Parker gymnast Nastia Liukin gets screwed takes silver in uneven bars

Collin Gouldin says:

that girl has now taken away 2 gold medals from the US (and nastia), and they're still going to do nothing about it because her "legal passport" says shes 16... i think we should move the war over to china, and get our gold back.

Scott Doyle says:

He and Liukin have the same eye-popping difficulty value of 7.7.

I'm very confused right now. How could they have the same difficulty and end up with the same score if one had more deductions than the other?

Tracy Yost says:

Sorry but Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow (and, even more sorry but people in Texas do not name their daughters "Nastia"). Nothing against her at all, I'm just sayin....

Collin Gouldin says:

that doesn't take away from the fact that china is cheating....

Scott Doyle says:

I say no to 13 year olds all the time, Bentley. If I didn't, I probably wouldn't be a free man.

Collin Gouldin says:

who are you trying to kid ScoDo? you know no girls are coming after you, especially 13yo.s<br> :-)

Tracy Yost says:

China may be cheating, but if the best gymnast we have to offer is really from Moscow, I'm bored already.

Jason Rice says:

Alex :: Could you say no to this face, Doyle?:

Not without statutory rape charges showing up somewhere.

So we expect their "bookkeeping" quality to be any better than their manufacturing? My whiteboard here is made of the same stuff they ship in dog food and we expect the discrepancy between a "3" and a "6" to bother their leadership's conscience.

Maybe the Olympics will burnish the Chinese image for some, but my takeaway from it so far is that China is the totalitarian dystopia that Welles warned us about.

Pavel Lishin says:

"China may be cheating, but if the best gymnast we have to offer is really from Moscow, I'm bored already. "

Not really sure what that has to do with anything.

/me puffs up and gets ready to defend fellow Russian immigrants.

Jason Rice says:

Actually, you'd be amazed at the Russian population in Plano. It's a popular state side destination and they really integrate well and immediately.

So if you ask me - Hell, Yeah! she's Texan!

Tracy Yost says:

Didn't mean to imply at all that I have anything against immigrants - was just trying to say that with china cheating, and many countries offering up athletes that aren't even from the country they represent, meh, the whole thing seems a little watered down anyway.

Collin Gouldin says:

she was able to choose what country she represented... if she wanted to tryout for the Russian team, I'm pretty sure Russia would let her...<br> There's one Texan who swims for some African country. (but they are going by the rules)

Rawlins Gilliland says:

NewsFlash: Nastia Liukin will star in the first of three segments in a proposed mini-series about Cindy McCain. Insiders tell Pegasus moles the working title of Liukin’s acting outing; A Post-Pubescent Pre-blonde: Bright Forehead On Her Shoulders.

Pavel Lishin says:

Tracy - I agree with you that hiring foreign nationals to participate on your country's Olympic team is pretty shady. But I believe that Nastya is a citizen, as are her parents. Now, maybe her dad moved here specifically to hop on the Olympic team, but you can't really allow that to reflect poorly on America.

Jason Rice says:

::Now, maybe her dad moved here specifically to hop on the Olympic team,

Again, I say Texan? Hell Yeah!! Chosing to lose ought to be a stigma. Not the other way 'round ;o)

Rawlins Gilliland says:

Natsia's parents moved here when was 2.

From Wikipedia:

The daughter of two former Soviet champion gymnasts, Olympic gold medalist Valeri Liukin and World Champion rhythmic gymnast Anna Kotchneva, Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a young child. She began gymnastics after spending time in the gym while her parents coached. Liukin is coached by her father at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, her family's gymnastics club in Plano, Texas.

From the Enquirer:

"You know that's John Edwards' baby!"

Tracy Yost says:

Rawlins you are funny :-)

Collin Gouldin says:

yet if this was the NFL dallas would be all over it...

Rawlins Gilliland says:

Escuchame: Pavel was born in Moscow and he's absolutely a Wild West Texan if ever I saw one. As any reader knows, he's fired more shots than David Kunkle!

Scott Doyle says:

Meh, makes perfect sense to me that she represents the only country she knows. Do you remember anything from when you were 2.5 years old? I sure has hell don't.

