FitSugar

Do You Think the Chinese Gymnasts Are All Over 16 Years of Age?

FitSugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:00:00 -0700

In a close competition, every detail falls under scrutiny.

The US women's gymnastic team, older and wiser than the gold-winning Chinese team, performed well minus a couple of falls and landed in second place. The 20-year-old team captain Alicia Sacramone, who unfortunately fell during both her floor routine as well as her balance beam exercise, tried to keep a positive attitude about winning silver as did her teammate Nastia Liukin. Although the team mostly accepted their defeat with grace, the age of the much younger Chinese team was once again questioned by US coach Marta Karolyi, wife of coach Beyla Karolyi with whom she trained gold medalists Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton. A report was published just before the games alleging that at least two of the Chinese gymnasts are only 14-years-old, making them ineligible for competition. Both of the Karolyis have complained that the stadium officials disrupted Sacramone's preparation prior to competing on the balance beam.

What do you think? Do you believe the Chinese gymnasts are all 16 years old? Or do you think these accusations are poor sportsmanship?

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7 Fitness Tips From Olympian Dara Torres

FitSugar — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:50:19 -0700

Swimmer Dara Torres is one woman who's inspired me to stay active and healthy for years to come. At 41, she won three silver medals swimming in Beijing, so she's living proof that you only get fitter with age. Here are some tips from a Self magazine exclusive interview with Dara Torres, to help you stay healthy as you age.

Set a fun fitness goal. Dara says, "Even if you don't quite believe in yourself yet, if you set a goal that's not too tough to reach, then meet it, that will motivate you to set another one and continue that cycle."
Triple your warmup time. Instead of the recommended five minutes of warming up, Dara does at least 15. She says it "helps prevent aches" and make her feel "as spry as she did when she was 17." Warming up gives your muscles a chance to ease into your workout, which will reduce your chance of sustaining an injury. The longer you warm up, the better.

There are five more tips, so keep reading

Crossing the Finish Line: The Final Medal Count

FitSugar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:00:00 -0700

To the relief of some, the Olympics games are over and the final medal count is in.
Although the US team heads home with the largest total number of medals, 123, China won the most gold. Over half the Chinese 100 medals were gold. With 51 gold medals. I would say that the Chinese program Project 119 worked well, even though the host country missed the mark of their desired final medal count of 119.

The US was even across the medal count with 36 gold, 38 silver, and 36 bronze. Congratulations to all the amazing athletes. I was truly inspired, were you? It feels like the majority of American gold medals came from swimming thanks to Michael Phelps and his amazing wins. Here are some of the other US gold medals:

Both the men's and women's US basketball teams won gold (we are redeemed). We also won gold in both men's and women's beach volleyball as well as a gold in men's volleyball and a silver in women's volleyball - the women's team was defeated by Brazil in the finals.
Bryan Clay won the decathlon, and now he owns the title as the greatest athlete on earth, a la Bruce Jenner who won gold and made the event famous in 1976. Other track and field fun: Dawn Harper won the 100m hurdles, beating Lolo Jones. Although our 4x100m relay teams both dropped the baton in the semifinals, we won both the 4x400m men's and women's relays!
The Williams sisters won gold in doubles. Let's see what they do at the US Open.
The women's soccer team won gold, defeating Brazil with a final score of the match being one to zero. Carli Lloyd scored the winning and only goal of the game.
Gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luikin both brought home many medals, but each garnered a gold. Johnson on the beam and Luikin for the all-around competition.

To see some photos of my favorite Olympic moments and one very sad blunder, just read more.

View 11 Photos ›

If you watched the games chances are high that you have a few favorite moments, too. Share them in the comments section below.

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8 For 8 in '08 and Other Olympic News

FitSugar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:00:00 -0700

In case you missed it, and I honestly don't know how you could have, swimmer Michael Phelps accomplished what he set out to do and won eight gold medals in Beijing. Phelps won more gold medals than any other athlete during one Olympic games. Wow! It has been truly amazing to watch history in the making.

Other swimming news, the oldest female swimmer to ever compete in the Olympics Dara Torres (age 41) won three silver medals. She lost the gold in her signature event, the 50m freestyle by .01 seconds to 24-year-old German Britta Steffan. Torres joked that she shouldn't have filed her nails that day. After this most recent comeback, Dara will be retiring from competitive swimming and is looking forward to taking her 2-year-old daughter to school next week.

To see more Olympic news including track and field and gymnastics read more.
The Jamaican sprinters are amazing this year, especially the women who took the gold and two silvers in the 100m due to a tie for second place. Of course, Usain Bolt's 100m gold winning run was amazing too.

