"[Kamila Valieva, 15].... had stepped on the ice wearing the same face she’s worn all week in Beijing: Nearly expressionless.... Now that her free skate was over, she buried her face in her hands.... 'Why did you let it go?' [asked her coach Eteri Tutberidze]. 'Why did you stop fighting? Explain it to me, why? You let it go after that axel.' Valieva did not reply.... On NBC, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir called the scenes around the end of the competition 'heartbreaking' and 'devastating,' and made clear, over and over, that they believed it had been unfair — to Valieva, to the other skaters, to viewers around the world — for the 15-year-old to have competed.... 'It’s not fair,' Lipinski said as the sobs played out on the screen, for a 15-year-old to have dealt with all of this. Her colleague Johnny Weir posted a video to his Instagram story soon after the broadcast ended, calling the night the 'most bizarre and heartbreaking event I have seen in my entire life.'... And on Russian state television, the commentator Andrei Zhuranko thundered, 'Sports officials, you have broken the most talented figure skater in the world.'"
From "Tears and sobs, and not just from Kamila Valieva, follow her crushing Olympic end" (NYT).
I used to be part of the huge audience that watched what must always be the most-watched event of the Winter Olympics — women's figure skating. I can't watch anymore. There's something awful about it. We're watching abused children, aren't we? So tiny, so young, so insanely controlled. It used to seem beautiful. It was always emotional, but now the emotion is ugly. The fashion is still idiotically sparkly, pumping up the grotesquerie.
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It is grotesque child abuse. Dorothy Hamill was the last women's figure skater I enjoyed watching. She was 22 when she won the gold medal - she would have long been put out to pasture under today's regime.
I'm not much of an Olympics watcher, but when I watch, it's usually figure skating and gymnastics. Gymnastics is, unfortunately, child abuse, with ever younger kids pushed ever harder. It's sad to see figure skating becoming like it. With all the rules already in place, why not add one more and limit competition to adults?
Or just end the Olympics. It's a pale shadow of its former self and few would miss it.
NBCUniversal to lose millions. Good.
In this particular case you ARE watching abused children. Tutberidze is well known for creating champions through abuse, and whose careers are over before they turn 18. The loophole that Tutberidze uses in order to drug her students is that if they are under the age of 16, it is not the skater's fault. The penalty falls on whoever gave them the drugs because they are too young to understand, according to the governing bodies.
The Russians shouldn't even be there because of their state sponsored doping penalty, but somehow compete under the "Russian Olympic Committee" flag. This is a culture that would rather get caught cheating rather than lose by playing by the rules. It a cultural remnant of the Soviet state. The reason it continues is all about the money.
Now, the message is clear, unless all her medals and her team medals are revoked, cheating pays.
Went and watched her program. Amazing she finished as high as fourth. She spent half her time stumbling and falling.
Bitter clinging patriarchy.
The body language of two of the 3 American female skaters provided a dramatic contrast to the Russian competitors. Both 16 year old Alysa Liu and 25 year old Mariah Bell skated with luminous joyfulness, impressive athleticism and beautiful artistry. Although they did not end up in any of the top 3 spots, I was so proud of them as representatives of America, The Free.
The body language of two of the 3 American female skaters provided a dramatic contrast to the Russian competitors. Both 16 year old Alysa Liu and 25 year old Mariah Bell skated with luminous joyfulness, impressive athleticism and beautiful artistry. Although they did not end up in any of the top 3 spots, I was so proud of them as representatives of America, The Free.
You touched on something I have always felt. It is abusive to the kids - gymnastics, figure skating, some of the other sports. When you age out at 18, I don't think this is a good idea. The physical issues of stunted growth, delayed female cycles, injuries and surgeries, constant training, lack of formal education - it cannot be good.
While my daughter participates in sports, we are going for well rounded. She Swims a little, plays lacrosse, no year round traveling teams and strength coaches. Just fun and physical fitness. She also does plays, AHG, and is an altar server. We hike, bike and camp.
I don't think I would ever subject a teen to that kind of pressure, either mental of physical.
