Anonymous wrote:The age limit in gymnastics is a joke. The best age for the sport is 15 or 16. The age cut off at 16 means that 4/5 of the team members are 16, one is 18 and all of the alternates are 16. They say the coaches go trolling for 12 year olds that are good now to train since a 13 year old will perform like an old lady by the time of the next Olympics as she will be 17.

does not sound like a good coach
find another sport or another coach

Oh please.
These are adult games. Kids can have their own junior olympics. Just like we have senior olympics and special needs olympics

Anonymous wrote:I think 16 as an age limit is the best thing that has happened in sporting history.
Olympic level training is a lot like child abuse. Kids should not be made so competitive that they loose their childhood.
Also, winning a medal changes everything and that might not be the best thing at that age. Maybe to get experience, but not to win

I say the best athlete should be able to compete and win, regardless of age. I did that sport for 10 years and I did not have the energy at 18 that I had at 14. I also outgrew the sport. To me, the abuse is making these girls continue for so long when their bodies are saying no. Calling it quits at 16 is safer than trying for another 3 years when you are so big that the moves become dangerous. Trust me, they are still training hard at 14 even with the age limits. About the child abuse, unless that girl has it in her heart, it is very hard to make her get through that level of training. Once the coaches spot the apathy, they ask them to leave.

I think 16 as an age limit is the best thing that has happened in sporting history.
Olympic level training is a lot like child abuse. Kids should not be made so competitive that they loose their childhood.
Also, winning a medal changes everything and that might not be the best thing at that age. Maybe to get experience, but not to win

Anonymous wrote:The age limit in gymnastics is a joke. The best age for the sport is 15 or 16. The age cut off at 16 means that 4/5 of the team members are 16, one is 18 and all of the alternates are 16. They say the coaches go trolling for 12 year olds that are good now to train since a 13 year old will perform like an old lady by the time of the next Olympics as she will be 17.

One of the alternates is a college grad. I'm not a huge fan of the age limit being 16, but there are still top-level competitors in their 20's and even 30's now. There's one woman who will be in her 6th Olympics this year (competing for Germany).

Claire Laubach (sp?) is playing on the women's field hockey team - from Centreville.

The age limit in gymnastics is a joke. The best age for the sport is 15 or 16. The age cut off at 16 means that 4/5 of the team members are 16, one is 18 and all of the alternates are 16. They say the coaches go trolling for 12 year olds that are good now to train since a 13 year old will perform like an old lady by the time of the next Olympics as she will be 17.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Katie Ledecky, 15, from Bethesda, will swim the women's 1500m freestyle. She's a rising sophomore at Stone Ridge.

Also swimming that event is Kate Ziegler, 24, from Great Falls.

15?
Do you not have to be 16?
Or is that only for gymnastics?

I don't think swimming has a minimum age...just need to finish first or second at the trials. Being super young isn't an advantage in swimming like it is in gymnastics.

Katie is 15 - turned in March. She is the youngest Olympian this year

Anonymous wrote:Katie Ledecky, 15, from Bethesda, will swim the women's 1500m freestyle. She's a rising sophomore at Stone Ridge.

Also swimming that event is Kate Ziegler, 24, from Great Falls.

15?
Do you not have to be 16?
Or is that only for gymnastics?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where did the rhythmic gymnast train if you know?

There's a Post article on her this week. It's somewhere local. She is a Whitman alum.

I think in Gaithersburg, at Rhythmflex? I'm not certain about that but it is somewhere local.

She trains in Darnestown at the gym of a Catholic school that the team rents. The team is called Capital Stars. The coaches are very nice, but they work the athletes hard, but have great results.