2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing

[Hazzard]

*snip*
[mulley]Nope. - Flying Mullet[/mulley]

[Yar]

Some news reporters were digging around for archive stories under a year old on the Chinese women's gymnastics team (To verify their age? For a historical perspective piece? Who knows...) and found lots of stories about the gymnists where they are reported to being 13-15, young, up-and-coming prodigies, etc... Then they were entered into the Olympics as 16 year olds, which is the minimum age to compete. China states that their passports prove their are at least 16 years old while others argue that China could have easily faked the passports as it would have been to their advantage to get these girls into the games. Meanwhile, the news stories the reporters claimed to have found have mysteriously disappeared from the web, so it's anyone's guess now as to how old these girls really are, if there were any news stories, etc...

Basically, we haven't had any doping or other scandals at these Olympics and it wouldn't be the Olympics without some form of drama revolving around the athletes all being legit.

So, basically, it's only suspicions and the only way to prove it would be to have China confirm it? Yeah, that'll happen. :rolleyes2

[o_O]

I hope the Chinese gymnasts are legitimate. But then again, if a 13-year-old kid can win competitions then I think they deserve medals.

So far I'm most impressed by the Belarussian weightlifter in the 105Kg weight class who broke 6 records in a single event.

[Kirobaito]

I hope the Chinese gymnasts are legitimate. But then again, if a 13-year-old kid can win competitions then I think they deserve medals.

So far I'm most impressed by the Belarussian weightlifter in the 105Kg weight class who broke 6 records in a single event.

Well, in gymnastics, being pre-pubescent is to your advantage. They less you have matured, the less body weight you carry on you, as you don't have developed boobies, and the easier it is to maneuver yourself in the ways that these girls have to. It's not simply a matter of being technically eligible - the fact that these girls are underaged is really a big advantage. It's even more of an advantage when you're not even questioned on it by the IOC. It's a disgrace.

[El Bandito]

Exactly. Your suppose to try and do the best you possibly could at the Olympics, clearly winning was all that he thought about.

Actually, Bolt said something to the effect of, "I didn't want to have the expectations of me rise too high" jokingly in an interview.

Like it or not, he's just being a perfect businessman. He knows he could do much better. He's just going to continue to chip at that record every major race and probably will still be in good enough shape to smoke the other runners and set a new world record once again in London 2012. For a guy where running is everything, he's just trying to milk his career as long as he can.

[Miriel]

The new scoring for gymnastics is lame. And the whole tiebreaker thing is bs. What's so wrong with sharing a medal?

My heart kinda broke for Nastia Liukin. It's one thing to lose because your routine was worse, but it must be gutting to lose due to incompetence of the judges, some whacked out tiebreaking system, and China cheating their way in with underage girls. The whole thing where you can't have any judges from ANY of the nations competing is pretty ridiculous.

I think Nastia and Yang Yilin BOTH outperformed that 12 year old He Kexin. I can't believe how that little girl was beaming like she deserved that gold. Made me want to smack her.

PS. GTFO Australian judge.

[Big D]

Er, has anyone actually checked whether there's an age restriction on gymnasts? 'Cause I know for a fact that there were under-16s in the diving events at the last games, and I'm pretty sure the same was true for gymnastics. It'd be so typical for people to be all "BAAAWWWW CHINA" over a made-up criticism like imaginary age restrictions...

[Miriel]

In 1997, the minimum age restriction was raised in Gymnastics from 15 to 16. You have to turn 16 during the year of the Olympics in order to compete.

Besides Big D, the age restriction thing has been a huge story these Olympics. It's pretty much mentioned every time the Women's gymnastics event comes up. I doubt networks, announcers, analysts, reporters, athletes, and the general viewers from a whole variety of different countries would be making a fuss about this if it were "imaginary".

[Bunny]

Pretty sure each event has a different restriction on ages.

[Khaotic]

China Digital Times » One More Olympic Secret: How Old is He Kexin (何å�¯æ¬£), Really? (Updated)

Pretty informative website on the issue with He Kexin and her age.

[Big D]

Ah, so there is a restriction on ages in that event... interesting. Well, it'd hardly be a surprise for China to be cheating in some way. And since large-scale steroid programmes are both old news and easily detected (Soviet Union's 1980s man-women, anyone?), faking ages seems a logical, if pathetic, next step. Especially since age is simply information, something so easily faked in a country like that. Well, the media exposure's going to bite them in the arse pretty hard.

[Flying Mullet]

Speaking of gymnastics, we were watching some of the floor exercises for the men and the incredible performance by the Brazilian athlete that was going to medal for Brazil for the first time, probably gold. Then he fell on the last landing of his routine. I felt so sorry for him, especially as the rest of his routine was simply amazing. :sad:

[Roto13]

So did you hear China treats it's people like crap? This is totally new and unexpected.

And this, too, for that matter.

(I laughed at this, though.)

[Flying Mullet]

And this, too, for that matter.

I also thought this point from an opinion column I read was interesting:

The first major red flag that this was going to be a propaganda exercise of massive portions was when the government paraded a group of Han Chinese children through the Bird's Nest dressed in the garb of the nation's 54 minority groups -- as a effort to "celebrate" the diversity of China. How inclusive! Except for the fact that the government either exoticizes these groups for tourist purposes while they remain poor, second-class citizens, or create conscious programs to aggressively assimilate these groups out of existence, particularly in politically hostile regions like Tibet and Xinjiang. An equivalent in America would be if the government got a group of white kids from Manhattan together and dressed them up as members of Native American tribes and paraded them around as example of how respectful we are towards the "native peoples."

Here's a link to the column: Katherine Goldstein: Hook, Line, and Sinker: NBC Swallows Opening Ceremonies Propaganda

[Roto13]

Shut up.