IOC refuses to doubt underage gymnasts

[Slavic]

I don't think age should be a problem, we just got to make sure they aren't smuggling sausages.

[Red]

Be that as it may, it's a rule and they most likely broke it.

[Italian Jew]

Like I said, we wouldn't be bringing this up if we had won.

[LitKey]

Havok, sure Chinese women may be smaller than women of other race, but did you SEE the fucking Chinese gymnastic team? They look about 10-14 years old. One was smiling with her teeth and she had a fucking missing tooth for Christ's sake. Chinese women are not THAT small. Don't you have any Chinese, or hell, ANY ASIAN teenagers in high schools on the Island for comparison? Because it seems to me that you have never seen a teenage Asian female if you think those girls fit the age deemed necessary to compete in Women's Gymnastics. It's not hard to forge a passport, especially when the government of the country you are in is the one providing it. Add that to the fact that China has a history of pulling this shit in the Olympics.

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/27/sports/OLY.php

 

China named its Olympic women's gymnastics team Friday, and the inclusion of at least two athletes has further raised questions, widespread in the sport, about whether the host nation for the Beijing Games is using underage athletes.

 

Chinese officials responded immediately, providing The New York Times, which publishes the International Herald Tribune, with copies of passports indicating that both gymnasts in question - He Kexin, a gold-medal favorite in the uneven parallel bars, and Jiang Yuyuan - are 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility.

 

Officials with the International Gymnastics Federation said that questions about He's age had been raised by Chinese news media, USA Gymnastics and fans of the sport, but that the Chinese authorities presented passport information to show that He is 16.

 

But online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, seem to contradict the passport information, indicating that He and Jiang may be as young as 14.

 

Mary Lou Retton, the all-around gymnastics champion at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, recently watched a competition video of He and other Chinese gymnasts on the uneven bars.

 

"The girls are so little, so young," Retton said. Speaking of He, Retton rolled her eyes and laughed, saying, "They said she was 16, but I don't know."

 

An advantage for younger gymnasts is that they are lighter and, often, more fearless when they perform difficult maneuvers, said Nellie Kim, a five-time Olympic gold medalist for the former Soviet Union who is the president of the women's technical committee for the Swiss-based International Gymnastics Federation.

 

"It's easier to do tricks," Kim said. "And psychologically, I think they worry less."

 

The women's gymnastics competition at the Beijing Games, which begin Aug. 8, is expected to be a dramatic battle for the team gold medal between the United States and China. At the 2007 world championships, the Americans prevailed by 95-hundredths of a point.

 

On the uneven bars, He and Nastia Liukin of the United States are expected to challenge for an individual gold medal.

 

In Chinese newspaper profiles this year, He was listed as 14, too young for the Beijing Games.

 

The Times found two online records of official registration lists of Chinese gymnasts that list He's birthday as Jan. 1, 1994, which would make her 14. A 2007 national registry of Chinese gymnasts - now blocked in China but viewable through Google cache - shows He's birthday as "1994.1.1."

 

Another registration list that is unblocked, dated Jan. 27, 2006, regarding an intercity competition in Chengdu, China, also lists He's birthday as Jan. 1, 1994. That date differs by two years from the birth date of Jan. 1, 1992, listed on He's passport, which was issued Feb. 14, 2008.

 

The other gymnast, Jiang, is listed on her passport - issued March 2, 2006 - as having been born on Nov. 1, 1991, which would make her 16.

 

A different birth date, indicating Jiang is not yet 15, appears on a list of junior competitors from the Zhejiang Province sports administration. The list of athletes includes national identification card numbers into which birth dates are embedded. Jiang's national card number as it appears on this list shows her birth date as Oct. 1, 1993, which indicates that she will turn 15 in the fall, and would thus be ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games.

 

Zhang Hongliang, an official with the Chinese gymnastics federation, said Friday that perhaps Chinese reporters and the provincial sports authorities made mistakes in listing He's and Jiang's birth dates differently from the dates given on their passports.

 

"The two athletes have attended international sports competitions before, and I'm sure the information is correct," Zhang said of the athletes' passports.

 

The International Gymnastics Federation said it contacted Chinese officials in May about the gymnasts' ages after receiving inquiries from fans and reading newspaper accounts, including one in The China Daily, the country's official English-language paper, stating that He was 14.

 

"We heard these rumors, and we immediately wrote to the Chinese gymnastics federation" about He, said Andre Gueisbuhler, the secretary general of the international federation. "They immediately sent a copy of the passport, showing the age, and everything is O.K.

 

"That's all we can check."

 

If someone provided proof that any gymnast was underage, or filed a formal complaint, Gueisbuhler said, he would be "quite happy to check and ask again."

 

"As long as we have no official complaint, there is no reason to act, if we get a passport that obviously is in order," he said.

 

Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics, said he had asked Kim of the international federation about He's age after receiving e-mail messages referring to newspaper accounts and comments made on blogs and in Internet chat rooms that said she was 14. But Penny said he was not really concerned.

[jeN]

Like I said, we wouldn't be bringing this up if we had won.

 

Except it's been brought up before the Olympics even started.

[SpikedRocker]

I honestly don't think the US even deserved the silver. The captain messed up twice in a row, big time in the floor and balance beam. I didn't get to see the rest of it but what I saw was bad. There must have been a French judge there saying, "awww she fucked up how like life, I give her the medal". Of course thats been used before, thanks Robin Williams for the great line :-P

[Italian Jew]

They probably did do it, but no action can be taken unless you know for sure. Yes they have done so in the past, but so have many other countries. They have the means to forge a document, but that does not mean that they did. I do think some form of forgery was involved, but nothing can be done until you have undeniable evidence that supports the claim.

 

You have the online source and the official documents that are at odds with each other. Since they refute the claim of the other, there remains doubt and you cannot punish a team when there is still some doubt. This is based upon the rules that we follow and preach to the world, so that is what we should hold them up to.

 

If this was an actual cause for concern not related to our loss, then people would be shooting it out of their ass weeks ago and not now. There was only a little portion of it mentioned in the news, but now since the US lost to them, we must push the story because it makes us feel better. All this is doing is making the games more political, which is something they should not be.

[LitKey]

BUT LOL DONT U SEE TEH CHINEES R WINNING ALL TEH GOLDZ BECUS OF THEIR CONSPIRACIES

 

[Lux]

Why are you moaning over this being cheating???

 

Even IF they are under 16, please tell me how being under 16 helps them win gold??

 

It seems a bit silly that you are complaining about younger gymnasts beating you.........QQ.

 

Its not like you have a massive amount of medals, nearly 20 more golds than us :001_rolleyes:

[Red]

Being younger does give them a mental advantage, they dont' grasp the seriousness of the event as much as the older competitors, giving them a clearer state of mind.