Too Young to Compete?
It came as a surprise to me how much I enjoyed watching the Olympics over the last two weeks. I didn’t have much excitement going in, but there is something about watching the best athletes in the world compete against each other that captures my attention.
As a former athlete, I was always driven by the thought of competing against the best opponents. The idea of testing my skills and abilities against the best around pushed me to train and prepare. That is the beauty of the Olympics, it is the absolute best competing against each other with the whole world watching.
I’m not much on gymnastics, but I was able to catch some of the women’s competition from Beijing. It was apparent the Chinese and the American teams were the class of the female field. On the day of the competition, the Chinese women performed best and were the deserving recipients of the team All-Around gold.
A few days after the completion of the meet, rumors began spreading about the ages of some of the Chinese gymnasts, claiming some may be too young to be eligible to compete in the Olympics. This concept made absolutely no sense to me, because I always believed the Olympics are designed to determine who the best athletes in the World are. If a 14-year-old girl can put together a better floor routine than anyone else in the world, she deserves to be the gold medalist.
I will never be convinced that putting a 14-year-old athlete in an event open to the best athletes of any age in the world is giving someone an unfair advantage.
If I were a member of the American team, I wouldn’t want to be awarded the gold medal because my competitors were not old enough to participate, that’s ridiculous!! If you can’t beat a 14-year-old, you don’t deserve a gold medal.
Sure, there are some advantages a 14-year-old may have, such as flexibility and less wear and tear on their bodies, but gymnastics is a sport that requires a lot of power and explosive ability, which should give older gymnasts the edge.
In a sport that is so physically demanding, setting a 16-year-old age minimum makes no sense to me. It seems that gymnasts are generally washed up when they reach their early 20’s, which means most gymnasts will only have one opportunity to compete in the Olympics.
On the two nights every four years when I watch gymnastics, I want to see the best gymnasts in the world. If that means I have to watch 12-year-olds flying around on the uneven bars, then damn it that’s what I want to see.
Too young to compete in the Olympics, give me a break!
| 3.7 (1 person) |
August 26th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Hey there. I don’t think that age will give the Chinese gymnasts an edge since I agree that gymnastics demands physical strength that an older gymnast would have over a younger one. With that being said, I believe that the age rule is there to protect the gymnasts from deteriorating their young bodies. It’s tough on the bones and muscles and since the younger body is not fully developed, it shouldn’t go through those rigors. If the Chinese wants to put their gymnasts in harms way to win now, so be it. But I would rather play by the rules and have healthy gymnasts that go through those rigors and give me many years of strong competition.
Metallmans last blog post..The Perfect Web Host
August 28th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Rules are rules, but you did hit on one very important point - if that 14-year old beat all of the older people, then give her the gold medal, by all means.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
@ Metallman I was curious what the reasoning behind the age limit is, and you may be right, but I would venture to say that 112% of Olympic gymnasts have been doing it since they were wee little tykes, so wouldn’t making their an age maximum actually protect them from more deterioration (since it would force them to “quit”).
I’ll have to get in touch with a gymnast friend of mine to see what she says about the subject. Maybe she can explain if there is an advantage being younger.
@ Eddie I definitely agree with that point as well Eddie. If Michael Phelps were 14 years old setting all those records and winning all those gold medals, would you think it more impressive or be upset because he was underage? I’d definitely be even the more impressed with his feats.