IOC To Launch Investigation Into Ages Of Chinese Gymnasts

313 Comments

aznwookiee, on 08/22/2008, -2/+362the follow up article: "IOC being detained in Beijing over investigation"
ktran28, on 08/22/2008, -2/+127...like the IOC is gonna have the balls to strip China of gold medals.
inactive, on 08/22/2008, -6/+123I could care less if there are age limits, but since there are, a rule is a rule. The Chinese are basically acting like the rest of the world is totally stupid (having 12 yr olds posing as 16yr olds? like we can't tell the difference??) and basically telling the rest of the world to ***** itself. So ***** them. China's government routinely gets away with lying to its people, but this time they are going to learn a lesson about lying and cheating.
RelientJ, on 08/22/2008, -4/+88Finally, some action is being taken. I hope this will settle the dispute one way or another once and for all.
baikalic, on 08/22/2008, -5/+87I'm Chinese, and I'm rather embarassed by the way the Chinese government has repeatedly taken this risk with underaged gymnasts in the olympics. Should the investigation go through, it will suffer the consequences; eventually, you simply get caught. Kudos to strydehax for spreading the word.
faithforever, on 08/22/2008, -2/+76For everyone who doesn't understand this issue, having underage gymnasts is an unfair advantage.

For years, pre-pubescent gymnasts dominated female artistic gymnastics. 12-14 year old girls have the advantage in gymnastics because they are far more flexible and petite. They also tend not to have any fear and don't feel the pressure older gymnasts feel about failing. Nor do they have the injuries that older gymnasts have. Shorter gymnasts don't need to worry about going out of bounce in floor exercises the way taller gymnasts do and can put more elements into their tumbling runs.

But this resulted in tremendous injuries to teenage girls who are training 8+ hours a day while their bodies are growing. 18 year old gymnasts are the equivalent to 40 year old players in the NFL or NHL. They end up destroying all of their joints by doing so much training while they are young.

Nastia Liukin was one year too young for the Athens games. If she was Chinese, should would have had a fake passport and competed and probably won quite a few metals. But the US played fair, and Nastia didn't compete.

Following Athens, Nastia had a growth spurt and grew 4 inches. All of her routines had to be completely changed. She kept banging her ankles on the floor on the low uneven bar. She had to adjust how she did all of her tumbling. Everyone thought she was absolutely finished, especially given her history of injuries. It's an absolute miracle that she did as well as she did, hopefully proof that gymnasts can compete at age 18.

The Chinese don't worry about any of that. They develop hundreds of girls starting at age 3, and have a whole squad of girls who are 12-16 to compete at any competition. If a girl has a growth spurt or is injured, she's quickly replaced with someone younger.

The problem is that the judges still prefer small, pixie-like gymnasts, and that favors 12-14 year old girls. Until that changes, it won't matter. Teams will find a way to cheat, either with fake documents or by stunting their growth to keep them small and petite. Coaches like Bela Karolyi just whine because they want the age limit lifted so they can go back to gymnastics being only for girls 15 and under.
phrawgh, on 08/22/2008, -5/+57Hey. The Chinese government said their passports were authentic.
inactive, on 08/22/2008, -6/+57Even if they find some of the are under age I doubt the IOC would want a scandal, especially from the host country that it trying to put forward a "wholesome" image...oh, and they'd have to give their bribes back.
gldfshnpcklejar, on 08/22/2008, -1/+46Follow up to follow up article: "IOC apologizes for the outrageous accusations made against the Chinese; Winter Olympics 2010 Relocated to Beijing"
loopyloopy, on 08/22/2008, -8/+52"I dont see the problem either!"
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roxgod666, on 08/22/2008, -4/+45in other news, Michael Phelps reported to be heading off to the supermarket
antigravit42, on 06/14/2009, -8/+45Rules are rules!
Kokichi, on 08/22/2008, -1/+34Can't they just like, carbon date them?
OpenRevolt, on 08/22/2008, -0/+33I'm pretty sure all they have to do is put them in a room with R Kelly and see if he pees on them.
EtherGnat, on 08/22/2008, -0/+32Whether or not children *should* be able to compete is irrelevant. The fact is the rule was in place--if the Chinese violated the rule that's cheating and they should have their medals taken away. Case closed.

