Follow Up on Gymnastics Post

And last night, during the men's all-around competition, the commentators (at their freakin' ridiculous best, btw -- I like how Al Trautwig explained to us that 6 plus 10 is 16; thanks Al, I'd been so confused) ... anyway, the commentators commented that the U.S. Women's team was complaining that the delay between competitors (for scoring issues) really got under Alicia Sacramone's skin and that's why she competed poorly.

Two words:  Grow up.

Ladies, do you have a clue what Olympic competition is about?  It isn't about who can do the best performance in the privacy of their own gym, or in their own national competition, or in Marta Karolyi's secret hidden training camp.  It's about who can put down the best performance under the glare of the spotlights, the relentless TV cameras in your face, the audience cheering for the other guys, and the pressure cooker that says this is your one-and-only chance for Olympic glory so don't screw it up.  It's about accepting that the judging is often subjective and sometimes biased and sometimes plain wrong -- and kicking ass anyway.

Saying that a competitor did poorly because she got rattled by the delay in judging is self-centered twaddle.  As if the judges should have just done a superficial job in scoring the competitor before you (rather than trying to confirm that she was actually given the correct mark) because obviously providing you with the most comfortable pre-performance environment should have been their top concern.

(And scoring delays of all things?  Like they're not a regular part of gymnastics competition that is part of the whole passel of things you just have to learn to deal with.  Come to think of it, maybe it would have been easier for Sacramone to cope with the scoring delay if her teammates had actually rallied to her side, cheering her on during the scoring delay, rather than letting her get all wrapped up in her thoughts and get freaked by it.)

Bottom line, ladies, is that being Olympic champion isn't about being the best -- it's about being the best today.  You simply weren't.  Get over it.