Word: gymnast
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Beijing: Montenegro, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, a South Pacific nation whose very existence is threatened by global warming. China's flagbearer Yao Ming, at 2.29 m (7 ft. 6 in.) the Games' tallest Olympian, loped along the same path as 1.43 m (4 ft. 8 in.) American gymnast Shawn Johnson. Four athletes from Iraq, which in July had been banned briefly from the Games because of a tiff with the International Olympic Committee, got one of the night's biggest cheers, after the hosts. Even China's historical rival Japan received polite applause. The Olympics may be composed...
...most vocal Western critics: George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. They knew this was China's moment. Back in the Middle Kingdom's heyday, dignitaries from elsewhere in the world would come to pay tribute to the Emperor, an acknowledgement of China's power. As legendary gymnast Li Ning, a six-time Olympic medalist and sporting-wear tycoon, soared through midair to light the Olympic cauldron, the world bore witness to the unmistakable fact that China was back - in a blaze of glory. - With reporting by Sean Gregory and Alice Park/Beijing
...Gymnastics is tough on the body, and the U.S. team is proving that in Beijing. On Thursday, two of the team's medal contenders in both the team and individual competitions had to step down from some of those podium dreams. Morgan Hamm is out. The U.S. men's team's only Olympic veteran and most experienced gymnast aggravated an ankle problem during training Thursday morning and had to withdraw from the Games. On the women's side, Chellsie Memmel, a former world champion who qualified for her first Games, also worsened a troublesome ankle and is scaling back...
Coming into the Games, the men's team had already lost reigning Olympic champion Paul Hamm, Morgan's twin, because of a broken hand and a rotator cuff injury. Without Paul Hamm the team lacks a strong, experienced all-around gymnast who can post high scores on all six events. Without Morgan Hamm, the men's team lacks anyone with Olympic experience. The Chinese men, competing on home turf, are favored. Alexander Artemev , an experienced world competitor, will take Morgan Hamm's place...
...Giselle she is like Anna Magnani when she goes mad. In Act II she is like a cloud.'' SYLVIE GUILLEM. Until she was eleven and fell in love with ''le spectacle,'' or the show-biz side of ballet, this lyrical athlete was a whiz-kid gymnast in the blue-collar Paris suburb of Le Blanc-Mesnil. In 1980 Balanchine picked her out of a line of 15-year-olds when he called on the Paris Opera Ballet School. Three years later, Rudolf Nureyev, who had taken over as the company's director, did the same, casting...