FYI there is a video that plays immediately upon loading, which is something I dislike, I like to be able to control whether or not I watch a video! Make sure your sound is off if you’re in class or at work! :P
North Korea Out Of Worlds, Possibly 2012 Olympics
WOW, the FIG has banned North Korea from competition for 30 days, due to the recent discovery of the age falsification(s) of 2004 and 2008 Olympian Hong Su Jong. 30 days doesn’t sound like a lot, but that takes them out of the Worlds coming up, which is a qualifier for the 2011 World Championships, which is in turn a qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics. Yeesh…suddenly things just got a lot more serious!
North Korea can appeal, but the evidence all points to the same thing - that they falsified the age of one of their athletes. While this is all very unfortunate, I have trouble feeling too sorry for them….you have to play by the rules, that’s why they’re there.
Rick at Gymnastics Coaching pointed out that this likely applies to the men’s team as well as the women, which is unfortunate, because as far as we know, the men did nothing wrong. There’s going to be a lot of angry gymnasts in North Korea today, methinks.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I doubt an appeal will allow the women’s team to compete in Rotterdam, but perhaps the FIG should allow the men’s team to compete. After all, it was the women’s mistake, why should the men be punished? However, if North Korea isn’t able to compete in Rotterdam, there’s no fair way to allow them another way of qualifying for the Olympics, is there? Harsh punishment, but not unwarranted.
