Kneeling on the medal stand

Pardon this brief departure from the genea-games, but I need to rant a little.  Men’s gymnastics has always been about power, but women’s gymnastics has been about style, grace, and skill, at least until this olympics.  I never thought I would see the day when a gymnast who fell to her knees on landing would qualify for a medal.  But the current scoring scheme, which was of course supposed to correct the problems associated with the old “perfect 10” scheme has also fallen far short of sticking the landing.  Of course we already knew there was no such thing as justice in the gymnastics world after the last olympics.  So China’s Cheng Fei got up off of her knees to accept the bronze medal, knocking Alicia Sacramone off of the medal stand in spite of the fact that she had performed to good vaults with a hop on the landings.  Those hops which were deadly under the old scoring system were routine at this olympics.  I think it only fitting the Cheng Fei should have to accept her medal on her knees.

 

China Denies Visa to Favorite Son

One of the Cheek family’s finest is in the news again.  Joey Cheek, who captured headlines by winning gold in the Winter Olympics and then donating the prize money to humanitarian causes has been denied a visa to attend the Summer Olympics in China.  Joey has been active in Team Darfur working toward ending the genocide going on in the Sudan.  China has been a supporter of the Sudanese government which is one of its major oil suppliers.  For more information see the stories at

Washington Post

Outspoken ’06 Medalist Cheek Has Visa Revoked