OT: re: the Hint ...
About the butt hitting the floor (and the feet stepping out of bounds, etc) ... not to worry, Karolyi blamed that on the Chinese too. Actually claimed Chinese officials deliberately tried to sabatoge the competition by unfairly making Sacramone wait too long before her routine, causing her to lose her concentration. That was, before she (Karolyi) then trashed her own gymnast, saying Sacramone was mentally weak and lacked focus and concentration when she came to Karolyi's training camp to begin with, so this wasn't a surprise.
It's a shame that's the image we send to the rest of the world. All boistrous and happy when we win, but sour-grapes whiners and blame-its when we lose. Then again, I guess it's just a continuation of the Paul Hamm whineathon in Athens.
There the Chinese were under 10 times the pressure. Had they gagged and choked and managed to have all three of their team members step out of bounds on the floor routine like we did, no doubt the American coaches would be crowing about how the American win was the product of superior experience.
Here, try this one on Karolyi ... the Chinese won because they were the better team all along. They had proven that in competition prior to the Olympics, everyone regarded them as the best team going into the Olympics, and they were trumpeted even by American media as the overwhelming favorite. Not because they were underaged, but because they did more technically difficult routines across the board, did them better, and did them more consistently.
For the rest of us with a little class and grace, I say I'm sorry these egomanaical nutjobs run our international gymnastic outfit. Congratulations to the Chinese. They won. They deserved it. End of story.
p.s. Isn't there something more than a little ironic about a grown adult childishly mocking competitors (and teaching and egging on our athlete-representatives to do the same) and then complaining about the Chinese gymnasts as being ... immature?
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