My first reaction was, are the Olympics still on? Never in my life have I had less interest or desire to even look at a result or score. I want no part of it, or the poisonous IOC today, or ever again. I'm done with it all. Which is a shame, as I once loved the Olympics. But it started to change years ago. And then we had the slaughter in Munich, multiple stories over the years of back-room money hand-offs for various individuals who desired to hold a post on the committee, not to mention countries and cities buying their way into a hosting position. And it ended for me when they allowed Beijing to host this, after China shipped the virus around the world, shutting down the entire world, shutting down Hong Kong, Tibet, and hosting concentration camps in one end of the country while hosting Olympic cocktail parties on the other end of the country. That any of us took part in this is a shame that will go down in history.
The entire thing- the Olympics- wreaks of cheating, drug use, and child abuse. Not just in women's figure skating, but in men's as well, and not just in figure skating, but in gymnastics and other sports.
It was once about amateur athletes, the best in their countries, going to compete in a universal games. Now, like so much of the rest of our world, it's all bought and paid for by corrupt governments, individuals, and corporations, and done on the backs of young people who start out with dreams and desires, who spend their youth denying themselves a normal life as they work their asses off to reach their dreams, only to be flogged by the media, their coaches, and others until they just collapse or disappear into the ether. It's like Hollywood on steroids.
I enjoyed watching the woman's solo sledding event. I can't imagine anyone abusing those gals.
If you cannot determine a winner by time or clear objective measurement it isn’t a sport but an entertainment.
Ive been close to families that had gymnysts, hockey players, and wrestlers.
The commitment required by the child and family are overwhelming and harmful to both. Those families never existed in the range normal.
Lipinski and Weir looked like characters out of The Hunger Games.
I watched a small amount of it. Agreed. It's not the same.
The Olympics is really out of sync with the times. Conservatives can no longer respect it because it looks like another example of a corrupt international organization that's in bed with evil state actors. Liberals can't respect it because it's premised on nationalism and patriotism.
I watches a bit of it, not paying attention to who is who. One of the skaters was so elegant and her music was good. Some of the skaters who just do "quads" - put on a uninspiring presentation in between the quads.
I prefer the artistry and the elegant choreography to the focus on landing spinning jumps.
blogger is kicking posts out. sorry for the double posts. it wasn't' me
Its the vulgarity of money the host nation coughs up for the must have list of infrastructure required by the IOC. Something only Califonria or Chigaco or east coast cities can love. The best winter games would be like Lake Placid, where they used the high school athletic field or Lillehammer with all its Scandinavian thrift.
...and the opening ceremony where the athletes wave obediently to the highest ranking corruptocrat from their country...at least the highest ranking corruptocrat that gives a damn.
Thankfully I'm so close to missing 100 percent of these games. Not even a minute of curling....
Not sure I've ever looked up a news video so hidden behind ads and stupid people talking in front of still photo images of the subject.
Monetizing tears and suffering, basically. Exploitation taking place on every level.
Lipinski and Weir looked like characters out of The Hunger Games.
At least figure skating is their lane. They also do horse racing...
There's not much entertainment value in watching some young girl's life being destroyed....If you want to watch a sport that is pursued by amateurs for the pure love of the sport, curling is the way to go.
Tank,
That makes sense from the audience's point of view. Like ski racing, you instinctively think - you fall, you fail, and esthetically that's how it should be. But that's not how skating is scored. The technical scoring incentivises pushing the physical limits of the sport over doing a program of pure grace well. Let's say you attempt a difficult jump worth say 9 points. You do it well, but fall. The fall is a 1 point deduction so you net 8 points. You're still better off than nailing a jump worth 7 points.
That's why the girl who took the silver was so angry. She skated an extremely demanding program with quad after quad after quad, but with the brute drive and monotony of an automatic drill press. I believe she said that she was told that if she skated this program she would be unbeatable. Her technical score was astronomical. But obviously not so astounding that an ambitious but more fluid and balanced program could still beat it,
As scandals go, it's more depressing than entertaining. The Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding affair will never be topped. Homeric. The stuff of legends.
