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752 Comments
- billjimbob, on 08/13/2008, -27/+391Lol, I watched part of it on TV (in between the Michael Phelp's races)... a few of these Chinese girls could have passed for 8yrs old (being that small is a huge advantage, apparently). The announcers said these girls were taken out of daycare when they were 3 years old to train for the olympics. They aren't athletes, they're gymnastic machines.
And I know the article mentions removing the age restriction as an option, but it has to be dangerous being that small while flipping around in the air like that. The US girls were jacked and looked like they could take a punch or two, but the Chinese were rail-thin. - sockpuppets, on 08/13/2008, -2/+291We obviously need to saw these women in half and count their rings. Only then will we know the truth.
- V3n0M, on 08/13/2008, -10/+266You decide...
16-year-old Chinese divers:
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/ ...
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/ ...
16-year-old Chinese gymnasts:
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/ ...
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/ ... - suntzusputnik, on 08/13/2008, -40/+285……......……..,’ ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;__ ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ‘-,’……………..
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………,’-~’ ,-‘-~’’ ‘, ,-‘ ‘, ,,- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ‘, ; ; ‘~-,,,-‘’ ; ,’ ; ; ; ; ‘, ;,-‘’ ; ‘, ,-‘,…………….. - shufan, on 08/13/2008, -72/+295My opinion is:
1. If indeed the Chinese gymnasts are underaged, that would not be "good".
2. You really can't say that they are underaged, there is no proof. Chinese girls tend to look much younger than they really are due to their small builds. For example, look at Cheng Fei, who is definitely really 20. She could easily pass as 17-18 or even 16.
3. The US did not lose because of whatever age the Chinese gymnasts may be, they lost because they didn't perform well. The Chinese deserved to win.
4. The age limit rule for gymnastics in the Olympics should be removed. Essentially, it is like saying to a lighter gymnast, "Sorry, you are too light to compete."
5. People keep saying that the Chinese gymnasts would be under less pressure if they were under-aged, the plain truth is that statement is completely wrong. They were, in China, expected to win the gold in their homeland, and anything less would have been failure. Just as the Chinese gymnastics coach said, anything less than five golds in gymnastics would be make him considered as a failure. The pressure Chinese athletes are under in these Olympics is more than the pressure of any other athletes in these Olympics. - merdiesel, on 08/13/2008, -29/+216A 12 year old doesn't understand the pressure of say a 20 year old. Just like you saw tonight with that sexy ass Alicia Sacramone. China earned themselves a nice shiny asterisk with that medal.
- inactive, on 08/13/2008, -17/+145The point is, the Olympics are SUPPOSSED to be the highest standards of athletic excellence in every spirit of the game. Just because others have cheated in the past doesn't make it alright or excusable now, especially in Eastern culture where honor is held in high regard. The 16 year old rule is there mainly for safety reasons. People would be SCREAMING if a child were severely injured (which has happened) if the rule were lifted. Yes, the U.S. screwed up, as did every other team, but it does give an unfair advantage in two regards:
1. Floor Exercise: The length of the passes is the same for everyone. Younger = shorter = less chance of going out of bounds.
2. All events: the center of balance is vastly different due to changes in... err... bodies. Every other country's competitors have had to deal with the issue, which causes a readjustment in training, technique, and balance, again giving younger competitors an advantage.
Every team suffered as a result, just not the U.S. How about the 4th place finishers who would have won bronze?
It is WOMEN'S and MEN'S gymnastics for a reason, not male and female. - Samo89, on 08/13/2008, -14/+137i was watching it as well, the look no older than the 12/13 yr old kids that my lil bro hangs with
- yenster, on 08/13/2008, -8/+118From the NY Times article, which broke the story back on July 27th:
"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 age as “1994.1.1.”
"Another registration list that is unblocked, dated Jan. 27, 2006, and 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." - FUR10N, on 08/13/2008, -10/+114and one of them was even missing a tooth. at 16 shouldn't your adult teeth have already grown in?
- docintherock, on 08/13/2008, -12/+114I wish the United States would change our national anthem to the Darth Vader March. It would be more menacing.
Also change our colors to Black and Silver and put a skull and crossbones on our flag.
Black and silver would be cool colors for a country. - diggduggDOOM, on 08/13/2008, -2/+99I read that 'jacked' as a reference to muscle mass, not having medals stolen.