Neither American Deena Kastor nor mommy marathoner Paula Radcliffe won the women's marathon event. Kastor, who won Bronze at the 2004 Athens games, did not finish the race due to a broken bone in her right foot. She heard a pop around the 5km mark and X-rays later confirmed a break. Radcliffe, the current world record holder, came in 23rd place running 26.2 miles in 2:32:38. She was 5:54 behind the gold medal winner from Romania.

Hurdler Lolo Jones won her first 100m heat with ease.

The friendly gymnastic duo placed silver and bronze in the individual floor event, but this time Shawn Johnson bested all-around gold medal winner Nastia Liukin. The uneven parallel bars individual finals will be held Monday evening and the balance beam individual finals will be the following night.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh continue to win in beach volleyball. They face another Brazilian team at the semi-finals on Tuesday morning.

Records have been broken, dreams have been smashed, and we still have one more week of the Olympics to watch. What will you be watching?

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Dara Torres Talks About Staying Fit and Not Acting Your Age

FitSugar — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Dara Torres, the amazing Olympian, swimmer, and mom who made headlines at Beijing when she swam for a comeback at age 41. She won three silver medals and also won me over.

Not only did Torres give me lots of great advice on health, training, and fitness, but she also shared some insight on how she balances intense training with a (relatively) normal personal life. She was funny and refreshingly honest. Better yet, I've got a video excerpt of our interview! Check it out below.

To read some more of my favorite excerpts from the interview, read more.

FitSugar: Tell us about your memoir, Age Is Just a Number:
Dara Torres: "It was really a lot of fun to write. I got that title because I really realized you don't put an age limit on your dreams. And a lot of people put elite athletes on pedestals and forget that we're human and that we make mistakes and we have our ups and downs and our trials and tribulations, and I really wanted that to get across. I wanted the everyday person to relate to my book."

FS: What are some of those trials and tribulations you discuss in the book?
DT: "I talk about just getting back into my comeback and my father passes away from colon cancer. I deal with the pressures of trying to make an Olympic team when so many eyes are on me and so many middle-aged people are counting on me. I talk about my coach, who ended up having a rare blood disorder right after I made the Olympic team. There were a lot of things I had to deal with."

FS: And you also, throughout all this, have been raising a daughter? How old is she now?
DT: "My daughter is 3, and it's really been such a fun time in my life. I really looked towards role models like working parents to figure out how I can balance my life to be the best mom that I can be and also be able to do what I love to do. Just normal people who work 9-to-5 jobs and are still awesome parents. It's a tough thing to try to figure out how to balance, but I'm lucky I found a balance that works really well for both my daughter and myself."

FS: And does she like swimming?
"She loves swimming. I've had her in the pool since she was about 3 months old. Some of my teammates who are so young tease me and say 'you guys'll be swimming in the same meet coming up soon,' so I get teased a lot."

FS: What is your precompetition ritual in terms of what you eat or what you do?
DT: "I'll drink some type of shake with milk before I swim, and that's really all I need. I don't like to eat a lot before I'm in a big race because I'm already nervous as it is and the last thing I need to do is get sick to my stomach. Maybe have a little cereal with milk. Just very minimal what I eat before I train."

FS: In a recent interview with More magazine, you mentioned that you had some eating disorder issues when you were in college and went "cold turkey." What tips could you offer to other women who are struggling with this?
DT: "It's not easy to get over it on your own. What I did was set a goal. And at that point in time I had not been swimming for a while, and my goal was to try and make a third Olympic team. The minute I had that goal in my head, it was like, you know what, I can't have this eating disorder anymore or else I'm not going to reach my goals. And so I was lucky to have swimming as an outlet. The biggest thing you need to do is be able to talk to someone about it. It's not like if you talk to them you’re going to get over it right away but at least you can communicate and let someone know and hopefully they can help you get help."

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Favorite Olympian: Shawn Johnson

FitSugar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:00:00 -0800

Michael Phelps is truly a superlative athlete. He broke all kinds of records in Beijing and was voted Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. While you all voted him the fan-favorite Olympian, I think he has won awards aplenty. That is why when it comes to Olympians, 16-year-old Shawn Johnson with her tireless smile is the winner of the FitSugar Favorite Olympian.

Shawn won the gold medal for balance beam, the sliver medal in the all-around competition, silver in floor exercise, and helped the US win the team silver. Unlike many elite gymnasts, Shawn only trained about 20 to 25 hours a week instead of 40, so she could attend her public high school where she is on the honor roll. Even though she is not yet old enough to vote, this civic-minded Olympian made an appearance at the Democratic National Convention. Her athletic style kept us entertained throughout the Olympics, and this girl looks so healthy.