Does anyone think she was told to lose? There would have been no medals for anyone if she had won.
My wife hasn't enjoyed a minute of the women's skating. To her, it's become a jump-fest and that's not what she previously liked about the competition. And Lipinski and Weir are a bit much; no longer really announcers or analysts as much as part of the overall spectacle.
My wife and I felt most for the girl who won. She's just won the gold medal. But every other person has gone off elsewhere to attend to the pouting silver medal winner's tantrum and the fallen diva.
So there she stood, abandoned and alone, minute after minute, clutching s stuffed toy. Not knowing what to do and having no guidance, at one point, she goes back to the bench, but after a brief sit, she gets up and stands in the same spot again, still alone. Eventually, a single person comes by and gives her a brief hug before being integrated back into the proceedings.
I gave up on watching the Olympics in 2012.
I have watched the Youtube videos of Valieva's free skates from late last year, though- she is truly the best I have ever seen. She is (was?) at a level no other female skater can approach. It was probably unwise for whoever made the decision to allow her to compete in the women's event after the positive drug test- it put too much pressure on her when a sit down for several months to a year would have been better for her.
Get rid of testing, and you won't have messes like this. Get rid of testing and make all competitors be 18 years of age. Cheating is rampant under this regime, and will remain so- this kind of hypocrisy is one of the reasons I no longer watch or much a give a fuck.
In horse racing, if a drug is found, the horse in disqualified. But, maybe not if it’s a Russian horse.
The Genicide Games is getting many into the habit of not watching the Olympics. It will be interesting to see if their interest will return and under what conditions.
Finally broke down and tuned in late the other night to the Genocide Games for the first time (I usually binge watch from beginning to end) to see the American women hockey team flop against the Canadians and got to see Shiffrin fall for the third time. I wanted to be empathetic for them but the WSJ this morning reminded me that these sports for the rich, "The total cost for a junior ski racing career can top $500,000..." I'm sure ice time, coaching, equipment costs quickly add up for the hockey players. So, it is obvious we are not seeing the best athletes but the one with the parents who will open up their wallets.
Critter,
Nothing will ever bring me back, and I suspect I am in the majority on this.
When I learned that Russia was going to be banned from Olympic participation after Sochi due to widespread, instutionalized doping, I thought that maybe the IOC was going to get serious about cheating by the Russians. Ha! Russia can’t compete, but Russians still can compete as members of the “Russian Olympic Committee.” It’s a transparent ruse that fools only those fools that want to be fooled.
As for Kamila Valieva, the story put out is that she must have accidentally ingested some of her grandfather’s angina medicine by sharing his water glass. Again, this fools only those fools that want to be fooled. But I note that one side effect of TMZ is dizziness. Could the banned substance have bitten little Kamila by making her mildly dizzy at just the wrong moment? Could there be poetic justice at last?
"There's something awful about it. We're watching abused children"
I get that. If they abolish the whole thing, fine by me.
But then you watch Valieva (only thing I've watched, NBC) and you see astonishing talent in action, unattainable for a fully grown woman. Might squashing her unique talent also be a form of abuse?
Leopold probably abused Wolfgang--but would it have been more abusive to prevent him from performing and writing at a young age?
I skipped it all and just watched “Blades of Glory”
SNL back in the day did a skit on the "ALL DRUGS OLYMPICS" in which drug use by athletes wasn't just allowed, it was encouraged and required. A weight lifter pulls his own arms off at the shoulders trying to deadlift an impossible mass of weights. Ha ha.
This minor child should have been banned from competition. She would have been banned, I believe, had she been other than one of the best in the world (while taking performance drugs, of course). I feel for her as a person, but I loathe her participation and despise the officials, who allowed this farce of her competing, even more.
lgv said...
The Russians shouldn't even be there because of their state sponsored doping penalty, but somehow compete under the "Russian Olympic Committee" flag. This is a culture that would rather get caught cheating rather than lose by playing by the rules. It a cultural remnant of the Soviet state.
No, that's just Russia. It's always been a country where power / winner was the only thing that mattered, and none of the elite have ever been held to the rules
For those of us who haven't followed any of the Slave Games, what happened?
