Argh. This is just pathetic and another instance of American athletes being crybabies.

AP via Huffington Post: The U.S. track and field team’s protest of the women’s 100-meter final at the Olympics was rejected Sunday night.

The Americans asked that the race be reviewed because of a possible false start by Torri Edwards, one of the country’s sprinters.

Edwards herself said she thought she false-started. She wound up finishing last as Shelly-Ann Fraser led a Jamaican sweep of medals in the dash.

Let us get this straight. So Torri Edwards may have made a false start — which should give her an advantage because she started before everybody else — yet still lost. And now the Americans wanted to invalidate the results because Edwards may have made a false start?

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Jon Stewart tackles the controversies surrounding the Beijing Olympics: the lipsynching during the opening ceremonies, the slit-eyed Spanish basketball team, and the reportedly underaged Chinese gymnasts.

I’m sure we all agree that Jon is a genius. We should give him a gold medal already.

Related:
Spain’s Olympic Basketball Team: Racists or Just Foolish Dudes?
American Crybabies

Expect Americans to cry foul if their competitors, in this case Chinese gymnasts, turn out to be under-aged. Why are there age limits anyway? If British diver Tom Daley can compete at age 14 [with Western media cheering him on], why can’t the Chinese gymnasts — who may or may not be of the same age as Tom — compete in the Olympics as well?

I say, remove the silly age limits. If an athlete can compete with the rest of them despite their age, then let them compete.

From USA Today: Two female Chinese gymnasts, including a gold medal favorite, might be too young to participate in the Beijing Olympics.

Several online records and reports show He Kexin, the host nation’s top competitor on uneven bars, and Jiang Yuyuan might not be 16, the minimum age for eligibility. Both were chosen for the team last week.

On the website of the Chengdu Sports Bureau — Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province in southwest China — a file dated January 2006 shows He Kexin as being born Jan. 1, 1994.

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