Another day, another possible cheat in the Beijing Olympics. Read about it below and see videos.
Chinese Gymnasts
It seems that there is a question as to whether or not the female Chinese Gymnastics Olympic team are all the required 16-years-old or older. The question has been raised by the American Gymnastics coach, Bela Karolyi. The Chinese beat the Americans yesterday (this morning) to win the gold while the Americans brought home the silver medal.
They legitimately won, don’t misunderstand. The American’s all made errors during their routines. Twenty-year-old Alicia Sacramone stumbled when she was mounting the horse. All three of the Americans made mistakes in their floor exercises. So they lost the gold medal all on their own.
Still, there is a question of the ages of the tiny, prepubescent looking Chinese girls. Some have explained their tiny physics as being under nourished in order to keep them small so that they would perform better as gymnasts. Others think the Chinese officials are lying about their ages. A former Chinese gymnast has admitted to being only 14-years-old when she competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
In spite of Bela Karolyi’s protestations, no one seems to want to follow through with investigating the ages of the girls. The International Gymnastics Federation (F.I.G.) and the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) seem to be just throwing up their hands in frustration.
The Chinese have produced passports of the girls to prove their ages and say that’s as much as they will discuss it.
Can you imagine if there was a question about the ages of the American girls? THAT would be all over the news and no one would let it go until they had forensic exams to prove their ages. Its interesting to me that the very same people that criticize Americans for virtually everything are willing to overlook anything that a Communist country does.
Chinese Gymnasts
August 13th, 2008 at 11:02 am
It is truly sad. Those American girls worked so hard and were all of legal age. In a legal competion they did lose if those girls are 16. However, I did not believe for one second those girls were 16. Therefore, America and those girls that worked so hard deserve the gold Romania the silver and Russia the bronze. If China is really honest about those girls being 16 there shouldn’t be a problem submitting to testing. But there obviously is a problem so they should be forced to provide more proof of their ages.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
The Chinese girls look like they’re about 8 or 9. Incredible! If they are indeed as old as the Chinese say they are, then they’ve been deliberately starved or otherwise “modified” to make them smaller. I don’t know how they’d do that - hormones or lack thereof - limited diets, over-exercising. Even their faces look like 10 years old at most.
August 13th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
i guess the chi coms think if they put on blue eye shadow the girls will look older. unfortunately they just look like pre pubesic girls made up to look like white trash.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Two of the girls had their real birthdates published in previous gymnastics events. China erased the online evidence, but the old files are still cached on Google.
Simple solution: a dental x-ray and exam. By 12 years old, a girl should have lost all her deciduous teeth if there is room for the adult teeth to erupt. If they have one or more unerupted adult teeth and nothing blocking their descent, they aren’t 16.
I had unerupted adult teeth into my late thirties, but they were impacted so the baby teeth never fell out. I needed oral surgery to bring the adult teeth in. The baby teeth were severely worn because they had been used longer than they were designed for. One gymnast has a missing tooth - if there’s an adult tooth up there, she’s too young. If she has more than one adult tooth unerupted, it’s a smoking gun. The IOC is simply facilitating Chinese lies.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:53 am
They are clearly cheating! I saw at the US Olympic trials that Alicia Sacramone could drive. The Americans wouldn’t cheat, if they did it would be pretty clear. But for the Chinese.. they are CRAZY!! I mean it’s the OLYMPICS for God’s sakes! Why in the world would they cheat in the biggest games in the world!! I’m only 13 and I just lost my last tooth a month ago! that must tell you something about the littler Chinese girls.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:36 am
I first must say that on a performance only basis, China did the best, hands down, But if these allegations are true, then it puts another huge damper over the 2008 Olympics. I honestly believe that these girls are not 16 years of age, and should have not been allowed to compete. I also do not understand why there is not an investigation going on to determine the truth. It is just horrible that the Chinese would force these young girls to live a lie on the biggest stage in the world, just to make thier own country look better. Those young girls without a doubt are some of the best gymnast in the world, but rules are rules, I would expect the people who host the event to be honest in all aspects regarding the games. Makes me wonder what else may have slipped through the cracks in some of the more not-so-popular events.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Of course, everyone will say that Americans are sore losers for keeping this issue alive, but this is not sour grapes over losing. Personally, I would feel the exact same way if we didn’t even field a gymnastics team. The confusing thing to me is this….the smallest girl, Deng Linlin, isn’t even mentioned in any of the stories I’ve read, yet she is the glaring evidence. She is missing her upper right cuspid. Cuspids should emerge by 11-12, 13 at the LATEST. I’m sure many things are done to make sure they remain small and light for as long as possible, but you can’t fix tooth development. Just the fact that the press has uncovered multiple ‘official’ ages for some of these girls should be enough for the IOC to investigate. The admission of former gymnasts that they competed in Athens at 14 should be another nail in the coffin. Let’s show this communist dictatorship how freedom of the press works!
August 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
“Mounting the horse?” Female gymnasts don’t mount a horse. Men mount the pommel horse. Perhaps you meant “the beam”?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
They’re obviously underage. I mean, that’s totally obvious. It is true Asian women tend to appear younger than other nationalities at the same age. And they are generally smaller in physique. But this is ridiculous. As other post mentioned, the one girl is missing a tooth. “Nuff” said. But in addition to that Even in the muscular athletic bodies of elite gymnasts, you can identify the onset of puberty at that age, ei: spreading of hips, breast development, albeit very small. And from a general audience point of view, you can see the maturity in the faces of the girls at that age. If they are underage, the U.S, indeed deserves a gold medal and ARE the best gymnasts in the world. If these girls are younger, which from my point of view, 2 or 3 years does make a diffeence, younger gymnasts seem to be more fearless in taking risks, their bodies are smaller and lacking those developemental changes mentioned above making it easier to perform tricks, stick landings, and manuver in general. Smaller bodies are easier to rotate, balance and control. It could be said that junior gymnasts are perhaps a little better than senior gymnasts for these reasons. Younger gymnasts have the advantage. And if the Chinese are crude enough to use a young girls voice but not her image because she’s not “cute” enough, I wouldn’t put this past them. I wish they would mandate testing. If the chinese girls are indeed of age, they should have no problems offering or submitting to prove it.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
man. americans cry so much.