Child abuse? She's 15! The Liberal/Left is about to let 16 year olds vote in SF/NYC. How old is 'old enough'?
If you want to have an age minimum of the Olympics, that's OK with me. 16? 18? But then you'd have a crazy situation where a women's world champion figure skater might not be able to compete. too young.
As for them being "tiny" - well good for them. Its nice to have a sport where being a hulking brute isn't a positive.
These women will look back for the rest of their lives and be proud they competed or won a medal at the Olympics. the russian girl who cried, but will be back in 2026. Only age 19 and stronger then ever.
There is something poetic in this development. I love that Russia's cheating meltdown has not only reflected horribly on itself, but also exposed the child abuse prevalent in that sport and destroyed the CCP Olympics.
And the constant Russian hate gets old. very, very old. As if Russia is somehow the USSR, or even in Olympic terms as bad as Cuba, China, or any other dictatorship.
Not to be supporting IOC, but there is a procedure to adjudicate these things,9 and the ROC won a preliminary injunction from a sports arbitral tribunal of 3 (including 1 from US). Now the battle moves to that team medal. The Russian silver medalist was apparently most upset that she was not used for 1 of the 2 team rounds, so she could have shared in the teem gold, which ROC took in a rout. Rules allow substitution for 2 of the 4 components, but not used by ROC for women's singles. I imagine they preferred to use substitutions elsewhere and would have picked the gold medalist instead anyway.
"So there she stood, abandoned and alone, minute after minute, clutching a stuffed toy."
That image really stuck out to me. It was heartbreaking. For an older teenager or young adult to have a stuffed animal might be cute. But this just felt like a child was all alone, clutching a stuffed animal for security, being gazed on by adults without any protection. And unable to enjoy what she had just accomplished.
I've only been watching in bits and pieces, but these games are a disaster. It's like how the Trump era was an unveiling of how corrupt and ugly all the government agencies really were. The facade was torn off. These Olympics are the same. There is nothing noble or even admirable about these games. I do feel bad for some of the athletes, who have worked hard and deserve some respect. And yet, I don't think they should be there in the first place. There was far more reason to boycott these Olympics than there was for the Summer Olympics in 1980, after the invasion of Afghanistan.
A little off the subject, but I just read that China is making inroads into Central American countries like El Salvador. The Chinese are showering countries around the world with money, extending their influence. Meanwhile, we're kissing their ring, kowtowing and genuflecting. Acting as if a global pandemic wasn't unleashed from their country. Acting as if we don't know they are literally committing genocide. It's all so unbelievable.
Which brings me back to those children on skates. They are innocent victims, and I feel sorry for them. They can't even enjoy their victories. Some of them might be scarred for life. These Olympics are a travesty.
You don't need the Olympics to showcase great athletes. The Olympics is nothing but a global money printing grift. Much like the UN, the WHO and other global operations run by international bureaucrats who love Geneva in the spring, Lake Como in the summer and a nice 2005 Romanee-Conti Grands Echezeaux with their lamb.
Meanwhile pairs short program complete. China in first, but ROC in second almost tied, and third, and fourth.
Temujin has expressed my sentiments perfectly. I haven't watched one minute of these Olympics. I think the IOC promotes child abuse. There really should be a limit to how young an athlete can be. I think 18 years old, at the time of competition, should be the age.
Andrew also makes some very good points. This Winter Olympics meeting is a travesty.
I grew up in and around Lake Placid, but I haven't watched the Games for years. I agree with the other commenters that figure skating has gotten as abusive as gymnastics, and it's hard to watch when you suspect how these girls are treated off the ice.
I really appreciate the love that some commenters have shown for the Lake Placid games on these posts. I skated in the 32 and 80 rinks for years (the worst skater the Skating Club has ever seen) and skied in HS at Whiteface. We worked as volunteers at bobsled and luge events, went to parties hosted at the top of the ski jumps, attended HS hockey games on those red plastic seats - the Olympic venues were just part of life in LP. I miss the small-town community feel of those games - the handmade banners we sewed in elementary school that hung all over town - all those human touches. My grandfather was a bobsledder after the War, and every family in the area has (had) a person like that with stories you loved to hear. The IOC seems to have taken all of that away; not just the amateur status of the athletes is gone, but the amateur status of the people and places are gone. They took community and athletics and replaced it with spectacle. It's just not worth the time to watch anymore.