If they want to lower the age limit or remove it altogether for the next Olympics more power to them.
AReallyGoodName, on 08/22/2008, -3/+33Try and solicit sex from them.
If the Chinese government charges you with pedophilea you have proof they were underage!

wait... bad idea.
baikalic, on 08/22/2008, -4/+33the age limit is there to protect the gymnasts form injury later in their lives.
jayb1rd, on 08/22/2008, -2/+31It won't matter. The Chinese government most likely made their passports for them and invented birth dates to make them appear to be of age.
WileyK, on 08/22/2008, -2/+31"it's not as if the gymnasts were doping or anything."

If they're underage, they were cheating. If you cheat, you should be disqualified, end of discussion.
JonLatane, on 08/22/2008, -1/+27The problem is this:

Upon hitting puberty, girls develop in a way that the ratio of upper body strength:weight decreases dramatically (it's common sense if you think about any girl you've met). Gymnastics is a sport in which this ratio is extremely important; hence ANY girl who has reached puberty has a HUGE disadvantage.

The age limit is intended to solve this problem and prevent a phenomenon common in the past: young girls being HORRENDOUSLY overworked, to the point of destroying their lives, in the hopes of being great gymnasts because they had an expiration date at 12 years old.
scoottie, on 08/22/2008, -3/+26huffington ..... wait no mention of McCain, somethings wrong here
DaviDTC, on 08/22/2008, -4/+272 hours ago. "IOC: No proof China cheated in gymnastics ‘There’s no question ... on eligibility,’ group’s spokeswoman says"
gab00n, on 08/22/2008, -0/+21I doubt if they even did anything.
faithforever, on 08/22/2008, -0/+20Unfortunately, this is won't do any good. There's been several reports that the Chinese have delivered boxes of additional "documents" proving their gymnasts are 16 (all of which were likely printed this week). Unless the IOC wants to take them to task and can prove the Chinese are faking all of it, they can't investigate anything. The Chinese can brush aside all the evidence found online by claiming they falsified the gymnasts ages in other competitions so they were younger (which they do in other sports, and makes no sense for gymnastics, but oh well).
loopyloopy, on 08/22/2008, -0/+18great idea.

should narrow it down the nearest 800 years or so.

haha, they thought they could outsmart us!
lanfordr, on 08/22/2008, -5/+23Good for the IOC.

If they carry the investigation out and it comes to light that the Chinese were cheating, then they need to be penalized even if it means causing an embarrassment for the home nation.

One of the reasons China was even given the Olympics was in the hope that it would help them open up. Instead they just keep pulling stunts, and while CG fireworks and lip syncing isn't a big deal, this kind of **** (poop) and the stuff with Tibet has to stop.

They may be able to get away with it behind closed doors, but they are on the world's stage now, and we don't stand for this sort of thing.
HammondOrgan, on 08/22/2008, -1/+18Also, older gymnasts aren't always better (as witnessed in Beijing). Younger gymnasts are smaller, lighter and in many ways more apt for gymnastics. However, like baikalic said, the early pressures of competition before the age of 16 can definitely place permanent on budding athletes.
CVL4317, on 08/22/2008, -2/+18age is not really the issue. Following the rules is.
phrenzy, on 08/22/2008, -7/+23Wow, I can’t imagine China doing anything underhanded to “save face” on the world stage!! /s

Remember China's "Women's" Swim Team In The 90s?

Check out these lovely "ladies"

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/281935.jpg?v=1&c=Vi ...

BTW - Those freaks DID lose their medals.

