and took several steps out of bounds on the floor exercise, yet beat out a fellow teammate to advance to the All Around final, even though her teammate made far less mistakes in her routines on the balance beam and floor exercise. I know nothing about Olympics Gymnastics judging, but even one of the NBC commentators remarked that her floor exercise routine "was scored much higher than I thought it would be". In my opinion, I think the judges gave the girl a break because she was black. Some people might be offended by that comment, but it looked fairly obvious to me.
I am particularly excited to see a black girl so high up in the sport, because black girls are rarely seen in gymnastics competition, and her performance may open up a whole new vision to children across the country, who may have previously assumed it is not a sport for them.
She earned it. I saw no affirmative action at all. She flies like a bird on the uneven parallels and could well get best all around gymnast at the Olympics - on merit.
In addition, she has a delightful personality and is a great representative of the U.S.
“You demonstrate one of the real evils of affirmative actions. . “
So true, I had a friend (white) who is an RN, and she told me once that it is black patients who often reject or complain about having black nurses.
That struck me as so odd, I asked her, why, you’d think if anything they’d be happy to have black nurses etc.
She said, no, many of them think the black nurses and medical professionals are not as well qualified, but got and retained their positions due to affirmative action.
I found that really sad, on so many levels. The nurses were probably just as well qualified as anyone else, but are assumed not to be, and have to continually prove themselves even to their own race just because of our stupid affirmative action tendencies in this country.
Not the same, since only one team can win the superbowl. They don't give out prizes for 2nd and 3rd place.
Plus, in football and other team sports, you tend to play within your division, so your record isn't really comparable to every other team's records. A team that can go 11-5 in one division might have gone 8-8 if they had to play a harder schedule of another division.
So in team sports, they tend to use an elimination format -- you have to achieve against the smaller group you are in, in order to get out. If you can't be the top two of your division, it is less likely you could be considered the best team in the nation.
BTW, in the olympics, soccer is another sport where something similar happens. You play in a group of 4, and only two move on. The groups are built to spread out the "expected" winners, but theoretically, the top 3 teams might end up in one group, and then the 3rd-best team gets eliminated. But practically speaking, the top three teams aren't in a group. In gymnastics, there have been times when the top three gymnists were from one country.
And in fact, that seems to be the reason for the rule. Although aren't there other olympic events where teams are only allowed to qualify two athletes?
Oh well.
I kind of agree with you, but then again I always say golf isn’t a sport because you wear dress pants and walk. And boxing is most definitely a sport even though the three judges frequently disagree (though that is mainly because of human perception limits).
Who was it that said, "Golf is a good walk ruined!"
The score received is based on what you did at the moment not a week ago. It was very obvious that gabby lost her balance and took several steps out of control, the other girl simply slipped over the line and they were penalized the same. A very obvious case of PC.The balance beam was about the same. The Olympic rule to allow only two gymnasts from each country to compete in the all-around is PC to, and does let the best one all compete.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most people, not just blacks, felt that way, but only blacks feel safe in acting on that. A white person could never get away with rejecting help from a black nurse, after all. That would be racist.
I just watched an interesting older movie, called “Crash”. It was supposed to be about racism, and I don’t know if I was supposed to feel bad as a white person, but in many ways it expressed the real conundrum of trying not to be “racist”, while two black guys commit acts of violence against white people all the while complaining that the white people are looking at them like they are criminals.
My favorite was the white woman played by Sandra Bullock, complaining to her husband that she “knew” the two black kids were up to no good, but she “knew” that she wasn’t supposed to notice them, and her fear of being a “racist” is why they ended up getting their car stolen.
But nonetheless, under the current format, all three would be allowed to compete as a division winner and the two conference wild cards.
And in fact, that seems to be the reason for the rule. Although aren't there other olympic events where teams are only allowed to qualify two athletes?
It varies wildly by sport. In track and field, for example, you can most certainly sweep the medals in an individual event, at least in track events. But in other sports, you're limited to one or two entrants in the competition.
My take: if you've allowed people into the competition in the first place, you should not impose a lower maximum cap per team once the competition is underway. Let the results dictate who goes on and who watches from the sidelines.
Golf will be an Olympic sport in 2016.
So, is the course going to be a European course, that benefits Euros, or will the course be more for the American game?
The other silly thing about Golf in the Olympics, is that you can’t claim to be the best golfer in the world just because you won the Gold Medal in Golf. Same goes for Tennis.
First, Gabby did not fall off the beam. She was well ahead of the other gymnasts going into the final rotation.
It is a shame that FIG rules dictate that only two gymnasts from each country can compete in AA and in event finals. Jordyn is the world champion, but she came up short. Her scores on all events except Floor were lower than Gabby’s. Gabby made a bad error on Floor, but she had done so well on other events that it did not matter. Aly had the lowest scores on Vault and Bars, but she did better than Jordyn on Beam and on Floor. She does the hardest Flooor routine in the world. Jordyn did not perform as crisply as usual. She seemed off.
Gabby is not a part of the clique of her teammates. It is hard to watch. The other girls are all BFFs and say it every chance they get. but Gabby loves God and says so. You can see her praying and reciting Bible verses as she moves between rotations. And I do NOT hear Gabby love from coaches or commentators!
The girls’ team is interesting to me this year. The team captain, Aly, is Jewish. Gabby is a Southern black whose daddy is in the military. And Christian. Jordyn is Lebanese Catholic. Kyla Ross is half Asian, half white. And I don’t know about McKayla. And they were chosen for their skills, not race(s).
I confess that I used to watch Gabby years ago when we lived in Virginia. Our daughters went to the same gym though they were little. Gabby has always been a cut above in her drive and ability. I am so happy to see her do so well. It must have been terribly difficult to leave home to train in Iowa.
These girls are the best, and they need to come together and do their best in the team competition tomorrow.
Other example of potential “medal sweeping” — teams could qualify up to 5 riders for the cycling road races. Also, on Saturday, the Italian women swept the fencing event.
You obviously don’t know scoring. Gabby was penalized over a point for her mistake. Jordyn lost a tenth or two.
But in all seriousness, the girl just didn't do as well as Gabby Douglas and thus, because of the asinine rules, will not compete in the all around event.
I am limited in hearing and the closed caption was slow, so you are probably right. I did hear a commentator say that the other girl was penalized more then she should have been.They are all great and I am proud of them all, I hate NBC getting racial.
its exactly the same.....fact is you have to get into the playoffs for any chance of winning the Super Bowl- just like you have to get into the event final for a chance at the gold medal....
if you limit the number of teams each division can place in the playoffs regardless of record versus putting all the division winners into the playoffs then the next best three teams, you could well have an inferior team(s) in the playoffs...
in the NFL there are four teams in each division and a 16 game schedule...you play each team in your division twice- a total of six games...in Olympic soccer you ONLY play teams in your group/division...
to claim that in team sports your record isn’t really comparable to the record of others teams based on schedule further proves how asinine the Olympic rule is; each gymnast is required to participate on each apparatus for a chance at the individual gold- hence its like playing the same schedule yet they are not taking all the best athletes due to the 2 person per country rule.....
She didn’t earn the scores she got last night. Period!!!!
“Bad day”, really? Sorry Patriots, it looks like you had a bad day, here, take the Lombardi Trophy. Sorry Giants.
That doesn’t count. Jordan Weiber fell off the beam TWICE during her warmup.
btw- that girl you claimed was rewarded on the basis of Affirmative Action, Gabby Douglas- she just blew the competition away and won the gold in the woman’s all around...
Thanks for the spoiler, I guess I don’t have to watch tonight.
apologies...watch it anyway; exciting...
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