When did the minimum age stipulation start? I thought Tara Lapinski was 14 when she was in the Olympics years ago. Wasn't Sarah Hughes only 15 at the Salt Lake games? What's up with that?
By Christine Brennan USA Today Jan 10...snip
The last three Olympic gold medalists in women's skating were 16 (Oksana Baiul), 15 (Tara Lipinski) and 16 (Sarah Hughes). And Michelle Kwan gave one of her greatest performances to win her first world title at 15.
So what did the ISU do? It said skaters must be 15 by July 1 of the previous year to compete in the Olympics. The idea to keep kids down on the farm, in school, away from agents and not overdoing the triple jumps sounds good, except that's not what this rule does.
Along comes Japan's Mao Asada, who turned 15 too late--a measly 87 days too late-- to make the 2006 Olympics. But the ISU still allowed her to travel the world and compete in all the other major competitions this year (so much for school and normalcy).
In the process, Asada became a media darling, winning the Grand Prix final, the biggest event of the year prior to the Olympics, by landing six triples, including the difficult triple axel, in her long program.
But the Games will go on without her, which means the ISU has created a situation in which a figurative asterisk will most assuredly be placed by the name of whoever wins the women's gold.
And what of Asada? If you're thinking there's always the next Olympics, consider that the way skating works, she could very well be too old by 2010.
sw