Posted on 08/21/2008 5:11:10 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA
The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into the age of Chinese gymnast He Kexin, The Times of London reports. Faced with almost insurmountable evidence which suggests that He is two years younger than the birth date listed on her Chinese passport, the IOC has launched an inquiry that could result in the stripping of He's gold medals.
This news comes on the heels of another Times report that details the findings of a New York computer security expert who found official Chinese documents that list He's age as 14 years and 220 days. Mike Walker used a Chinese search engine's cache feature to find He's actual date of birth on spreadsheets from a Chinese government website. The spreadsheets were taken down off the site recently and He's name had been removed.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
No wonder China wants to ban the Internet!!
It is a terrible thing that China has done to those girls. But it is not fair to the other girls who have played by the rules. Nastia could have made the last Olympic team, but she wasn’t old enough. She certainly had the talent. She’s undergone two growth spurts since that time, and she’s had to deal with injuries that almost always follow those growth spurts. It’s a lot different swinging a smaller body around the uneven bars than the size body Nastia has now.
In the future, the rules should be amended to drop the age requirements altogether or to return to the rules of yesteryear when 14s could compete.
That’s hilarious!!!
Months from now, the IOC will probably issue a stern warning to the Chinese Olympic Committee, warn them not to do it again. Tsk tsk. Shame on you.
Pathetic.
And the other gymnasts who played by the rules? The Americans, the Russians, the Romanians? They will remain screwed forever.
Not only is she underage, but worse yet, she’s a He!
The whole point of that rule was to cut down on these 3rd world countries like China and Russia running gulag gymnastic academies and puting 12 year old girls out there to compete in the olympics. It was also to try to strike a balance between complicated moves and artistic performance.
It's called Women's gymnastics at the olympics, not childs gymnastics. Keep 12 year olds out of the olympics.
Are you sure? Where are you getting this info? I’d like to check into it further if you have a source.
I hope that the non-China athletes all knew something of this going in. It is traditional at Olympic Games held in Communist countries. At least they probably don’t have genetic (or more complete) males competing as females the way the old Soviet Bloc countries did, even in non Bloc countries. It is a wonder to me that so many folks appear to be genuinely shocked at the chicanery of Communist China.
Gymnastics is a mess. I love it, I was a gymnast growing up, but the sport is a stinking mess.
I agree. The age rule does NOT prevent these kids being taken for training by the state for intense 24/7 training from infancy or at whatever age they show some ability.
Punks.
Hey, it could be worse, it could be pair's skate dancing.
China has done a terrible thing to these girls, but more importantly, they dishonored the Olympic competition by not complying with the rules.
This is the same country that brought poisoned food, medicine, and toys to the world market. What else can one expect from low-down cheating commie bastards?
Too bad for the girls, but as a subsequent poster says - this is women’s gymnastics, not children’s gymnastics.
The medals need to be taken away from He and from the others who “won” the team event in which He took part.
Re: How can it be definitively proven that these girls even know how old they are?
If you live on an island you may not know your true age.
In China??
Cmon.
Let’s not forget the terrible thing the IOC did.....to award the games to China in the first place.
Separate issue, but absolutely concur.
The International Olympic Committee put a stamp of respectability on a brutal murdering dictatorship. The Chinese government has no respect for human rights or personal liberty. Further, the United States has no business doing business with this murdering dictatorship. It also has no business granting visitation by American athletes, Olympic or otherwise, into such a country.
The Chinese have outlawed Christian worship in their country and have stifled every manner of free speech and free press. They are an outlaw regime, not elected by their citizens, whose leaders should be arrested, tried and hanged for their murderous deeds against their own people, not the least of which was the crushing to death of innocent unarmed civilians in Tiananmen Square by Chinese Army tanks acting on the orders of unelected tyrants.
The world should witness Chinese leaders swinging from gallows for their unending atrocities.
They slaughter Tibetan monks for sport.
Why should we give them any legitimacy in true sporting events?
One other thing of which I am unsure--my best friend while growing up had been born in Saigon, came to the US in 1975. We were both born in the same year, but she always quoted her age as a year older. She explained to me that it was traditional, in Vietnam, to give your age as the year you are beginning to live, not the year you have just completed. For all I know this is common throughout Asia. Might be just another way to confuse an already confused young girl about her age.
I don't know about you, but I spend an awful lot of time with 3-4 year olds. They'll believe practically anything.
It doesn’t matter what they believe.
If they can be proven to be underage they need to be stripped of their medals. Period.
And if not, all people who have had their medals stripped for steroids need to get them back.
It has to be one or the other.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.