Little girls

Last night was my favorite Olympic event...the women's gymnastics team competition. I love watching this, and last night I experienced several emotions while doing so.

At the beginning one word came to mind...vomit. That is totally what I would do if I was one of these girls. The pressure is unbelievable when you realize that these girls have been training with this specific Olympics in mind for a large portion of their life.

The big contenders for the gold were the U.S. and China. With China's big push to beat the U.S. in the medal count, I really wanted to see the U.S. win gold...everyone did. Well, things went really well until the third apparatus...balance beam. The first girl up for the U.S. fell off. She looked destroyed. Then the next activity, and last, was the floor. The same girl fell on a tumbling pass and then stepped out of bounds. The look on her face when she came off the floor was so heartbreaking. The next two girls for the U.S. also stepped out of bounds. I couldn't watch anymore.

I did flip back over a few minutes later and experienced something strange. China was now on the floor and the girl they were showing was one they had been telling a personal story about before. The Chinese gymnasts are separated from their parents from the time they are about three years old. They only see them maybe once a year. This particular girl had called her parents at one point and told them she wanted to come home, and they said no. They knew she would have a much better life as a gymnast than as an ordinary girl in China. These girls from the U.S. will be absolutely fine...they'll go to college, have a family, and probably open a gym somewhere, but these girls from China have nothing but gymnastics. I haven't checked the news yet, but I'm pretty sure China won gold, and for those little girls' sakes...I'm actually glad.