Recently in gymnastics Category

Chinese gymnast He Kexin, center, is seen with teammates at a news conference at the Samsung Pavilion at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in Beijing, Friday, Aug. 22, 2008. Coach Lu Shanzhen told The Associated Press they gave the FIG new documents on Thursday to try to remove any doubts about He Kexin's age, including an old passport, residency card and her current ID card. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

The International Olympics Committee requested that the International Federation of Gymnastics look into the ages of the Chinese gymnasts who are alleged to be too young to compete.

The IOC, however, refused to call this a full investigation, but said it is merely seeking "clarification."

I've been coming into work this week with bags under my eyes thanks to the fact that all the exciting Olympic action happens after 10 p.m.

Tuesday night's broadcast of the women's gymnastics balance beam finals wasn't even live, but I still sacrificed beauty sleep to watch it after the men's diving and women's track events.

Shawn Johnson finally got her gold medal. She stuck her routine and was awareded with the highest score on the apparatus seen during the 2008 Olympics -- a 16.225. Her smile could have lit up the arena by itself.

Her teammate Nastia Liukin also performed beautifully and earned a silver medal, her fifth of the Beijing games. Overall, it was a nice ending after all the the gymnastics drama that went down recently.

I guess I can just catch up on my sleep next week.

It feels like every time I watched gymnastics so far the announcers have been questioning the judging and scoring systems.

I understand that comes with the territory in subjective sports, but gymnastics went through the whole process of changing its scoring system to help avoid those problems.

Gymnastics judges better watch their backs.

Last night, the women's gymnastics event finals got ugly. After a nearly flawless uneven bar routine, American Nastia Liukin scored a 16.725. Chinese gymnast He Kexin also performed a great routine and scored a 16.725. Confusion ensued.

Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson took the gold and silver medal last night, but in the opposite order most of the analysts expected.

This is the second night in a row that the China/U.S. gymnastics rivalry sucked me in. But tonight, I am so disappointed, I walked away from the TV. With the Chinese competing on floor exercise they are pretty much guaranteed the gold unless they fall on their butts like American Alicia Sacramone or step out of bounds like Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. All I hear is cheering and it doesn't sound good.

Even Ivan, my cat, is disappointed after seeing the falls.

At least the swimmers are making us smile.

This story from the Associated Press caught my eye because I had wondered the same thing. I remember Nadia Comaneci, the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic event. Anyway, I thought the explanation was worth sharing.

Q. How are Olympic gymnasts scoring in the 15s? Isn't 10 a perfect score?
A. The International Gymnastics Federation changed the scoring system to differentiate the difficulty of gymnasts' routines, says Byron Knox, a former national team athlete and coach.

Some of my favorite Olympic viewing experiences are when they give background on the Olympians. We tend to view them as elite stars and forget that they are people, too.

A perfect 16ish?

Gymnastics are a must-watch for me during the summer Olympics, but the time difference is killing me. I was able to catch part of men's team finals Monday night, but had to hit the hay before the competition was over.

China performed flawless routine after flawless routine. They made the host country proud by winning gold. Japan captured silver and Team USA was the surprise bronze winner.