Another reason to question this Olympics

[retire@40]

Is it just me ... or do the Chinese gymnast look about 9 yo.

Thought the age requirement was 16.

Even before this made it to the media, I happened to glance at the TV during one of the girl gymnast competitions and said to my wife, "Boy, those 10 year old Chinese girls are very good."

The goal for the Chinese is to win, no matter what.

If they ever become our (military) enemies, I would be very worried.

 

[FinanceDude]

Is it just me ... or do the Chinese gymnast look about 9 yo.

Thought the age requirement was 16.

I'd say the oldest one was 12 or so. It won't go anywhere, because the IOC isn't going to poke into the host country's athletes.

Trust me, we'll see the "older Chinese team" in London in 2012......

 

[ERD50]

I'd say the oldest one was 12 or so. It won't go anywhere, because the IOC isn't going to poke into the host country's athletes.

Trust me, we'll see the "older Chinese team" in London in 2012......

Yep. The IOC has said that the Chinese provided documentation (passports) and they are accepting them. There seems to be no interest in pursuing this.

Bela Karolyi has not minced words on this at all.

Bela Karolyi incensed about underage rules - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

But I like his solution, the rule is so unenforceable, eliminate it. Everyone is on an even field then.

-ERD50

 

[jIMOh]

Even before this made it to the media, I happened to glance at the TV during one of the girl gymnast competitions and said to my wife, "Boy, those 10 year old Chinese girls are very good."

The goal for the Chinese is to win, no matter what.

If they ever become our (military) enemies, I would be very worried.

for two reasons- there culture has that win at all costs attitude, and the other more important reason is "there are like a billion of them and less than a half a billion of us".

 

[jIMOh]

At least our media was let in with cell phones and similar- visit Korea (forgot which one) and the cell phones are confiscated at the border. Saw that on CNN- so it must be true.

They can't fake out Men's BBall team dominating- that is only part of games I watch.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

LOL! I'm not at all surprised by the reaction. I went to lunch on Monday fully expecting to get a load of "questions" even though 1) I'm not Chinese and 2) I had no personal involvement with the opening ceremony. So one guy at work comments, "Wow, that drum display was kind of intimidating. Maybe we should drop a couple of nuclear bombs on the Chinese right now." A woman piped up, "With all the money they spent on the opening ceremony, maybe they could have had better building codes in the the earthquake zone." The first guy who wanted to drop bombs sagely nodded and said, "Yeah, 70,000 dead just to put on an Olympics opening ceremony. Those poor folks could have benefited from better building codes." I don't know, but I don't think that even Florida building codes could stand up to nuclear bombs.

 

[Bernard]

Hah! Don't get me started with the Beijing Olympics...

 

[RunningBum]

OK, we won't.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

This is great- Bugs does the Ring Cycle. Kids must have been different back then.

where do you think i learned to appreciate the classics, finishing school?

the other more important reason is "there are like a billion of them and less than a half a billion of us".

a few nukes ought to, um, level that playing field.

 

[CitricAcid]

They can't fake out Men's BBall team dominating- that is only part of games I watch.

I am glad they could finally beat up on the Greek, but it is not good to feel that we shouldn't even care about who we play on our path to another gold medal (like it would be 8 years ago). Next stop, Spain with their insensitive advertisement.

 

[HFWR]

Hah! Don't get me started with the Beijing Olympics...

The Chinese won't know what hit 'em. We'll have a Starbucks on every corner, next to the McDonalds. They be driving Escalades, wearing Nikes, yapping on I-Phones, and buying annuities...

God bless the U-S-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

 

[Leonidas]

The Chinese won't know what hit 'em. We'll have a Starbucks on every corner, next to the McDonalds. They be driving Escalades, wearing Nikes, yapping on I-Phones, and buying annuities...

I think we've already won the first campaign in that war. Starbucks has 660 stores in China, McD's has 1,000 on the way to 15,000 or so, and Nike has more than 1,200. Victory is ours!O0

 

[clifp]

I think we've already won the first campaign in that war. Starbucks has 660 stores in China, McD's has 1,000 on the way to 15,000 or so, and Nike has more than 1,200. Victory is ours!O0

China is already way ahead of us in corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, in fact they have 4,000 year head start.

But what they really need is lawyers lots of them, Annuity and Insurance salesman, financial advisers, tax accountants, and labor union executives if we can succeed in exporting those professions victory will truly be ours.

