Wieber Robbed By Gymnastics' Brutal Rules
By: Terry Foster
Forgive me for boring you with women's gymnastics. But there is a rule that the International Olympic Committee imposed that is boring and beyond dumb. The United States women's gymnastics team can only have two competitors in the women's all around although three of its members easily were among the top 24 gymnastics.
The rules state that no country can have more than two competitors. That means teammates Gabrielle Douglas and Aly Raisman are in and that left Jordyn Wieber on the outside looking in as a crying mess.
Wieber on many nights is America's best gymnast. On Sunday she was not. But she was the third best gymnast in the competition. But the rules states that she got knocked out of the competition by teammates. So if Wieber were Canadian, Spanish, Mexican or Chinese she would have a chance to win the All Around competition. But she was born in Dewitt, Michigan and that leaves her off the team. Wieber is no scrub. She has only lost two All Around competitions since 2008 and both times it was to American teammates.
What a dumb rule. This rule is dumber than Major League Baseball's rule to have every team represented in the All-Star game even when the team does not have an all star. This is not special Olympics where everybody deserves a chance. This is the Olympics where you train for years to become the best.
How would you like it if the Lions had the third best record in the NFC but Roger Goodell kept them out because there were too many teams from the division in the playoffs?
The women's gymnastics was brutal the first night. You had gymnasts from other countries stumbling like drunks from the corner bar. So in other words the Olympics would rather have the 25th gymnast looking like one of those creatures from The Walking Dead than one of the top two or three gymnasts in the world. Wieber got robbed and should be in the All Around competition.
While Wieber cried for not making the team I cringed while seeing an out of date rule ruin her chances.