As someone who watches Olympics I can report that they are a mixed bag, like all Olympics. The big story is free skier Gu, who added another gold yesterday to her other gold and silver. Still don't understand how she is allowed to freely call herself both Chinese and US citizen given China's prohibition against dual citizenship. Is it performance enhancing however?
"Still don't understand how she is allowed to freely call herself both Chinese and US citizen given China's prohibition against dual citizenship."
You don't understand why the Chinese control their own rules? Really?
On the whole, I prefer the Olympic events where the result is not left up to judges. Faster, stronger, higher. And in the case of curling, sweepier.
I understand why PRC controls own rules. But not why they think it worth making these exceptions to the rules they have (not only for Gu) for a few medals at these games. Not like it goes unnoticed.
... they believed it had been unfair — to Valieva, to the other skaters, to viewers around the world — for the 15-year-old to have competed.... 'It’s not fair,' Lipinski said as the sobs played out on the screen, for a 15-year-old to have dealt with all of this.
Would it have been deemed unfair if Valieva had won -- or is it unfair only because she lost?
I didn’t see this, but it sounds awful and I feel bad for her just reading about it.
I really like Yancey’s suggestion about no competitors under 18. Picture the 15-year-old figure skater situation in a team sport like basketball or hockey, having a 15 year old on a team with a bunch of 18-25 year olds. That would look very very odd, and we’d be right to be concerned about that child. It’s f*cking weird for all kinds of reasons.
Suddenly it’s okay in an individual sport like gymnastics or figure skating or tennis? That’s obviously ridiculous.
typingtalker said...
Would it have been deemed unfair if Valieva had won -- or is it unfair only because she lost?
My answer is that it was deemed unfair because she lost. If Valieva had won, she would be celebrated. That shows just how unfair and illusory the Olympics are. But we live in today's world where the illusion is treated as fact. Just look at the White House believing their illusions and hoping the citizenry does so as well.
Buckle up and read up on the tennis academies like the one Andre Agassi attended as a kid. These places are “Lord of the Flies” nightmares for nearly everyone, leaving home at 14 or whatever and being subjected to crazy pressure from all around them and from inside their own heads too.
Sure, it helps develop their talent, pushes some to greatness, and all that. But it leaves a lot of wreckage along the way, and nobody really wants to talk about that part.
Agassi’s autobiography “Open” is really, really good.
The whole thing has been sick and wrong for decades. That's why it's on television.
I've boycotted them, again. I don't even remember the last Olympics I watched. Not only because it's the CCP Games, but it's corrupt and political, and 14-year old figure skaters and gymnasts just don't interest me in the slightest.
Good news Anthony. They've raised the limit in those 2 sports to 15. Come watch pairs (where they are much older anyway). But beware curling. No age limit. (Each sport sets its own limit.)
And the constant Russian hate gets old. very, very old.
@rcocean, go read my comment from 9:23. When one country is forever pushing for a right to chemically enhance their athletes’ performances, using the most transparent bullshit for cover, it is perfectly right and proper to despise them,
Countries run by dictatorships, such as the old Soviet Union, East Germany, Nazi Germany, and Red China, have a win at all costs mentality when it comes to the Olympics as this provides “positive” propaganda value for their political systems to the rest of the world. They pick and choose the athletes that they feel have the best chance at winning an Olympic medal, especially a gold medal. That means intensive training most every day. And this has included in many cases, performance enhancing drugs, both legal and illegal (in Kamila Valieva‘s case, drug testing found 2 legal and 1 illegal PEDs). Many of these athletes, whether they earn a medal or not, are physically and mentally damaged by these training methods and the PEDs. Once their athletic career is over, these athletes are literally abandoned by the state as the state goes on to the next “phenom” and thus these athletes are screwed up for life.
