VOTE MAO FOR SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR!!!

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/News-And-Events/Awards/Sportswoman-of-the-Year-Award/Vote.aspx?type=individual

Quote :

Sweat. Tears. Wins. Losses. Goals. Upsets. Strength. Determination. Heart.
Each year, we give you a chance to help us recognize those superhuman efforts as we select two champion athletes (one individual, one team) for our Sportswoman of the Year Award. Athletes were considered for the 2008 award based on their athletic achievements between August 1, 2007, and August 24, 2008.

Award winners will be announced on October 14, 2008, and honored at the Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City.

*Cast your vote by midnight, September 2, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win one of five items autographed by your favorite sportswomen. Please note that only one vote will be counted per category (Individual and Team). Let the voting begin!

What are you waiting for? Go and vote!!!

I voted! It's great that she was recognized like that:

Oh, my! I'm so happy to know this! Thank you for telling us such a great news!
I voted too! I like Nastia's performances in Beijing Olimpics, but "Go Mao" !

inskate, vous avez de la chance! I want Mao's one too, though! (haha)

Voted for Mao! She'll always be the Sportwoman of my Heart! ;DD

1. Mao
2. Cheng Fei
3. He Kexin

The others are not even close.

As for the vote itself, it reminds me of another one, held by some big newspaper not so long ago. The point was to determine the person of the year through online voting (seems like a popular amusement recently). Artists, athletes, politicians, scientists and absolutely random people took the stage and accepted uneasy battle for the hearts of millions second place. While the first one has been comfortably occupied by Korean singer Rain. Because, you know, Koreans are good when it comes to things like organized patriotism.
The same is here. Without Rain and Koreans, but, it seems, with as much sense.

I voted there when I saw z4mboni's vid on YouTube... =)

SHe really deserves to win! Especially after her recovery on that fall on the FS last Worlds...

summervie wrote:

3. He Kexin

He Kexin joined the Olympics (2008) at the age of which is not allowed to compete. At my own opinion she should not be nominated. Like the case of Mao, Mao is too young for Torino while she has a big chance of winning gold so she did not compete just to follow these rules. No matter what everybody should follow the rules so there would be fair play.

Anyway, I still think that figure skating and gymnastics must lower their age requirements on Olympics...

getmewild wrote:

I voted there when I saw z4mboni's vid on YouTube... =)

SHe really deserves to win! Especially after her recovery on that fall on the FS last Worlds...

I would say, she deserves much more better than this. "The sportswoman of the year" or "the greatest athlete in the history of the Universe (evar!)" - you may call it like you want - but this is still nothing but a clicking contest. Whose fans or representantives of some particular country will make it more times than others.

getmewild wrote:

summervie wrote:

3. He Kexin

He Kexin joined the Olympics (2008) at the age of which is not allowed to compete.

Who told you this?

summervie wrote:

Who told you this?

People have been arguing about it on sport forums and Youtube ever since the Chinsese team won.
There were some programs when people were trying to prove that He Kexin was much younger than her official age. For example, they hired a forensics specialist who specializes in finding lost children basing on their photographs - using a computer program she predicts how they will look like when they are older.
She said that regardless of race, there are some things that allow to estimate a person's age. For example, the shape of chin and nose, bone and muscle structure and the percentage of the eye that the iris takes up.

But, according to all the criteria mentioned by that lady, Nobunari should be about 15 years old... (And indeed he recently complained that people all the time mistake him for a primary school student. When he arrived to America and wanted to have a cable installed, the man who came asked him where are his parents :rofl: ) So I don't think it's all that accurate.



Of course, I can't be 100% sure of He's age, but I think it's possible that some people just look younger than their real age.

z4mboni wrote:

summervie wrote:

Who told you this?

People have been arguing about it on sport forums and Youtube ever since the Chinsese team won.

