Hi K.,
Thanks for opening this discussion. I watch the Olympics as well, and these girls are amazingly talented. It's very unfortunate that as well as they do, girls are still second class citizens in China. I would be so incredibly proud/happy/supportive of my daughter if she were in the Olympics. However, in China, regardless of future potential, they would sooner sell their little girls than to have them as members of the family. It's hurtful. I recently watched a documentary about life in China. New parents had decided that if the baby was a boy, they'd keep him, but not if it was a girl. They'd sell her and try for the boy. We're all members of the human race, and having the mentality that girls are worthless is simply inhumane. I wish these girls well, and that at some point in their lives, they will feel worthy of life without having to leave their country.
On the upside, it certainly looks like they'll bring home the gold medal in gymnastics.
As an aside: I forget her name, but I hope they "bench" the girl who was flubbing last night. I'm sure she's great, but you could see she couldn't shake it off. With a mindset like that, she can't do well. I say give her some time to shake it off completely, then put her back in.