Althouse, I have no idea what this is about. As you know, the NYT blocks non-subscribers, so there is no way for many of us to see the article. I appreciate their blocking me. But nothing in your post tells me anything. FYI FWIW.
I had heard about Valiyeva's falls earlier in the day so couldn't bring myself to watch the evening broadcast of her routine. I tuned in just as she got back to the kiss n cry, and watched as the final scores and the drama unfolded.
My heart broke for Shcherbakova, all alone, clutching her stuffed animal.
I am sad for Valiyeva, but am still not sure how I feel about her whole scandal other than "the Russians have got to be lying". I suspect my sadness is related to having my own 15 year old girl in the house.
But I am still trying to figure out what was the problem for the Japanese girl who came in third. A camera was on her - close up - as she completely lost it and was weeping as hard as (or harder) than any of the Russian girls.
All I could think is "girl, you're on the podium when you wouldn't have been if not for Valiyeva's mistakes. Why you cryin' like that?"
Quite the evening. Tragedy makes for good television.
rcocean said...
Child abuse? She's 15!
How long do you think she's been in "training"?
At what age do you think that "training" started, including the drugs?
rcocean said...
And the constant Russian hate gets old. very, very old. As if Russia is somehow the USSR, or even in Olympic terms as bad as Cuba, China, or any other dictatorship.
1: Russia is a dictatorship. Where have you been?
2: Russia is, and always has been, a sh!thole of a country. It has never, in all of its existence, had good government and / or anything like the rule of law
3: The USSR was a Russian empire under a different name. Putin was a KGB apparatchik who mourned the loss of the USSR, and has spent his entire time in charge of Russia fighting to re-create the USSR
There are lovely Russian people. The Country, OTOH, is, always has been, and probably always will be sh!t
Is there an age limit for teens in gymnastics? It seems like a similar kind of thing.
I'm not watching the Olympics. I did watch Nathan Chen's skates on YouTube, but that's about it.
Japanese skater crying from unexpected success and joy. Jubilant jumping on podium for panda ceremony. No doubt now hoping for upgrade of team medal to silver. She did her part, second in long program after Russian up for disqualification.
Biden now says that Russia will invade Ukraine...with skaters!
Not sure how much raising the age limit, in figure skating or any other sport, will help. Training very hard has to start very early, especially for girls anyway. Will it be less abusive to have to train hard, and think you are the best, and not have a chance to show it for years?
Russia is a dictatorship. Where have you been?
Russia has elections. And a State Duma. Russia is NOT a one party state.
WHere have you been?
Everything you say about the Russian Olympic team can apply to China and Cuba. To name just two countries. Oh and lookie here:
Alysa Liu - US Team - Age 16. Gosh, wonder how many years she's been in training?
Remmeber Sonja Henie? Olympic champion at 15 - in 1928. Cecilia College Silver medalist - age 15, in 1936.
Over the years - seven lady Skaters have won Olympic medals while being 15. 4 won medals at age 16. Six at age 17.
Absolutely no clue what this is about other than it involves the Genocide Games.
Anyone participating or anyone watching or anyone following is an abomination.
I have seen real time-evil in my life - drunk homeless people starting to attack their homeless partners (they relented when I approached), frightened people with illness saying the nastiness things they could as quickly as they could, before they forgot how to say nasty things ---- and worse, which I will not go into here.
For those who have not been following this story, which is a story that casts even greater shame on American broadcasters than I would have imagined possible, Lipinski and Weir bullied a 15 year old girl again and again on the USA Broadcast of the Olympics. That was real-time evil, too, the bullying they engaged in. When she skated perfectly, they gave her the evil silent treatment. When she skated badly, they said awful, unkind things because she is Russian and they are not. If they - Lipinski and Weir, who engaged in the bullying with obvious glee - were good people they would apologize right now. I somehow doubt they will.
"I understand why PRC controls own rules. But not why they think it worth making these exceptions to the rules they have (not only for Gu) for a few medals at these games. Not like it goes unnoticed.
