Foreign talent

When I first watched Nastia Liukin - and she was really quite beautiful to watch - I thought she was an East European gymnast, based on her physical appearance and style. Turns out that she is East European. Russian-born. But she's won the gold medal for the USA.

picture from her website

(Wonder if there's something in their Communist roots that give the Russians, Romanians and Chinese gymnasts a kind of grace, elegance and fluidity that I don't see so much in the others. I don't know what else these kids might have in common.)

When I first saw the USA team coordinator, I also thought she looked like she was an Eastern bloc person. Don't know what it is about her - maybe her mannerisms and her hairstyle. Turns out she was from the Eastern bloc and her husband was Nadia Comaneci's coach.

(And pots shouldn't be calling kettles black, okay? Their comments on the Chinese gymnasts here.)

And I'm sure we all noticed the many Asian (and they look Chinese) coaches in various sports who are with teams from various parts of the world.

Well done, table tennis team. I also say go for gold. Already in the final, what - we have nothing to lose!