Did the Chinese women's gymnastic team cheat its way to the gold medal?
BEIJING -- After the Chinese women's gymnastics team won its first-ever Olympic gold medal on Wednesday, its diminutive gymnasts celebrated on the arena floor, hopping and hugging and mugging for the cameras.
...While the Chinese team celebrated, Martha Karolyi, the U.S. national team coordinator, continued to question the ages of some of China's gymnasts. Concerns over eligibility on the six-member team surfaced before the Olympics and have continued all week.
"One of the girls has a missing tooth," Karolyi said, suggesting that the gymnast was so young that she lost a baby tooth and had yet to have a permanent one emerge.
The grin of Deng Linlin, a Chinese gymnast who is listed as 16, indeed revealed a wide gap. To be eligible for the Olympics, gymnasts must turn 16 this year. "I have no proof, so I can't make an affirmation," Karolyi said.
China's coach, Lu Shanzhen, bristled when the age issue arose again on the day his gymnasts had upset the Americans, the reigning world champions. He would not explain Deng's missing tooth.
...Half of the team - He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan - is under age if online sports registration lists in China are correct. The international gymnastics federation, however, said those gymnasts were eligible and that the ages on their passports were correct.
...Karolyi, the U.S. national team coordinator, said there seemed to have been some gamesmanship during Sacramone's vault. She said [Alicia] Sacramone had been held up for an "out of the ordinary" amount of time - not by judges but by event organizers.
"It's a psychological war out there," Karolyi said.
...According to some official records, He - China's uneven bars specialist - was listed as 14 this year. Now, however, she is listed as 16.
Is this sour grapes on the part of Karolyi and others to question the ages of the Chinese gymnasts and the tactics of the event organizers?
Not at all.
It's perfectly legitimate to raise these questions.
What's unfortunate is that the Chinese government may be willing to lie to win. Shameless.
What's especially sad is that the Chinese have an army of talented gymnasts. Why violate the rules if that is, in fact, what they did?
There's no honor in cheating. There's no victory.
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More on age limits:
To be eligible for World or Olympic competition, gymnasts must turn 16 by the end of the 2008 calendar year.
Accusations of age falsification have swirled around the Chinese team and have intensified after news outlets found official documents stating alternate (and younger) birth dates for three athletes: He Kexin, Yang Yilin and Jiang Yuyuan. All three of them are old enough according to their passports. The Chinese have been mum on the subject, as expected.
In 1991, a tiny North Korean, Kim Gwang-Suk, won the gold medal on uneven bars. Later, officials discovered that her birth date had been changed three times, meaning that her age stayed the same for three years. As a result, gymnastics' governing body banned North Korea from competing at the 1993 Worlds. More recently, some Romanian gymnasts have said that their ages were falsified as well.
17 comments:
another day....another american excuse machine
just once it would be nice to see the west thank their gracious hosts and say congratulations
Congratulations would be in order if they won legitimately. If it turns out that those children are indeed under 16, they should give up their gold. If, however, they ARE 16, then congratulations are in order. There's nothing wrong with questioning their eligibility - there were questions even before they won the gold.
Anonymous, don't be ridiculous.
The possible cheating of the Chinese women's gymnastics team has nothing to do with the West being ungracious.
In Olympic competition, there should be no difference between the "hosts" and the "guests."
It's not an excuse when lying and cheating is occurring.
I agree with Chris. If those girls violated the rules, then they should be stripped of the medal.
Official documents reveal that there is reason to question the ages of three of the Chinese gymnasts.
It appears that the Chinese gymnastics team doesn't have the integrity to follow the rules.
Falsifying ages is cheating. It's disregarding the rules. End of story.
So much for the spirit of competition.
I couldn't even watch them. Those weren't women, they were children. Watching exploitation isn't my strong suit.
I don't blame the exploited either.
As an aside, my sneakers were made in USA. They won't last as long because we aren't allowed to use child labor or the toxic glues , but I know an adult made them and they were just as inexpensive. I could go on....
the real winners took gold and silver in women's all around gymnastics without cheating. don't hate
Nastia Liukin, 18, and Shawn Johnson, 16, were spectacular.
I hope young athletes follow their example and display the sort of sportsmanship that they have exhibited.
Even when competing against each other in the all around, they still cheered each other on.
They have represented the USA with such grace and class.
Not to worry. Communist China has their birth certificates to prove their ages. What's not to believe?
The IOC seems satisfied. That should be good enough to satisfy the world's curiosity and secure the world's belief in the lifelong Olympic tradition of fair competition.
Aack.
Of course.
Why doubt the Chinese government?
China? What about the cheating judges on the North Korean gymnasts vault? She fell, and landed OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARY TWICE yet she got the gold? Who is threatening/bribing the completely worthless people who call themselves judges?
The judging on the vault was highly questionable.
Both the North Korean and the Chinese really lucked out.
The North Korean gymnast landed out of bounds twice, and the Chinese gymnast landed on her knees!
Yes, Thank you for cheating in your own country where the dictatorship is jus as screwed up as the games we all compete in were lucky we got any medals at all
The vault judging was just a sham. Watching the replay is extremely frustrating. The German should have taken gold, her vault was nearly perfect and her difficulty was high. The American should have had at least bronze, her routine was as difficult as the Chinese girl who landed on her knees. The North Korean landed out of bounds twice, and yet she got the gold?
excuse, you look at the chinese girls, there is no way possible they are old enough. they look like my 10 year old cousin, but we all know how china is, mutilate their own people, dictatorship and stuff like that, so let the cheating begin. o and sacromone was cheated, how can you fall on your face and get a medal, yet someone who lands perfect not. hmm doesnt make sense.
o and if you like the chinese so much why dont you move over there?
If there are found to be cheating, they should strip them of all of their medals.
If there are found to be cheating, they should strip them of all of their medals.
The IOC isn't seriously pursuing the matter.
Apparently, falsifying documents is OK.
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