- openpaledot, on 08/13/2008, -10/+104I liked how one of the Chinese gymnasts looked like she had a babytooth missing every time she smiled.
- AgeingMH, on 08/13/2008, -2/+91When asked to show ID, one of the divers had an Hawaiian driving license with a name of "Li McLovin"
- Pedobear, on 08/13/2008, -1/+79I really love seeing my symbol in the nighttime sky. Makes me feel like Batman.
- benburned, on 08/13/2008, -3/+71
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………..’, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;,-‘………………………………… - stretta, on 08/13/2008, -5/+72US vs. China 16-year olds
A direct visual comparison
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stretta/2761279122/ - squishee, on 08/13/2008, -7/+61The first Chinese gymnast is missing a tooth. I speculate it's sitting under her pillow waiting for the Tooth Fairy.
- Paigewithlove, on 08/13/2008, -12/+64A lot of Asian girls are really tiny and look young. On our university campus, plenty for our first year students can easily pass off as 13 or 14.
- screamthenrun, on 08/13/2008, -6/+55Being younger than 16 [at the correct time in one's physical development] can give you a major advantage.
I think we all went through that period in life where we realized that we couldn't do as many pushups or pullups or repetitions of other exercises because of the way our bodies develop.
I remember that there was a time when I could do over a dozen pull-ups when I was about 10 years old, but now at 18, I can't do nearly as many.
And it's not due to being out of shape, it's just the way bodies develop. Now I can run farther and faster than I could when I was 10, but I can't do as many pullups because of the way muscles and bone structure develop.
Disregarding anything that the Chinese may or may not have done, the age restrictions should definitely stay in place for Olympic competition. That being said, assuming that the Chinese followed the regulation, they definitely deserved to win. Our team had too many mistakes-- they're Olympians after all, and something happened. Maybe it was pressure, maybe it was nerves, but unfortunately it definitely was not a gold-medal performance by the US women. - einrobstein, on 08/13/2008, -3/+51By "jacked", billjimbob meant "buff". Not "stolen".
- bobartig, on 08/13/2008, -4/+45Our girls were totally "jacked" looking out there. I remember watching women's gymnastics 12 years ago, and the ladies were much more delicate.
This year's team is like "how come the US Women's gymnasts have no necks?"
Modern olympic training must be unreal. - friday1970, on 08/13/2008, -3/+43Yes, but her neck leads down to a nice pair of big'uns!
- MikeMania, on 08/13/2008, -34/+71wow, so westerners have for so long mocked us for being so short, and now they want to guesstimate ages by size on their terms. I mean the team might be faking the ages or not, but they seem a bit too confident with their conclusion without substantial proof.
Who is to say that these girls were not abnormally short or small, performed very well because of this, identified, and taken from all around China? - tkorbitz, on 08/13/2008, -5/+41That is not the point. The point is that the Chinese have an advantage that the other teams do not have. One of the announcers pointed out that a couple of the US gymnasts could have been good enough to compete when they were much younger as well. The rest of the teams were not on an even playing field and the Chinese should be penalized.
- inactive, on 08/13/2008, -10/+45Maybe China and the Patriots can hang out later.
- chockZ, on 08/14/2008, -5/+39I'm white, my wife is Japanese, my dogs are Brazilian, my eldest son is Black, my second youngest daughter is Puerto Rican, my cleaning lady is South African, my fifth grade teacher was from Eastern Europe (not sure where exactly), and there is no way those girls were older than 11.
- steelclash84, on 08/13/2008, -2/+35While I can agree with the removal of the rule, it *is* in place and it should still be followed by everyone. Just because you don't agree with the rule, doesn't justify Chin breaking that rule.
- karaokekidd, on 08/13/2008, -8/+39I'm Arab and my wife is Finnish, and we both thought they looked too old.
- arcadiansky, on 08/13/2008, -54/+84...of course these girls aren't 16. Would you expect anything less from the Chinese?
They've deceived us in regards to the opening ceremony vocalist, the firework show, the enthusiasm of the crowd, and built walls to hide the poverty in the area. - sockpuppets, on 08/13/2008, -1/+31Yes.
- inactive, on 08/13/2008, -9/+39Just peeking through?
