From jsn@concentric.net Mon Jan 29 10:27:29 2001 Date: 23 Sep 2000 19:57:52 GMT From: "John S. Novak, III" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: Re: Olympic Rant On Sat, 23 Sep 2000 15:36:25 -0400, Brian Grassie wrote: >The gymnastics was the shoddiest run competition I've ever seen. Besides >the unbelievable mistake with the vaulting apparatus, the floor mat drew >complaints all week. I'd heard complaints about that, too. That it was too hard, and that it was a contributing factor to a number of falls (in practice and competition) for the floor exercises all week. Whose idea was it, anyway, to decide that a compulsory part of the floor exercises(*) would be what I can only describe as "Jump as high as you can, spread-eagle in mid air, drop like a fucking stone to the floor, and hope you don't rupture something?" I'm aware that these people are lighter than I am, and have a higher percentage of muscle, but really, that can't be pleasant. And it's not much to watch, unless you're into sympthetic grunts of pain. If you want to see how tough they are, hit them in the stomach with a cricket bat after the contest. * I'm assuming it's compulsory, as it was a part of _every_ routine I happened to see. On a related rant, when the hell did the trampoline become an olympic event? _Why_ did it become an olympic event? (On the other hand, the women's water polo was fun to watch. Nice suits, those.) -- John S. Novak, III jsn@concentric.net The Humblest Man on the Net