Tracy Yost says:

From the Sportatorium column - "Collin County Confirmed as the Women’s Gymnastics Hub of the World" - http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/sport...

Collin Gouldin says:

you know, i was named after the same person the county was named after...

Scott Doyle says:

Huh, can't believe whoever wrote that Observer post doesn't know where Parker is. Thought <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southfork_Ranch">Southfork Ranch</a> put 'em on the map pretty well.

Rawlins Gilliland says:

Alert: As the newly christened *'women's gymnastic hub of the world'*, is Collin banging more than those drums?

Collin Gouldin says:

she's 18 right? ...

Pavel Lishin says:

Here in Texas, the age of consent is 17, you impostor. You'd think a guy named after one of the drafters of the Texas Constitution and a "lay preacher" (whatever <i>that</i> is) would know...

Collin Gouldin says:

right... and 18 is over 17... how dare you doubt my 9 (?) generational native Texan-ness

Rawlins Gilliland says:

Collin; You want the whispered Enquirer insider scoop or the official Chinese answer 'yes, she's 18'?
Like eating sushi open air at a Southlake football game in the blazing Texas heat; live life on the edge!

Meanwhile, Pavel, I didn't get much consent at the age of 17 so I'm filing an official protest.

Collin Gouldin says:

"Mainly because they call her Nastia."<br> hardly a reason to be considered a "hot slut"<br><br>

Clay - Creepy men? shes only 4 years younger than me... and blame rawlins, he started this whole side of the conversation...

Rawlins Gilliland says:

Clay, my friend, relax knowing that: A) 'Lighten up' does not always mean 'think SlimFast'. B) Pavel and Collin are hardly 'creepy men'; they're rogue post-boy 20-something mutations coveting a legal lovely of their own age bracket gen Y cartel. C) The comments were tongue in cheek. (Not that there's anything wrong with that if that's your 'thing')4) la_malcriada is (according to her Pegasus profile and assorted friends como yo) a card carrying woman. In fact, said by her ex and assorted classmate allumni to be "hotter than an industrial blowtorch applied directly upon molten lava".

It's Monday. Nothing is scared until Wednesday afternoon.

Collin Gouldin says:

they're saying that all the papers are legal and good to go, I don't think there's ever going to be any further investigation.

Pavel Lishin says:

It's easy to get legit papers when your government is cranking them out.

X-ray her joints. Don't children have growth plates or something until a certain age? (Thank you, <a href="http://uploads.postfarm.net/public/postfarm/uploads-2.0/h/house_not_lupus.jpg">Dr. House</a>.)

Scott Doyle says:

Lesson learned: Never trust those crafty Chinamen!

Jason Rice says:

ch0 - But they have to give up the ability to metamorphose into animals and sentient mists, so it's not as common as it might be.

Scott Doyle says:

Figured reasonable people have accepted that them's the rules and moved on to pre-pubescent athletes breakin all da rules?

Collin Gouldin says:

DC, i don't care that she lost due to the tie breaking procedures, I'm mad that she lost to a girl who shouldn't even be allowed to compete in the first place.

Donna Chen says:

Yeah but it's not like these age allegations haven't been a problem before. The sport of women's gymnastics has been littered with cases of suspected underage participants over the years (there was one particular case with a Korean gymnast who the reporters accused of being 10). The US gymnastics coaching staff was aware of the age issue with the Chinese women's team before the Olympic competition started (they competed in the World Championships earlier and there are many news articles dated prior to August 2008 that show this concern). Not that that's an excuse for the Chinese to cheat, but Karoli and the rest of the US coaches should've brought it up before the competition. Complaining after you've lost seems like a major case of sour grapes. Should've done it before if it was THAT important to them.

Jason Rice says:

For those (what three of us, maybe) not glued to slashdot - more data on expunged documents

Collin Gouldin says:

last night a reporter on NBC5 said, "the best time to see and <b>touch</b> her (Nastia) is here during that parade"...

So...

Jason Rice says:

Can they issue restraining orders against entire user lists?

Collin Gouldin says:

The FIG and IOC are looking into the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/gymnastics/2008-08-21-age_N.htm?csp=34">China Age Controversy more!!!</a>