Word: sporting
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...much a fairy tale as the gymnastics competition has been for China, with the country snagging men's and women's team event golds and 14 of the 42 medals awarded in the sport in Beijing, the story may not have such a happy ending. Allegations that at least five of the six women's team members are younger than the International Olympic Committee (IOC) minimum age of 16 continue to fester, as documents with later birthdates for some of the girls have surfaced...
...outraged that their children's ages and abilities are under suspicion. However, the reasoning behind the IOC's age minimum was to protect the athletes. Gymnastics in particular has a new code of points that rewards the most difficult routines and, as a result, training sessions in the sport have have only become more grueling. Keeping the youngest competitors from the rigorous world of international competition is supposed to protect them from dangerous, potentially life-long injuries. In that respect, age doping is no different from other illegal performance enhancing tactic - not only is it unfair to the rest...
...finally made it to beach volleyball. Many of my male journalist friends had been studiously covering the sport in Beijing. One of these colleagues even caught a cold from his assiduous following of the rainy women's final between the red bikinis - a.k.a. China - and the white bikinis - a.k.a. the U.S. (The lighter-hued bikinis prevailed.) Friday was gloriously sunny, so I figured it would be a good time to check out the vibe at the men's gold-medal match between Brazil and the U.S. Sure enough, the radio reporter in front of me was broadcasting shirtless. (In case...
...sneak its way into uncomfortable places. But the dress code of the athletes helps define the overall ambience. At the table tennis, for instance, the athletes tend to wear shapeless shirts with shorts of a distressingly outdated fashion. Is it any surprise that table-tennis is not a sport at which the fans swing their hips to an internal salsa beat...
...decision that female beach volleyball players should don abbreviated swimwear, while the men can wear mid-thigh trunks and a loose tank top, comes from the sport's international governing body, the FIVB. In fact, the regulations specify the maximum amount of a female athlete's rear end that can be covered by her swimsuit. But male sand-spikers decked out like they're about to take on Kobe and LeBron in a little two-on-two? That's completely fine. Maybe I should have stayed away from beach volleyball altogether. I'm still stumped by the sartorial rules...