People generally love to argue, especially on YouTube.
I know all the facts you've mentioned. As well as the fact that she (Kexin) was not allowed to attend the closing ceremonies because of death threats (!!!) she received from American netizens after winning the gold on uneven bars.
As well as the fact that nobody it seems cared that much about the Japanese girl who also looked not as she was 16 years old. Because she simply wasn't a contender for any medals.
As well as the fact that during the broadcast of uneven bars event, when Kexin was given the first place while scoring the same amount of points with Nastia Lyukin, American commentators absolutely shamelessly accused the judging as biased, while it is clearly described in the rules why she was given the first place and Lyukin - the second.
As well as dozen of other facts, which bring me only to one (in fact, two) conclusion. That some people simply can't lose with dignity. And that some bipedal human beings don't actually deserve the title of "human" in some particular sense of this word.
And unfortunately the last category isn't applicable solely to mindless YouTube zombies (as well as random residents of random figure skating forums), but unfortunately and to people who have enough power in their hands to produce "mindless YouTube zombies" of their ideology (hello, CNN and the likes, hello, mr. Bush (in this particular case)).

summervie wrote:

z4mboni wrote:

summervie wrote:

Who told you this?

People have been arguing about it on sport forums and Youtube ever since the Chinsese team won.

People generally love to argue, especially on YouTube.
I know all the facts you've mentioned. As well as the fact that she (Kexin) was not allowed to attend the closing ceremonies because of death threats (!!!) she received from American netizens after winning the gold on uneven bars.
As well as the fact that nobody it seems cared that much about the Japanese girl who also looked not as she was 16 years old. Because she simply wasn't a contender for any medals.
As well as the fact that during the broadcast of uneven bars event, when Kexin was given the first place while scoring the same amount of points with Nastia Lyukin, American commentators absolutely shamelessly accused the judging as biased, while it is clearly described in the rules why she was given the first place and Lyukin - the second.
As well as dozen of other facts, which bring me only to one (in fact, two) conclusion. That some people simply can't lose with dignity. And that some bipedal human beings don't actually deserve the title of "human" in some particular sense of this word.
And unfortunately the last category isn't applicable solely to mindless YouTube zombies (as well as random residents of random figure skating forums), but unfortunately and to people who have enough power in their hands to produce "mindless YouTube zombies" of their ideology (hello, CNN and the likes, hello, mr. Bush (in this particular case)).

So true. So sad...
I hope she wasn't get depressed.

Erika wrote:

So true. So sad...
I hope she wasn't get depressed.

Well, at least she has earned some big money for those two golds of her. She (just like the most girls from her team) comes from a very poor family, so I think that was a big deal for her (as well as a lot of additional pressure; if there was any free room for such).
---
"Kexin said that she came from a very, very poor family, and will use her $250,000 Olympic bonus to help her family buy a home, and help her older brother go to a university."

I had forgotten about this until today so I went to see who won Sportwoman of the Year.

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/News-And-Events/Events/Annual-Salute-to-Women-in-Sports.aspx

It doesn't surprise me that Nastia won. Mao deserved it, though ^_^

summervie wrote:

As well as the fact that she (Kexin) was not allowed to attend the closing ceremonies because of death threats (!!!) she received from American netizens after winning the gold on uneven bars.

She received DEATH THREATS?! If that is true, then those people who made the threats should be ASHAMED of themselves, because even if Kexin wasn't as old as she claimed (which I doubt) she is a hundred times better than they are because she put her heart and soul into the sport. To give that level of commitment at her age is remarkable.

Most of the Chinese Olympians are from rural cities and because of this, they are required to leave behind their families and move by themselves into the city in order to maintain the level of training that is required for elite athletes. My family was moved to tears when one particular athlete interviewed that she had not seen her family for years and only communicates with them by one text message per month. When Cheng Fei fell on the vault, it was a truly heart-breaking moment for her and all of her supporters.

When Nastia Liukin made a snide comment on the Chinese gymnasts on American TV, I was very disappointed. She is an amazing athlete, so she of all people should acknowledge the amount of work put in by her fellow competitors.

I believe Mao would never stoop to that level. Which is why she is totally awesome