Even in gymnastics where the sport is known for favoring little girls and women retiring before hitting their 20's, retirement because of the pounding on the body, there are older gymnasts winning gold such as Germany's Oksana Chusovitina and Bulgaria's Jordan Jovtchev. And in the last 2008 Summer Games there was 41 year old Dara Torres who won 3 silver medals. So to the seasoned fan/athlete/coach there is no surprise that the same is in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. ABC World News ran a story tonight, "Vancouver Winter Olympics: Older Athletes Go For Gold In First 3 Days, 25 percent of Medals Go to Olympians in Their 30's" One of the standouts of the Games so far is the Chinese pair skating team, Shen Xue (age 31) and Zhao Hongbo (age 36) who after 18 years of skating win gold over the Russians, who (& former USSR) have been on the top of the podium since 1960. [quote] 33-Year-Old American Wins Snowboard Cross And then there's [COLOR=#003366]American snowboarder Seth Wescott. At age 33, he came from last place in the final run in snowboard cross to win the gold. He beat the Canadian who was way out in front and way younger, by a full decade. Wescott said of his win, "I think we'll be the ones that really set that benchmark on how old you can be and be at the top of the world." When asked whether 30s are the new 20s, Wescott said, "I think so!" [/quote] So what's different now that it's not just a little Nadia Comaneci that can go for gold? There are more difficult skills that can cause body pouding, like throw quads, but at the same time there is great advancement with equipment, which protects the body, aids in training - but also then makes it more possible to advance the skills even more. It is about smart training. And also that it is possible to make sport your profession and be able to put your energy in it not worrying about the side job you need to pay for training and the bills. You might have caught gold medal speed skater Apolo Ohno's recent DayQuil commercial (he also won Dancing With The Stars).

When the little one comes out from behind and wins the competition like Tara Lipinski winning the gold over Michelle Kwan, it makes big story. So maybe it is stories like those that may make reporters or those less into sports think that it is always, or almost always, the littles ones winning. And then also there is the controversy with the Chinese sending too young gymnasts to compete, most notably the cotroversy at the 2008 Beijing Games, (where the current rule is that you have to be 16 years old by the end of the year to compete in the Olympics), and the push to open up sports like gymnastics to have no minimum age requirements, like diving does not. So about 75 percent under 30 winning gold/Olympic medals. Makes sense.

Reminds me of this story on synchorized diving partner 14 year old Tom Daley from Britain being blamed by his partner for messing up because of his younge age and inexperience: [QUOTE] 14 year old Olympic diver Tom [COLOR=#0000ff]Daley[/COLOR]'s partner, Blake Aldridge, blames [COLOR=#0000ff]Daley[/COLOR]'s young age for his nervousness and having a bad last dive, taking them off the podium: "It's a synchro team, there's two of us, and that's the hard thing about it," Aldridge said. "Both of you have to be on your game at the same time and that just didn't happen today. Thomas is 14 years old. He's done phenomenally and for me to be a part of a partnership with him is a great thing. I knew, going into this Olympic Games, that we were capable of a medal, but I also knew that it depended on how Tom performed. I wasn't on the top of my game, but I out-dived Thomas today and that's not something that normally happens. That to me is because he had a lot more pressure on him than I did. [/QUOTE] more at: http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/daily-thread/75387-olympic-world-competitions-minimum-age-requirements-restriction.html