And even if those girls are really 13 then…the american team got their asses kicked by a buncha little kids

The good thing about the Olympics is that its all about fair play. But, Come on now! We all know that those gymnast from China were under aged! Are they good…Yes!! Great even! They even deserved the gold medals….in the Baby Gap sponsored World Todd…

First off, let me start by telling you that it’s pretty funny when you say ‘whatever pathetic country’ that I come from…I happen to come from the United States of America! LOL…isn’t that hilarious? You see that comment you made? It’s that exact attitude that people see when they think of Americans and it’s people like yourself that give Americans that name because of your superior attitude (I am referring to your ‘envy of America’ comment). Why must everyone envy America? What’s exacty IS there to envy? I digress.

To tell you the truth, I really do not care or care to take to heart who does well and who doesn’t in these Olympics. I just don’t appreciate it when people judge without actually knowing anything and having full proof. (Yes I admit, maybe I also did that up above) But, if it was SUCH an issue before the opening ceremony (as you said), then why oh why didn’t it make headlines like it currently is today?

Anyway, if I didn’t know any better, I would think you were a relative to one of the girls that lost because it seems as though you have such an emotional connection with this issue. I say this because you can’t have a civil discussion without becoming clearly upset about it. Your overly emotional language was unnecessary, but I guess you have yet to learn about that in life.

I have stated my opinion. I am done with this issue. Continue to have your discussion about it everyone, but I honestly don’t think they are underaged. I could be wrong, but so could those sources that are saying that they are. I just wish we’d stop doing this and appreciate the actual sport. But I guess people will be people.

Oh and by the way, (1)there really is NOTHING about America that I would ever feel the need to envy, (2)even if America was under scrutiny, I wouldn’t be the one pointing fingers like you are, and (3)actually I don’t look like an idiot because you don’t have proof, my sweet dear honey hobbit

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.

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.

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.