Who cares what flag Gu competed under? I didn't feel slighted in the least by hearing about her competing for the Chinese team. No one should care- it is her life, not mine or yours.
All the more reason to ban flags and national teams at the Olympics. Have pre-olympic open qualifying. Fuck all this nationalism and worrying about who competed under whose flag.
If the IOC wants to save the Olympics, it needs to just hold them in the same location every 4 years, both Winter and Summer. For historic reasons, I think the Summer Games should be in Athens permanently, and I would put the Winter games in Norway every time, too.
Of course, this will never happen- not enough grifting possible that way.
I agree with everyone. Dislike the Olympics, and have for a long time. Gymnastics and skating etc abusive. Not sports anyway. Would ask where are the parents but I know and weep like a little skater. But. By pure accident I happened on the young lady's performance for championship last fall. First skating I've really looked at for a long time. I would not believe the human body would be capable of such grace (and no, it was not some dumb drug, having run into a few in my lifetime). I intentionally didn't look at this week's mess. She deserved better of everyone. Maybe herself too, but I hope if anyone were bored enough to research my 15 yr old self they would be forgiving.
Ian Nemo - also, 50, 60 and 70 something former NFL players are usually as far from adorable as you can get while still being human, but the CTEs they endured - many of them not from a love of sport, but simply because they did not want to go through life as a minimum wage slave, or as something close to that in a world where American football did not exist - the CTEs they endured were just as tragic, and just as much to be something we should not be proud of, as any of the evil treatment of the young that the Olympics has stood for for lo these many years ..... Weir and Lipinski are just the vicious Hunger Games face of people who have no compassion.
Yancey Ward: I agree with you. I rooted for her. Very appealing competitor. But I also know many immigrants from China, and it's kind of a big deal.
Every sport sets its own age limit and ages have adjusted over time. Nadia Comăneci revolutionized women's gymnastics event at 14. In Tokyo there were several medalists in skateboarding at 13. They seemed to handle the pressure fine. But then they were not trained by Russian skating coaches.
rcocean said...
Me: Russia is a dictatorship. Where have you been?
Russia has elections. And a State Duma. Russia is NOT a one party state.
WHere have you been?
Russia is a one man State: Putin
If you challenge his power, you either get arrested an thrown in jail, or else murdered
WTF have you been smoking?
Tell us Putin's biggest political defeat in Russia over the last 10 years. The election he lost. The law he wanted passed that was rejected. We're all ears / eyes. Let us know about Russia's vibrant political culture!
Olympic figure skating used to be the High Holy Days in our home, but no more. Now we are reduced to watching old Michelle Kwan videos.
rcocean said...
Everything you say about the Russian Olympic team can apply to China and Cuba. To name just two countries.
You write that like it's supposed to be a defense.
WTF?
Temujin said...
You don't need the Olympics to showcase great athletes. The Olympics is nothing but a global money printing grift.
________________________________________________________________________________________
I figured this out about 1968, and haven't watched a minute of it since. I also realized that the "USA" athletes aren't competing for me and country, they're there for themselves (as I would be), and to invest emotion into this nonsense is pretty foolish. YMMV.
Additionally, I don't consider anything a "sport" or a true athletic competition where the winner is determined by someone's opinion. YMMV.
Kai Akker said...
Althouse, I have no idea what this is about. As you know, the NYT blocks non-subscribers, so there is no way for many of us to see the article. I appreciate their blocking me. But nothing in your post tells me anything. FYI FWIW.
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Copy the URL; go to https://archive.md/; enter the URL in the lower field, labeled “I want to search the archive for saved snapshots”; push search; Click on one of the articles that comes up and read the story.
Kai Akker said...
Althouse, I have no idea what this is about. As you know, the NYT blocks non-subscribers, so there is no way for many of us to see the article. I appreciate their blocking me. But nothing in your post tells me anything. FYI FWIW.
_______________
Copy the URL; go to https://archive.md/; enter the URL in the lower field, labeled “I want to search the archive for saved snapshots”; push search; Click on one of the articles that comes up and read the story.
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