Word: karolyis
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...considering that Memmel, Peszek and the rest of the men's and women's teams are all first-time Olympians - and experience in the Games, especially against a home-town crowd, can go a long way. "We are very very satisfied," said U.S. Women's national team coordinator Martha Karolyi on the final day of competition. "It shows if you systematically work very consistently during the whole quadrennium, the results will come...
...Romanians rounding it out with a bronze. But even as the Chinese team's doll-like faces broke out into giant smiles, a question mark hung over the mats at the National Indoor Stadium. Last month, when China finally named its Olympic squad, legendary gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi complained that some of China's gymnasts were "obviously kids... and you're telling the world they are 16? What arrogance!" Were three of the six Chinese women on the stand actually too young to be competing...
...Karolyi, whose wife helps coach the American team, believes the only way to remove doubts completely is to get rid of the age minimum in gymnastics, originally designed to protect athletes. There's little question that if the age minimum were dropped, countries like the U.S. could field their younger - and often smaller and more fearless - gymnasts. Nastia Liukin, who scored a spectacular 16.9 for the U.S. on the uneven bars during the Aug. 13 team finals, was unable to compete four years ago in Athens because she was too young...
...been healthy, Memmel's presence may have kept the U.S. in the gold-medal hunt against the Chinese, as replacement Sacramone, not known as a beam specialist, fell off just as she mounted it, launching the U.S.'s troubles. "Possibly, yes," said Martha Karolyi, the national team coordinator on whether an injury-free Memmel might have been the third scorer on the beam, with Johnson and Liukin. "Everybody knows how rock-solid Chellsie is. And definitely on floor also, she had a chance to perform, because we all remember what kind of routine she did at [the] trials...
...they had uncovered profiles of at least two of the gymnasts that suggested they may actually be under the International Olympic Committee's 16-year-old age minimum. The IOC was satisfied with passports produced by the International Federation of Gymnastics for the girls, showing they are 16. But Karolyi remains doubtful - and critical. "I have no proof, so I cannot say they are underage," she said. "If that is true - which it possibly could be because one of the little girls has a missing tooth - then it is totally unfair because it doesn't give an even playing field...