Here’s a snippet from a news article about ages. 
 

There’s no minimum age to compete in surfing or skateboarding events, whereas Olympic gymnasts must be at least 16 years old and boxers must be 18 (fun fact: this is the only sport with a maximum age limit, which caps competitors at 40 years old).

RELATED: Nishiya, just 13, gives Japan sweep in street skateboarding

RELATED: Rules of the Game: Skateboarding

The youngest athlete in the Tokyo Olympics is 12-year-old Syrian table tennis competitor Hend Zaza. She was eliminated from the games on Saturday, but still has plenty more years left to compete.

As for why skateboarders are so young, one theory is that once you reach a certain age, the fear of injury can make it harder to compete at a high level, or to keep pushing boundaries and learning new skills.  

I was shocked at the ages of the skateboarders. Maybe other athletes are that young too, but I think I hadn’t realized it. 

from The Guardian, but it’s everywhere today…
 

Prince Andrew ‘stonewalled’ requests to cooperate, court documents say

Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed lawsuit against Andrew in New York on Monday accusing him of sexually abusing her

Virginia Roberts Giuffre sued Prince Andrew after the British royal “stonewalled” requests by US federal prosecutors to cooperate with their inquiries into the child sex trafficking crimes of deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, court documents have described.

Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Andrew in federal court in New York on Monday accusing , him of sexually abusing her at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan and at other locations in 2001 when she 17, according to court records.

The prince has denied having sex with her, repeatedly in recent years dismissing the allegations against him, either himself or via representatives.

On Tuesday a spokeswoman for Andrew said there was “no comment” when asked to respond to 38-year-old Giuffre’s decision to file the civil suit.

In late 2019, Andrew told the BBC’s Newsnight program that he never had sex with Giuffre, saying: “It didn’t happen” and that he had “no recollection” of ever meeting her.

She has requested a trial by jury after the prince “stonewalled” requests to cooperate, court documents said.

The Press Association news agency has seen material sent to lawyers for Andrew on 19 July which would allow any relevant statute of limitations to be temporarily suspended in the case.

“Again Prince Andrew stonewalled – ignoring [the] plaintiff’s letter and emails without any reply or response, thereby making this action necessary now,” Giuffre‘s court documents state.

It is unclear what powers the US court has to compel Andrew to appear, and in 2020 the then US attorney general, William Barr, said there were no plans to extradite the royal to the US.

Federal investigators in New York have asked Andrew to come forward to talk.

In June 2020 the then US attorney for the southern district of New York, Geoffrey Berman, publicly accused Andrew of trying to “falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate” and said a request to schedule an interview had been repeatedly declined.

Andrew has stepped down from royal duties amid the Epstein sex scandal after his reputation was left in tatters.

Giuffre filed the civil suit on Monday seeking unspecified damages, and the court documents claim she was “lent out for sexual purposes” by convicted sex offender Epstein including while she was still a minor under US law.

Andrew is named as the only defendant in the 15-page suit, brought under New York state’s Child Victims Act, though Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell are mentioned frequently throughout.

“In this country no person, whether president or prince, is above the law, and no person, no matter how powerless or vulnerable, can be deprived of the law’s protection,” Giuffre’s lawsuit stated.

“Twenty years ago Prince Andrew’s wealth, power, position, and connections enabled him to abuse a frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her. It is long past the time for him to be held to account.”

The lawsuit said that on one occasion, the prince sexually abused her in London at the home of Maxwell, when Epstein, Maxwell and Andrew forced her to have sexual intercourse with the prince against her will.

On another occasion, Andrew sexually abused the plaintiff in Epstein’s New York mansion, the lawsuit said.

Epstein’s one-time girlfriend and business companion Maxwell is in jail in New York awaiting trial accused of procuring underage girls for Epstein.

Epstein was ruled to have killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial.

He had previously been convicted of child sex abuse offenses in Florida and was arrested in July 2019 and charged with federal child sex trafficking crimes.

9 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

Funny - I saw the gossip that Fergie was defending him, saying he's a wonderful SIL or whatever - I missed the original brouhaha but that is pretty much what I envisioned 🤣 Geez, his wife had just had a kid when he hooked up with Eugenie, right? Or recently enough, at least....

I thought it was the other ones husband that left the pregnant woman…

Do I want him to Just. Stop. Talking? Yes

Will I read this book? Probably also yes. 

I’m also curious about the prevelance of long Covid in people who get it after being vaccinated. It’s been 10 months since my son had it and he still can’t smell anything. Granted, that’s a mild issue, but 10 months is a long time for someone who has the more severe side effects. I’m hoping that vaccination cuts down on long COVID as well in people who still contract the virus. 
 

My husband went back to work on Monday and large swaths of the DC workforce seem to have started back this month. Even in my very progressive part of Northern VA with its high vaccination rates, mask wearing is starting to fall off just about everywhere. I saw a handful of massless people at the store this week which is absolutely new to me here. If it’s “over” here, I’d hate to see what it’s like in Missouri. 

I’m so sorry. I hope you are all ok, especially your father. That’s tough. Scary too since vaccinated. I’m hearing about so many breakthrough infections. I don’t think reporting on this feels really accurate. 

I’m betting it’s not over wanting to see his kid though. 

I’ve already seen tons of Vince Foster comments on Twitter. 