Fake fireworks, fake singers, arresting old ladies for protesting about their housing, etc.

Funny, it seems that China has a “so what?” attitude about this ***** whenever they get caught. It’s like they are so used to transparently making ***** up and not being called on it by their citizenry that they are shocked when others have the nerve to do it.

My guess is that a couple of them will lose their medals, but only when all the IOC weasels are far far away from their Chinese hosts.
final_sound, on 08/22/2008, -1/+16The sad truth is that even if they are found guilty and censured internationally, the Chinese government will control the media response in their own country, and millions of citizens will be led to believe that they were wronged by the evil IOC or the envious west. It's easy to be taken by the grandeur of the spectacle the Chinese have put on display, and to forget that it comes at the cost of personal liberty and draconian humanitarian policy.
ktran28, on 08/22/2008, -0/+14Liukin would get a gold on the uneven bars and the US would get gold in the team competition.
leighlee, on 08/22/2008, -0/+14If the girl does turn out to be born in 1994, then they'll be stripped of their golds and China will only be able to keep two bronze medals in female gymnastics.
degol, on 08/22/2008, -4/+17if only i could earn money every time i read this ***** joke.
bpoteat, on 08/22/2008, -1/+13"Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a ***** about the rules? Mark it zero! "
staffell, on 08/22/2008, -1/+13IOC? is that the chinese version of OGC?
punkcat, on 08/22/2008, -0/+11exactly what i was thinking, what a horrible method of proof in this case.
lanfordr, on 08/22/2008, -1/+12Who said I was from the U.S.? The IOC stands for "International" Olympics Committee, not United States Olympic Committee.

So are you saying that China's human rights violations and blatant disregard for international rules is something that we (people of the world) should just look the other way about???

I didn't even mention there lies about allowing peaceful demonstrations at the games. China is basically making a joke out of everyone who vouched for them at the IOC and that is something everyone should be concerned about.
V3n0M, on 08/22/2008, -1/+11Because who could have predicted there would later be an Olympic competition in 2008???
Soave, on 08/22/2008, -7/+17We could cut them open and count their rings.
wreckosaurus, on 08/22/2008, -0/+10I believe they would lose 2 golds.
sphigel, on 08/22/2008, -1/+10Who cares if a 14 year old won in 76. Back then everyone could have 14 year olds compete. The issue is that China is not following the same rules as the other nations.
DeFex, on 08/22/2008, -0/+9Those girls should be in a factory making iphones.
Auraness, on 08/22/2008, -1/+10Well it's either that or piss off the other 2/3.
V3n0M, on 08/22/2008, -0/+9Cut them in half and count the rings!
digg-dugg, on 08/22/2008, -1/+9Then they will train babies. they must draw the line
jec68, on 08/22/2008, -1/+9I think the issue is being UNDERplayed. Someone needs to shine some light on this wretched authoritarian regime - in any possible way.
poet, on 08/22/2008, -3/+11Would you please do us all a favor and go live in China? Aww...Why not?

Exactly, SHUT THE ***** UP. Thank you.
andyeddy, on 08/22/2008, -2/+10...that and the confirmation of such claims will result in the executions of several representatives. people are going to literally die for this.
treas, on 08/22/2008, -1/+8I believe he was speaking for the nations who oppose tyranny and oppression, the censorship of media, and the corruption of Nixon's administration (note: this list does not include the US)
tmjdisorder, on 08/22/2008, -6/+13If the Chinese are in violation of this rule, and the state was complicit, then the correct punishment is that China should be banned from the Olympics. State-sponsored cheating must be given the most severe punishment. Arguably unfair to the Chinese athletes who didn't cheat, but not without precedent. South Africans who didn't support Apartheid were not allowed to compete (unless they could get another country to take them) when their country was barred from the Olympics.

The ban should be in place for at least one Olympic cycle, and China should not be allowed back in the games until it allows for greater transparency in its athletics programs.
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