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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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 Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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| That comes as no surprise. It probably involved a level of government in China so high that cheating on this scale hasn't happened since East Germany in the 70s and 80s. |
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MANDRL
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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| The crappy thing is these girls really kicked ass. All of their hard work will be thrown away if they are proved to be underage. This is not their fault. When your communist government tells you to jump, you gotta jump. |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| why is there an age limit in the first place? seems like the optimum time to be a gymnast is like 10-16. |
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nautilus
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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Theres not much the IOC can do about it.
What do you suggest, expel China from the games? |
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shifter2009
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
Location: wisconsin
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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| nautilus wrote: |
Theres not much the IOC can do about it.
What do you suggest, expel China from the games? |
Take back the gold medals, pretty simple. If they don't give them back, just award new one to the proper parties. |
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I_Am_The_Kiwi
Joined: 10 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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she has an officially issued Chinese passport that says shes 16, the IOC will take this as enough proof, as they have said already.
Some hacker finding cached files from a chinese site is hardly going to be enough proof to strip her of her medals. Sure it is interesting and maybe she is only 14. But can they prove it unequivocally without causing a huuuge upset by pissing off the hosting nation, taking a gold medal and saying they willfully put an underage person in the contest with a fake government passport.....big accusations there.
Nothing can or will be done unless she confesses. |
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MANDRL
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I_Am_The_Kiwi wrote: |
she has an officially issued Chinese passport that says shes 16, the IOC will take this as enough proof, as they have said already.
Some hacker finding cached files from a chinese site is hardly going to be enough proof to strip her of her medals. Sure it is interesting and maybe she is only 14. But can they prove it unequivocally without causing a huuuge upset by pissing off the hosting nation, taking a gold medal and saying they willfully put an underage person in the contest with a fake government passport.....big accusations there.
Nothing can or will be done unless she confesses. |
You're probably right. I cannot see the Chinese confessing or giving up any documents that haven't been altered. However, here is another story that was brought up about their age from about a week ago:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aBdBFmc7MVsE&refer=home
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The Chinese government news agency Xinhua reported nine months ago that gold medal-winning gymnast He Kexin was 13 years old, which would make her ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games, the Associated Press said.
The Nov. 3 Xinhua report from China's Cities Game was found on its Web site by the Associated Press, the news agency said. The story was later inaccessible, though the AP said it saved a copy of the page. Sports editors at the state-run news agency declined to comment on the report, AP said. |
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shifter2009
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
Location: wisconsin
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I_Am_The_Kiwi wrote: |
she has an officially issued Chinese passport that says shes 16, the IOC will take this as enough proof, as they have said already.
Some hacker finding cached files from a chinese site is hardly going to be enough proof to strip her of her medals. Sure it is interesting and maybe she is only 14. But can they prove it unequivocally without causing a huuuge upset by pissing off the hosting nation, taking a gold medal and saying they willfully put an underage person in the contest with a fake government passport.....big accusations there.
Nothing can or will be done unless she confesses. |
Oh really?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/21/bc.oly.gym.underage.chinese.ap/index.html |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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| It would be pretty easy to visit her hometown, talk to all her teachers, interview relatives and neighbours, etc. ... in a free country. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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| JMO wrote: |
| why is there an age limit in the first place? seems like the optimum time to be a gymnast is like 10-16. |
Because the intensive training takes a terrible toll on a young child's still-developing body. |
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I_Am_The_Kiwi
Joined: 10 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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my point still stands.
the IOC is asking the international gym committe to look into it. What kind of proof can they get, random documents from the net, testimony from Mr Chang down the street who remembers she was 14 not 16.
Compared with a host of official documents from the Chinese govt. i doubt much will come of it. |
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nautilus
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I_Am_The_Kiwi wrote: |
| i doubt much will come of it. |
And its not like other countries haven't done the same before. |
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Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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The New York Times found the same thing about a month ago, but it didn't get much attention at the time. An especially interesting part from their article:
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| Yang Yun of China won individual and team bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and later said in an interview on state-run television that she had been 14 at the time of those Games. A Hunan Province sports administration report also said later that she had been 14 when she competed in Sydney. |
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html |
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bluelake
Joined: 01 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| JMO wrote: |
| why is there an age limit in the first place? seems like the optimum time to be a gymnast is like 10-16. |
The reason being, when you are that young (or younger), you are much more agile than those even a couple years older. Plus, they would not have had all the falls that those older would have had, thus they would tend to be more daring at what they do. Those become unfair advantages. If a rule is in place, it should be followed; teams breaking an age rule or doping should be held equally accountable.
As for proving her age, it may be difficult, but when a gymnast is missing a tooth, the age certainly does seem questionable.
With that said, the Chinese gymnast in question did marvelous routines; I hope she tries again in four years--there should be no question of her age then. |
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