She might not be the new face of Subway or have a video game in the works, but Shawn is my favorite Olympian of 2008. I am anxious to see if she will compete in 2012 - do you think she will?

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What's Next For Gymnasts Liukin and Johnson

FitSugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0700

Women's gymnastics really seems like a sport for girls. While there were some older competitors, like Alicia Sacramone of the US and China's Cheng Fei who are both 20, it seems a sport loaded with youngsters. So what happens to these women, or girls, after competing at the top? All-around gold medal winner Nastia Liukin and her teammate Shawn Johnson are definitely approaching their futures differently. These girls roomed together at the Olympics and wanted to go gold and silver in as many events as they could, but let me tell you about their next moves.

The 18-year-old Nastia Liukin will be heading home to Texas Thursday with her five medals, one gold, one bronze, and three silvers. She has many ad campaigns in the works, including one for Visa, and you can expect to see her on the Jay Leno show sometime next week. Daughter of Olympian gymnasts, Liukin plans on competing in the 2009 world championships.

To see what Shawn's future holds, read more.

For the near future, Shawn plans on shopping and visiting the Great Wall as well as walking in the closing ceremony. After training with the hopes of a gold medal in the all-around competition, this 16-year-old from Iowa will probably take off her first semester of her junior year of high school to participate in a planned gymnastics tour. She told reporters:

It's hard to think about four more years. After not winning the all-around, it hit me pretty hard, not that I got the silver, but just all my emotions came out. I was training to win gold. I'm just proud of myself that I kept my head up.

Having been riveted to my TV for the last week watching these amazing young ladies tumble, twist, and vault, I will miss them. How about you?

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Women's Gymnastics: Silver and Gold!

FitSugar — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Last night seemed like a redemption match, gymnastics styles. The top three were all amazing, but Nastia Liukin was the best in the all-around competition. She gracefully stepped out from behind Shawn Johnson's athletic shadow and was lovely on the beam as well as the other three elements: uneven bars, floor, and vault. The Chinese gymnast Yilin Yang took the bronze.

On her winning a gold medal Nastia said: "I can't believe it still. I worked so hard for many years for this, I don't know what to say. I couldn't have been here without my parents."

Shawn was gracious about winning silver medal and explained, "It's been a long road, I feel like the baby of the group, to come out with silver is an amazing experience."

Congrats to all the gymnasts and a thank you for creating a night of exciting competition.

To see some great photos from the event, just read more.

View 12 Photos ›

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Dara Torres Just Had Shoulder Surgery?!

FitSugar — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:30:00 -0700

Dara Torres left Beijing with her three silver medals in tow, and went almost straight to the operating room. This means the 41-year-old comeback ~~kid~~ mama - and hot mama at that - was swimming in pain. I couldn't tell, could you?

Torres lost her signature race, the 50-meter freestyle sprint, by .01 seconds. She has a phenomenal swim, and now that I know Torres was dealing with degenerative arthritis in her AC joint (where the collar bone, or clavicle, connects to the top of the shoulder blade), I am even more impressed. I'm impressed by her competitive drive, focus, and ability to race in pain. Obviously, she put the surgery and its six-week recovery period off so she could compete in her fifth Olympic games. She had surgery on Aug. 27 to create space in the arthritic joint so hopefully she can move her shoulder pain-free. I sure hope she has a speedy recovery, since she has a little one to chase after.

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Where in the World Is Dara Torres?

FitSugar — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:00:00 -0700

I have been officially diagnosed with Olympic swimming fever. How about you? Superstar Michael Phelps is all over the news, breaking records left and right, but where in the world is Dara Torres.

The comeback ~~kid~~ mom was all over the media prior to the games, but since she is only competing in two Olympic events we've had to wait almost a week to see her swim again. Dara anchored the silver winning 4x100 relay team last Sunday, but her signature event is the 50 meter freestyle. Preliminary heats start today, August 15, and she will race in the 10th heat at 6:51 p.m. Beijing time. The semifinals will be held on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. I do so hope she makes it to the finals.

To see how Dara's qualifying time compares to the world record read more.

Just a few stats to get you ready for the event. Dara's qualifying time for the 50 meter freestyle was 24:25. The current world record is held by Lisbeth Trickett of Australia. She swam the distance in 23.97 earlier this year. Torres won her first Olympic medal in 1984, almost a year before Phelps was born.

Will you be watching Dara swim? Tell me in the comments section below.

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