4 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

Today Show just showed footage of First Lady Jill Biden walking & chatting with Duchess of Cambridge in Cornwall - WOW is Kate looking super skinny, I was shocked. I know she's always thin and some of it is just her body type and that she apparently enjoys exercise (of that I am envious!) but it looks like she's stress skinny or other right now. Not good. I hope she's ok.

ETA these stills aren't so bad - the video on the tv looked worse. https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/gallery/20210611115122/kate-middleton-teams-up-with-jill-biden-cornwall/1/

 

I saw that clip and I thought the exact same thing. Jill Biden is not a large woman and Kate looked minuscule compared to her. I’ve always thought she was very thin but this was the first time I thought it looked concerning. I’m hoping it’s just the cut of the dress or something, but …

It feels like an intentional turning away from the formality of the royal names. Whatever. I don’t dislike them but I’m honestly a little bored/burned out by the back and forth pettiness. I need to ignore the royals for a while or Charlotte needs to do something extra saucy and bring me back in.

Yuck. Reading about what her life was like at 14 was pretty sad. This quote stuck out to me.
—

She eventually found work as a model, and as she sought acting roles, received advice from Lela Rogers — mother of her good friend Ginger Rogers — that she would later follow.

“If you want to be a star within two years, get auditioned on the casting couch,” Lela told her. “That’s the advice I gave my own daughter.”

Becoming one of Manhattan’s most popular models, 

5 hours ago, Wordsworth said:

Harry’s gone nuclear with public criticism of the Queen and Prince Charles in this Apple TV series, if what I’ve read is true (I’m not invested enough to listen).

Whether all of his criticism is accurate or not (and I imagine some of it is), you’re  not going to convince me now that Harry wants a quiet life not linked to the royal family. he’s clearly more than happy to take the publicity (and money? Not sure if any had changed hands for this) by talking about them. 
 

In short I am happy to believe they are all as bad as each other. 😂 

Edited because I felt bad criticizing him while he’s clearly in the middle of some mental health work. But, yeah.

I feel like she’s been sort of hinting this way for a while, so I’m not terribly surprised. That being said, this girl feels like a walking red flag. I’ve long been worried about her long term outcome. Maybe this is what she has needed to do for some time and it will help her find some peace? One can only hope because she seems very troubled. As much as Hollywood is a gawking event, there are real people there and occasionally I just get the feeling that a few people are heading towards a metaphorical car crash. I don’t like to see myself proven right. 

I do kind of think the old “son” looks quite a bit like Prince Phillip, but so do a lot of old white guys. I can’t get past the term “falling pregnant” though. I’ve seen it before and it’s always seemed so weird to me.

Bill and Melinda Gates. That’s a biggie. Wow.

Yeah, I don’t think anyone thought that was organic. But none the less, it’s been on every news and talk show in DC. They were still excited to get a shout out for Gogo!

Sorry about that. Hope you will be back to normal soon. Although my husband and I had no serious side effects (I had fatigue after dose 2) both of my kid had some nasty side effects after the second dose. Good news is they didn’t last long, maybe 6 hours or so and they both woke up the next day good as new. 
 
Hope you bounce back soon. 

1 hour ago, Hoyaheel said:

I went to college in a town that had a lot of cobbles - and not a lot of public transport (none of us had cars). I recall it was MUCH easier to walk in heels on cobbles after a couple drinks! And now that's the only way I know how! Not that I wear heels these days, not for work or really dress up, though I haven't had to dress up on forever either. 

Foggy Bottom had no cobbles and a metro station. Much easier for us to navigate while drunk!

Legally, no since they didn’t get married, I think. But they have so much money it might just be like, whatever. 

https://www.instyle.com/news/meghan-markle-celebrity-friends
 

I do t recognize anyone but Chrissy and I doubts it’s her. 

Add me to the list. I actually went to the doctor last month because everything has been so out of whack. I looked at my dates and I can’t blame any of it on my shot. I also now have a fibroid but it’s very small and the symptoms are minor enough that I’m trying to wait it out and hope I go into full menopause before it gets bad enough to treat. I suspect I’m relatively far along in the peri phase, but haven’t had any hot flashes. All of the other symptoms check out though! My mom was 52 when she was officially in menopause so I have a little way to go based on that, but of course that’s just an imaginary deadline for me.

Daughter and I were bored earlier in the week, so we went to the British embassy to see if they had any big to do about Phillip. I can’t seem to upload the photo here, file size is too big. When Diana died it was a massive event there. Yesterday there was a tent set up, like you’d have at a soccer game, with a sign announcing the death and two small tables with flowers. No condolence book, just an online version. Very low key. On the plus side we got to wave to the VP as the embassy is right next door to the Naval Observatory and we happened to be there when the motorcade came through. We fan girled. 

1 hour ago, MissuTam said:

Fully vaccinated!  Had to do the Six Flags Mass Vax Site here in Maryland.  Pfizer first vax-sore arm, second vax- fatigue first day, joint and muscle ache seond day and fever & slight headache on the third day.  No other side effects.  

How was that process at Six Flags? I just saw it on the news the first few days it was open when it was apparently a cluster fu@$ and was causing huge traffic delays and backups. Did it get smoothed out? Glad you are all done and with minimal side effects!

Harry has arrived in the UK. William released a statement. Feels like it could definitely be read as a dig at Harry if you want it to be. 
 

and yes, I KNOW it’s like the ultimate in privileged family, but I can’t get over how charming the image of Phillip pulling up in a literal carriage to take George out for adventures is. 
 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNkRn-xliiv/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_mid=E4CA8F35-0E1D-4AF5-BEEC-773E47314C43