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 14th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I still cant believe we (the Americans) diss China so much. Sure, they are commie - does that mean they cheat? USA’s attitude seems to be if people/countries are not kowtowing to them, they bring up accusations, whip up media reports and create a general frenzy.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
All are underage except for the one on the far right. But the IOC doesn’t want a big scandal and won’t investigate. They are being forced not to by the Chinese dictatorship.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:58 am
I was a gymnast during Nadia’s years and I am angered by the fact that these Chinese girls are obviously not 16. The oldest girl may be about 16 but the smaller gymnasts are obviously NOT even close.
I do think they preformed the best, however, they did not do it fairly so they should not be awarded the metals for that reason.
If they had to put a team together of 16+ aged athletes it may be a totally different outcome. We will never know!
As Bela pointed out they are under less stress.
Also no one has pointed out that when a 16 yr. old hits puberty the body goes through drastic changes making it much more difficult to perform. Our weight, height, and flexibility all change to a great degree. A young child of 10 or 11 yrs. old are not faced with these problems.
Even the amount of floor space is affected that you perform on.
A little girl will use 2/3’s the space needed to perform a routine on and are less likely to step out of bounds.
Has no one else noticed that the smallest gymnast is missing a canine tooth? Only 10 to 11 yr. olds lose these teeth. How many 16 yr. olds lose teeth? NONE!
Bob Costas seemed very uncomfortable addressing the issue. Why is the US media underplaying this, when it could be the biggest story of the Olympics next to Michael Phelps wins?
If any of our reporters did research and followed up on it, the American girls would feel better about their accomplishments. Silver is wonderful, but you can see the disappointment in their body language.
As a former gymnast that worked hard to get where I did I am so angered over this issue… it makes me want to stop watching the Olympics.
We have reasons for rules.
The Olympics should be held to the highest of standards, and be checked to make sure all athletes and countries are complying.
If we let people slide on these standards it really shouldn’t be called the Olympics.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
okay peple who think americans are whining too much, even if they werent commies the girls look obiviously underaged, other countries should be questioning this too, idk if they are or not but they should, sorry if we dont like to sit by and watch a possible cheating scandal, if it was the u.s. with the 10 yr old looking girls the world we be going crazy with acusations too. but i do feel bad for the kids in china getting taken away from their parents just so they can be turned into hardcore gymnasts, its sad and wrong they only get to see their parents a couple times a year
August 15th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
On the one hand, yes these girls look extremely young and by American standards, they don’t look a day over 16. On the other hand, why would China take a chance by putting underage girls in the public’s eye where millions across the world will clearly see they are breaking the law of Olympic age requirement. It doesn’t make sense they would take this type of risk in leaving a blemish in the “new China” image they’re trying to portray to the world. If you look at pictures of Shawn Johnson from Athens Olympics, she looks very young too. Why are we wasting time debating this? Why does it matter? Its not about the medal, its not about US v. China, its about appreciating the art of gymnastics.
August 17th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
John K, One of their gymnasts in the 2004 Athens Olympic games has already admitted that she performed while underage, why would they not do it again? Can you honestly look at the picture beginning the article and tell me all of those girls are undoubtedly 16 years old? If so, I hope you never have sexual intercourse, as you’ll like end up in a state penitentiary under statutory rape charges.
Lindsay, Shawn Johnson does not have the face and body of a 10 year old, the Chinese female gymnasts do. Obviously China believes the rest of the world consists of idiots and many people do stupid things under scrutiny, what makes this situation any different?
It’s not about appreciating the art of gymnastics, it’s about appreciating the rules. Underage gymnasts are supposed to compete in the Olympic gymnastics competition, and the Chinese female gymnasts are CLEARLY underage. The issue is not who performed better, the issue is that China broke the rules.
August 17th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
You know what, you people are absolutely sick. Just because they look like they are younger than 16 years of age and they don’t match up to the TYPICAL AMERICAN SIZE at the age of 16, that DOES NOT MEAN that they are not 16. So I suggest that you all get over the U.S. loss of the gold and stop finding reasons to strip other countries of their gold medals. If you all had brains, you would know for a fact that all countries do not have people that develop at the same rate that your country does. Asian people are known for looking younger and being stronger at older ages. So stop this nonsense. They already gave proof that they are 16. If the other Olympic officials aren’t doing anything about it, that should show you all something that they know they are of age, and they were shown proof. Do you really think China, the country HOSTING THE 2008 OLYMPIC SUMMER GAMES, would actually do something as stupid and risky as to put underage girls in the games? NO I DON’T THINK SO. SO GET OVER YOURSELVES AND COME TO GRIPS WITH THE FACT THAT THE CHINESE GIRLS WON AND THEY DID IT ALL LEGALLY AND WITHOUT BEING UNDERAGE. Gosh, just because the U.S. athletes are known for doping themselves the most out of any country, doesn’t mean that others will do it or go to other extreme lengths to win. GROW UP ALL OF YOU.
August 17th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Gabs, this has been an issue since before the opening ceremony. And you should really suppress your obvious envy of America, it makes you look even more foolish.
It is true that many Asians look younger than their actual age, there are noticeable differences between 12 year olds and a 16 year olds no matter the ethnicity. Besides the issues in looks, height, and weight of these girls China already has a record of falsifying the age of one of their athletes, who just so happened to be a gymnast as well. The third piece of evidence comes from various Chinese, government-run websites that confirmed the ages of at least four athletes to be 14 years old.
Yes, I believe China, the hosting country, would go as far as to blatantly cheat in their efforts to win. In fact, their status as the hosting country makes it far easier and convenient for them to forge passports, especially considering He Kexin’s passport was issued to her on February 14, 2008. Now don’t you look like an idiot?
If one of the American gymnasts were under scrutiny for being underage, the entire world, including you, would be blasting us, so please shut the hell up. Isn’t it funny how none of the athletes who have been disqualified from this years games have been American? I think you’re just pissed because whatever pathetic country you’re from has most likely done pretty poorly in these Olympic games.
Chinese news story #1, cached from Google because of its mysterious removal a couple of days ago. Notice the lines ‘14-year-old newcomer’ and ‘less than 80 days until the Beijing Olympics.’
Chinese news story #2 This article is the same as the previous, but from a different newspaper and with a slight editorial change! See if you can find it!
Chinese news story#3 Translation: The thirteen-year-old He Kexin, from Wuhan, met opponent Yang Yilin, who is on the National Team. Amid cheers from her hometown audience, the young girl excellently executed the full set of moves in the finals, and just beat out Yang Yilin, who already had high scores. … If she was 13 in 2007, she can’t be 16 in 2008!
There are even more articles that prove the age of probably the youngest of China’s gymnasts. This a valid issue that the FIG is scared to investigate because they don’t want to embarrass the host country. I guarantee that the Americans’ medals would have been stripped within hours if the same allegations had been made against them.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Yes, they do not look 16. But, asian people do have the tendency of looking younger! Have you not noticed that? Besides, if the officials aren’t doing anything about it, WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING? And the oldest girl in the team is nearly 20 as she took part in the Athens Olympics. So does that explain to you that asian people actually DO look younger than westerners?
August 19th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
It is so apparently obvious that these chinese women are underage. If they were not then you would not be able to find contradictory evidence. The athletes have competed in several events in the past and you can trace evidence of previously submitted birth certificates showing that they are indeed underage. Why do people think that Americans are trying to have a witch hunt when we are actually just not going to let cheaters win?