Are Three Olympic Gymnasts Products of China’s Culture of Cheating?

TeachAbroadChina.com ^ | 8/15/2008 | Robert Vance

[robertvance]

We should not be surprised to hear that three of China’s women gymnasts are not actually old enough to be participating in the 2008 Olympics. After all, the Chinese are good at cheating and they will tell you so unabashedly. Some months ago, I wrote an article entitled Cheating in China — It's an Epidemic in which I explained how cheating is viewed as a way to survive in China. I have had dozens of Chinese students and adults alike tell me that they have cheated often and that they will cheat again if it means that they could 'get ahead' in life. Quite simply, cheating is a part of the culture here and this fact has been confirmed by many of my Chinese students and friends...

[Scotswife]

“The best and brightest of both native born and immigrant Americans come here or stay here for the superior facilities, staff, environment - oh, and the FREEDOM to excel for their own pursuit of happiness.”

excellent point.
And that is why you will see a chinese coach sitting on the floor next to Shawn Johnson, but you’ll never see an american coach in China.
We had Valeri Luikin out there.
We had Vladimir Artemev’s son on the men’s side.
We have Bela and Marta - etc...

And it is mutually beneficial - when the russians started defecting, they traveled around the US giving clinics to teach us how to coach better technique.

It is a great experience to attend these teaching clinics - and the american program has greatly improved because of it.

[Scotswife]

“I just don’t buy the validity of the argument that girls are better adapted to gymnastics than women.”

Then you don’t know many female gymnasts.
How much time have you spent around the sport?

[NittanyLion]

I just don't buy the validity of the argument that girls are better adapted to gymnastics than women.

Then you're in opposition to every gymnastics coach in the world, including former US coach Bela Karolyi. This isn't a matter of conjecture; one need only watch the sport for a while and it becomes obvious that a smaller frame is better adapted for gymnastics events.

[Eva]

The same is true of swimming traditional breast stroke, that’s probably why they changed the breast stroke kick, women with hips are at a disadvantage with the regular kick, their legs just don’t work the same as young girls. Look at the time differences that women are able to achieve in breast stroke since they changed the kick.

In gymnastics there is no doubt that a prepubescent girl’s body just works more efficiently than a older girl’s body. The center of gravity is different as well as the proportions.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Once girls’ bodies begin to mature, their center of gravity changes. Hips will change your balance. The smaller you are, the faster you will spin and tumble.

This is partly why a lot of gymnasts were virtually starving themselves years ago to help delay the onset of puberty. All the intense training delays it as well.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Venezuelan judge was the key U.S. score hacker during the team competition. I didn't see that judge last night. I think FIG figured out what was going on and brought in someone else. But the damage had already been done.

I cannot believe FIG would be that stupid to bring in a Venuezuelan judge when the US, China, and Russia are competing against each other, but I guess they are. I'm sure when all this is done and over with, they will try to blame it all on confusion with the new scoring system, not the biased international judges on the take.

Oh well, in the end with all those chips stacked against us, we nailed 1 and 2 for the all-around competition. Pretty sweet and Nastia deserved it.

[Scotswife]

Nice pics!

Now on to the fun stuff...Nastia’s about to start rolling in some major dough!

[dervish]

“I just don’t buy the validity of the argument that girls are better adapted to gymnastics than women. “

Buy it or not it is a fact. Can’t you understand that the stnadards of the sport are geared to prepubescent bodies?

[dervish]

I can’t watch it.

I salute US success in other sports which don’t have this problem.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Buy it or not it is a fact. Can’t you understand that the stnadards of the sport are geared to prepubescent bodies?

Your idea of facts is strange. The older Americans took 1st and 2nd place in the final free style competitions. They had the right stuff. The Americans choked in the team competitions. The choking has absolutely nothing to do with body mechanics. It has everything to do with self control and concentration. The Women should have an advantage over the girls in this respect. It's clear to me that the American coaches are not hard nosed enough to toughen the their minds. The American woman who took the gold had that self control. Those that choked did not get the tough love training.

[cmdjing]

Ahhh yes, Americans, for whom blowhard announcers from NBC are the gold standard in fair and impartial officiating for uninformed rubes who can’t identify a single technical element in any routine. Somebody call the whaaaaambulance

Actually might want to read some of the posts here to get an idea of the scoring system and where deductions were made on technical elements by actual gymnasts.

http://www.intlgymnast.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5

[Zhang Fei]

When 13 year old Chinese girls beat 18 year old American women, I am not worried about cheating Chinese. I am really worried that young American women could not out perform girls. Doesn’t experience and a more mature body give the woman an advantage. It would seem so in just about every other sport. I personally think some of the sour grape complaints I've heard reflect on a lack of strategy making on the American coaches. They had four years to see this coming.

Younger gymnasts have an advantage. Chinese national championships are open to all ages. The under-age Chinese gymnasts you see at the Olympics are the winners of these national contests. In other words, they defeated Chinese gymnasts older than they were.