 

[Midpack]

The Chinese won't know what hit 'em. We'll have a Starbucks on every corner, next to the McDonalds. They be driving Escalades, wearing Nikes, yapping on I-Phones, and buying annuities...

God bless the U-S-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

The Greeks were once the center of civilization, no more. The Romans were once the center of civilization, no more. Repeated throughout history, all that changes is the scope/reach of each "superpower." Britain was the superpower of the 19th century. The USA was the superpower of the 20th century. And China is poised to be the superpower of the 21st century. A steady stream of Obama's & McCain's will guarantee our decline. One world, one dream - China's version of the dream. Not saying I'm happy about it and it won't be clear for decades, but you'll see...

 

[HFWR]

The Greeks were once the center of civilization, no more. The Romans were once the center of civilization, no more. Repeated throughout history, all the changes is the scope/reach of each "superpower." Britain was the superpower of the 19th century. The USA was the superpower of the 20th century. And China is poised to be the superpower of the 21st century. A steady stream of Obama's & McCains will guarantee it. Not saying I'm happy about it, but you'll see...

Assuming a steady-state economy, this is probably correct. But changes are a coming, such as peak oil, [-]global[/-] [-]warming[/-] [-]cooling[/-] climate change, etc. Could be the Chinese and others are trying to emulate an outdated system...

 

[ladelfina]

but they might be quicker on the uptake.. first they emulated the Soviets, now the capitalist West.. they may end up switching gears before we get around to it ourselves.. you never know. They have the 'benefit' of having an autocratic system where those at the top can apparently "make it so" (for better or worse) without entertaining a lot of namby-pamby "negotiation". ;-) If they can take 1/2 the cars off the roads by diktat for the Olympics, they can do it for longer if they were to choose to.

 

[mickeyd]

They have the 'benefit' of having an autocratic system where those at the top can apparently "make it so"

Good point. Imagine if they had to get the EPA, or similar bureaucracy, to bless every construction project. They would still be in the planning stages!

 

[ladelfina]

er.. yeah.. and they might have (horrors) clean air and water!
The "one-child" policy seems evil and draconian to some.. but where would they be if they hadn't implemented that?

(that's why I said 'for better or worse')

 

[haha]

The Greeks were once the center of civilization, no more. The Romans were once the center of civilization, no more. Repeated throughout history, all that changes is the scope/reach of each "superpower." Britain was the superpower of the 19th century. The USA was the superpower of the 20th century. And China is poised to be the superpower of the 21st century. A steady stream of Obama's & McCain's will guarantee our decline. One world, one dream - China's version of the dream. Not saying I'm happy about it and it won't be clear for decades, but you'll see...

China may be a story that is over before it really gets going. They have enormous problems, not the least of which is that they will have to source fuels from Russia. And if Russia can re-integrate the 'Stans into its sphere of influence, that wil be an even greater problem for China.

Remember in the '80s? It was going be all Japan, forever?

If the US can get over its outdated moralizing and elect someone with some sense somewhere along the line, we might find a niche. Low value assembly work and manufacturing to keep the (burgeoning) low end employed, and banking, engineering design etc. along the lines of some European nations at the other end.

It could happen.

Ha

 

[CuppaJoe]

I've still got that "little hall monitor" bouncing around in my head. What a propaganda coup! He's hyped as a hero because after digging himself out of earthquake rubble, he helped dig a couple of others out. But to think about the sub-text, I'm been in earthquakes and tornadoes. Even with my less than perfect body, if I dug myself out, the adrenaline would be flowing, I certainly would help dig others out, even that neighbor I don't like, the one I've bartered with but who otherwise takes advantage of everyone. Frankly, I see nothing heroic in doing what the boy did; wouldn't any of us do the same? BTW, does he look nine years old? Maybe they really do count age as starting one year before birth.

The boy is a chosen class leader, a hall monitor. But think of what that means in a communist country! My mind leaps back to stories from Cambodia where people were killed because someone chose to wipe out people they didn't like back in second grade. I see the sub-text as taking pride in the idea that everyone is a hero not just the best of the best we see at the games. They've got a communist leader in every class, Stalin did that too.

 

[mickeyd]

He's hyped as a hero because after digging himself out of earthquake rubble, he helped dig a couple of others out.

I recall hearing about this tale (or a simular tale) during the weeks following the earthquakes in China. I understand that since that time the story has been embellished to the nth degree by the folks in power. Who knows what really happened, but tragedies can often produce heroic symbols.