Say it ain't so. Mini muscle marvel and Olympic hopeful Sean Golden will not be representing the USA at the Beijing Olympics. The disappointing news was announced Sunday after the weekend Olympic trials in Philadelphia at the Wachovia Center
Golden not only was left off the six-man Olympic team but he also was not named as one of the three alternates. For 11 hours Saturday and yesterday the five-person selection committee crunched numbers and considered 49 scenarios. It took them 2 hours longer than they expected, projecting the best team from results at the Visa Championships last month and the men's 2-day trials held Thursday and Saturday at the Wachovia Center.
Golden was a casualty of the system: "Any time somebody puts so much of himself into something and doesn't get the result they want, it's disappointing."
But not embittering. "I definitely think they have the best Olympic team," Golden said. "I've said all along, if the best team doesn't have me on it, so be it."
The 24-year-old, 5 foot 5 Golden is one of the top male gymnasts in the country and one of the few successful black men in gymnastics. The local Philadelphia television stations and newspapers extensively covered Golden's trials because he grew up in nearby Camden, New Jersey. The Daily Examiner featured the gymnast in a cover profile and asked him about China's human rights record and Olympic protests. "I am not opposed to protesting. I think it's wrong what they're doing over there to Tibet. But at the same time, I don't think it's necessary to boycott the Olympics or the opening ceremony. I don't think politics has a place in sports." More of that interview here.
Golden ends the interview with some interesting personal info. "I likes long walks in the park and I'm single." Awwww.
Golden fails to make men's Oly gymnastics team [Inquirer]
Sean Golden, Camdenâs Olympic Hopeful [PDE]
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God Bless his maturity & real manliness...and God Bless them shoulders & biceps.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | 23 June 2008 at 14:24
i'd be glad to walk with him in the park anytime....
thanks for the update, Rod
Posted by: ff | 23 June 2008 at 14:51
Derick is positively correct. Big things come in small packages and I am sure that young man is full of big surprises. Or, else he likes big surprises, lol.
Posted by: AM ROSS | 23 June 2008 at 14:52
You and me both, FF. What a man. It's too bad he did not qualify for the Olympic team.
Oh, and it's good to see you back in the threads. I didn't mean to bite off your head a few weeks ago. My apologies.
Posted by: ROD MC | 23 June 2008 at 19:03
I think he is a very good looking man I was looking in our local paper in Kansas City to see if he made the team. I was hoping he had made it
Posted by: robert | 23 June 2008 at 19:52
I can't imagine how great his abs and butt must look
Posted by: lux | 23 June 2008 at 22:14
I can imagine, lux! I am sorry he didn't make the Olympic team. We'll now have to root for (and gawk at) another Jersey boy Cullen Jones on the swim team.
Posted by: Dluv | 24 June 2008 at 20:54