I dont think its comfortable to chew a gum while diving or swimming ;)

Best Russian women's gymnastics team might not be going to Worlds because of age requirements: [QUOTE] The women's all-around champion in Penza, however, likely will be ineligible for the world team. 2008 Russian Cup champion Ksenia Afanasyeva and runner-up Ksenia Sgymnastics emyonova are both out with injury. Semyonova, the reigning world champion on uneven bars, and Afanasyeva went 1-2 at[ Read More... ]

more than anything the age restriction is unfair. i am not sure that the officials realise that if a gymnast is 15 and misses the olympics she may have retired by the time the next one comes around. do they realise, that gymnasts dream of being elites for years and years and often, due to the combination of the ade restriction and the early retirement age for such a demanding sport, they spend[ Read More... ]

yessss, i agree with bela " OPEN IT UP"! if they want to find a way to make sure the gymnasts are mentally ready, find a new way cause age can have little to do with it. i think either no age restrictions or minimum age 13 if they must. its not like if they change it everyone will be 12, but you will be seeing some more 14 and 15 year olds out there. many girls of this age are more mature than[ Read More... ]

2008 AA Olympic Champion gymnast Nastia Liukin's father wants age limit eliminated too (Nastia missed on the 2004 Olympics because she didn't meet the age requirement; her teammate at her gym WOGA Rebecca Bross missed out on these Olympics because she's 14 instead of 16 by the end of the Olympic year): posted under Chalk Talk in Gymnastics category:[ Read More... ]

"Liukin's Father Wants Age Limit Eliminated" [QUOTE]Nastia Liukin's father and coach, Valeri Liukin, said the international gymnastics federation would be wise to eliminate the age rule that requires gymnastics athletes to be at least 16 or turn 16 during the year they compete in the Olympics and world championships. The issue has been in the forefront of gymnastics discussion because of some[ Read More... ]

I posted under the diving section, b/c both sports related - Gum chewing when diving - not good idea! http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards...9783#post79783

USA's diver Christina Loukas is chewing gum as she is springboard diving in the 2008 Biejing Olympics. Reminds me of gymnast Blaine Wilson and his gum chewing when he was competing elite and collegiate gymnastics. So not a good idea to flip around with gum! My gymnastics coach said once one of his students in his homeland country was choking on his gum and they had to do the heimlich maneuver on[ Read More... ]

Ok, so some gymnastics coaches favor the little young girls in the gym, the ones they can "mold"....but let's open up the competitions! No minimum age requirements: more at: Olympic/World competitions minimum age requirements/restriction http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?p=79684#post79684 As Bela Karolyi emphatically says, Open it up!

All Olympic and world competitions for all sports should have no minimum age requirements/restrictions - the best should be able to compete. Like Bela Karolyi says, this will take away the controversy of nations cheating and sending athletes younger who do not meet the minimum age requirements - like in gymnastics the controversy of half of China's team beaing underage. Open it up! There[ Read More... ]

China, Russia, Ukraine: [QUOTE] Wang Feng and Qin Kai had the highest-scoring dive in each of the six rounds, piling up a total of 469.08 points. When they sliced through the water one last time, their perfectly aligned bodies causing barely a ripple, the big crowd roared. Knowing gold was assured, Wang and Qin climbed from the pool and hugged each other. This was a blowout. Dmitry Sautin, 34[ Read More... ]