Just Peking through? heh. - inactive, on 08/13/2008, -2/+32Have you seen the ***** they have to do in order to compete there? That ***** would break me like a little ... china doll.
- aladin, on 08/13/2008, -4/+33I logged in to digg you good sir. Alicia Sacramone is top notch.
- spyd3rweb, on 08/14/2008, -1/+30…………| ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;|
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………………………………………………………’’~-‘’_ , , ,,’,_/--‘ - bxblox, on 08/13/2008, -8/+36Yea, it has nothing to do with the gymnasts previous registration for other competition with a birthday that would make her 14.
- friday1970, on 08/13/2008, -8/+36My wife who is Asian could definitely tell that most were younger than 16. She placed them one of them to be at least 13.
- Paigewithlove, on 08/13/2008, -39/+66The Chinese girls may have looked young to the eyes of non-Asians, but to say that they can pass as an 8 yr old? The little girl that lip sync'd the Motherland song at the opening ceremonies was apparently 9 yrs old and the gymnasts definitely looked older than her, alternatively, I guess you can say that 9 yr old lip sync'ing girl could pass for a younger age too.
A lot of Chinese girls are rail thin. I know some Chinese girls who are in their 20s and can't fit into adult women sizes in North American stores and sometimes have to resort to going to the children's section. The US girls weren't jacked, they were just out performed that night. They still got silver and that's still outstanding in the olympics. - mustafya, on 08/13/2008, -3/+30why don't you take a seat over there
- txtumbler, on 08/13/2008, -12/+38"We lost, deal with it"
There are currently age restrictions in place agreed upon by the sport's governing body. We obeyed the rules that are in place. If they didn't, that is an unfair advantage. I'm sure we could invest our training energy in some younger athletes that might be physically superior due to size advantage, but we don't. We respect the rules, which were put in place to protect children. - jetblackz4, on 08/13/2008, -5/+31So if they are found to be in violation of the age requirements can they be stripped of their medals?
- Suzpaz, on 08/13/2008, -8/+33I mean what's wrong with DIGG..... You get this popular, but my ACTUAL PROOF WITH OFFICIAL RECORDS are kept at 2 diggs for over 12 hours..
DIGG is for the one who is active. Not the one who finds the best stories. - a1cd, on 08/13/2008, -1/+25quote from a different article (about the same thing)
"What kills the Karolyis isn’t that the Chinese would risk the health of their children by throwing them out here before their bones and muscles mature. It’s that the Americans won’t allow the Karolyis to do it, too."
..Thats ***** up. - kaplanfx, on 08/13/2008, -5/+29Ok, she nice looking, but does anyone else notice she has a neck like a sequoia?
- Grolsch, on 08/13/2008, -11/+35I've seen some girls in US who are 13-15 with ***** bigger than Pamela Anderson's, I am just saying.... maybe we should take in consideration external factors, like that ***** food that we eat here so much. For some reason American youth does look older than the rest of the world for some reason. And regarding Chinese people... well they always looked like that.
- Pedobear, on 08/13/2008, -1/+24Deng Linlin (Gymnast #1) is the spitting image of Mao Zedong. I can't unsee it. D:
- akamurph, on 08/13/2008, -1/+23Um, people were questioning the Chinese age way before the USA lost.
- noumuon, on 08/13/2008, -3/+25he's probably being dugg down because everyone wants a scandal and nobody wants the facts.
- nhansen, on 08/13/2008, -12/+34Jacked US "womens" Team = bronze mystic tans, and the look as if they were all twin sisters.
The announcer who inferred that it's wrong that the girls are "taken from day care" at a young age in China is totally hypocritical. The US gymnasts I can almost guarantee have been in intense daily training since a very very young age - pushed ever onward by jiggity-jacked parents looking for a little glory. At least the Chinese don't make the families pay for the years of training...they get a roof over their head, education, and regular meals. That's more than many girls (in China) will ever have.
And besides, the performances I saw of the US team were not good, or not up to the standard I've watched in the past. One or two great events for one athlete - but over all, the US team was off. Sore losers I'd say - Drama anyone? - kwelling12, on 08/13/2008, -0/+22@omniatlas: They don't have the same restrictions in diving. For instance, one of the men's synchro divers for the UK is 14.
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