Chinese Gymnastics Team

August 13th, 2008 filed in Olympics

Chinese Gymnasts Cheating?

**UPDATE** - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has requested that the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) investigate the ages of the Chinese Gymnasts mentioned in the paragraph below. If they were found to be underage, they would then be disqualified and their medals stripped. Once again it looks like cheaters may get caught. Unfortunately for the young girls in question, in this case the real cheaters may be the Government, and not the Athletes.

The Chinese Gymnastics Team is under scrutiny at the Beijing Olympics due to possible cheating. The scandal has been brewing for several weeks, but is beginning to boil over as mainstream media has picked up the story. The center of the controversy is the debated ages of their competing gymnasts. Apparently as many as 3 of the 6 members of the team could be less than the 16 years required for competition. China has produced passports for the three, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, and Yang Yilin which state they are each eligible for the games. However contradictory evidence has been found in several Chinese Government sources.

In its report from November 3rd 2007, Xinhua identified He Kexin as one of “10 big new stars” who made a splash at China’s Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. A May 23 story in the China Daily newspaper, the official English-language paper of the Chinese government, said He was 14. The story was later updated to list her as 16.

Yang Yilin was born Aug. 26, 1993, according to the official 2004, 2005 and 2006 national registration lists previously posted on the General Administration of Sport of China website. On the 2007 registration list, her birthday became Aug. 26, 1992. A list of competitors at a 2007 provincial competition listed Jiang Yuyuan’s birthdate as Oct. 1, 1993. The official passport, Nov. 1, 1991.

More information, including screenshots of the publications mentioned above can be found here.

So did the Chinese Women BEAT the American Women, or did they CHEAT? Tell us what YOU think.

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28 Responses to “Chinese Gymnastics Team”

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1
Cindy Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Seriously, this is a load of crap. Who cares how old they are. They won, get over it people. We lost to a bunch of little girls, the United States should be ashamed. Quit crying and get better. They didn’t cheat, we were beat.
2
Richard Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:25 am
They cheated. It is obvious to anyone who watched, that these girls aren’t 16. Now we have the proof. Their own government has published information in the past which said they were younger, and now they falsify passports? I have heard that they also use harder mats in the floor exercises, which benefit the younger lighter competitors. That along with the delay tactics before the balance beam competition should be enough for the IOC to take away the gold. China has always been a nation of cheaters, and they couldn’t stand to lose in their own backyard.
3
Abigail Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 9:23 am
We were robbed. There is no way that those girls are 16. I don’t understand how the government can get away with this and the olympic organizers don’t challenge them. If the games weren’t in China, I bet they would take the gold medal away.
4
Fausto Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Cheaters,Cheaters,Cheaters!!But Why? Can’t the Chinese compete/participate by the same rules like everybody else
5
Jennifer Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
“Looks young” should not be given as justification. We all know people that don’t look their age. In the asian and black communities you find it to be especially true. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/08/14/lah.50.japan.pink.lady.cnn?iref=videosearch
Investigation should have been thorough before the games so we don’t have to put all these young competitors in this situation. We also need to be weary about using the news reports as evidence. Mistakes are found in newspapers all the time. Whether it is true or not, the hardworking athletes (all of them) should not be overshadowed by an investigation.
6
Tony Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
OMG Jennifer, wah those poor hardworking athletes. They know they aren’t 16, so they are just as guilty as their coaches and government. They purposely falsified documents and misled the IOC. They deserve to have their medals stripped, and have their communist country embarrassed.
7
Biff Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Cindy, they won, but they cheated. Maybe there’s a 14 year old American girl who could’ve blown them out of the water. We’ll never know.

Jennifer, the only investigation the IOC does is check the passport. Period. They’ve commented that that is all they can do.

Tony, to be fair, if you were a gymnast who dreamed of being in the Olympics (because your government has forced you to train since you were 6 or so), and your government told you to lie about your age and cheat, would you say, “No, I’ll wait til next time…” I think not. If you did, you’d find yourself out of favor with the Chinese govt.
8
Rick Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Some of the girls look of age, but some of them do not. It’s hard to tell. Chinese are infamous for their deceptively young look.
9
Steve Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
They won some more medals last night. The cheating continues. I can’t believe this is allowed to continue. What a sham the olympics has become.
10
Rick Says:
August 18th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
What do you want the IOC to do? All they can do is ask each country to provide accurate and genuine information on an athlete’s age. Innocent until proven guilty is the world’s creed, right?

I also can’t believe now commentators keep asking the US gymnasts to comment on the age speculation - trying to get someone to bite out of frustration to start a scandal war. If the press wants to start a scandal war, then start it yourselves.

If the IOC opens up this can of worms, imagine the backlash. All they can do now is get new policies and procedures for age verification in place for the London games. Even then, what policies and procedures are needed? A birth certificate? A video of the birth with a timestamp? Hospital Records? If a country wants it bad enough, any of those documents can be foreged…