Could China be Cheating to Win Gold

[Harpoon]

People tend to forget though that borders are drawn by man..

[TheLancinator]

Any event that needs to be 'judged' shouldn't be part of the Olympics IMHO

[wizzo]

I remember the boxing in the Seoul Olympics. The American boxers were one of the best teams we had fielded, with many of them becoming professional champions later in their careers. Michael Carbajal, Kennedy McKinney, Roy Jones, Ray Mercer and Riddick Bowe all held titles in their pro careers.

The f'd up judging was so lopsided that the Americans decided about halfway through that they could not count on a legitimate decision. The story is they started going for knockouts instead. Ray Mercer KO'd his Korean opponent for the gold.

In any case, those Chinese girl gymnasts are not 16, or 15. Two of them can't be 12.

[Wyeast]

It's not about a master race. It's politics. We are communism, we are better than you sort of thing.

[AnthemZ]

State-media story fuels questions on gymnast's age

By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
Thu Aug 14, 8:54 AM ET



Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He 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. In the final, "this little girl" pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, http://www.hb.xinhuanet.com

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.

If the age reported by Xinhua was correct, that would have meant He was too young to be on the Chinese team that beat the United States on Wednesday and clinched China's first women's team Olympic gold in gymnastics. He is also a favorite for gold in Monday's uneven bars final.

Yang was also on Wednesday's winning team. Questions have also been raised about her age and that of a third team member, Jiang Yuyuan.

Gymnasts have to be 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible for the games. He's birthday is listed as Jan. 1, 1992.

Chinese authorities insist that all three are old enough to compete. He herself told reporters after Wednesday's final that "my real age is 16. I don't pay any attention to what everyone says."

Zhang Hongliang, an official with China's gymnastics delegation at the games, said Thursday the differing ages which have appeared in Chinese media reports had not been checked in advance with the gymnastics federation.

"It's definitely a mistake," Zhang said of the Xinhua report, speaking in a telephone interview. "Never has any media outlet called me to check the athletes' ages."

Asked whether the federation had changed their ages to make them eligible, Zhang said: "We are a sports department. How would we have the ability to do that?"

"We already explained this very clearly. There's no need to discuss this thing again."

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has said repeatedly that a passport is the "accepted proof of a gymnast's eligibility," and that He and China's other gymnasts have presented ones that show they are age eligible. The IOC also checked the girls' passports and deemed them valid.

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 corrected to list her as 16.

"This is not a USAG issue," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. "The FIG and the IOC are the proper bodies to handle this."

[Chainlink_Princess]

..we've got 0 medals period, and you don't see me complaining or saying other people are cheating... maybe it's you.. not waving your flag hard enough...

[GenericUser]

The fact that she doesn't have fully-developed canines is a clear sign that she's barely 13.

[Harpoon]

Who Meaursault?

[Tinysmasher]

Sports in which the Chinese have won gold medals, along with number :
Diving -- 4
Fencing -- 1
Artistic Gymnastics -- 3
Judo -- 1
Shooting -- 4
Swimming -- 1
Weightlifting -- 6

And here is the U.S. breakdown:
Road Cycling -- 1
Fencing -- 1
Shooting -- 1
Swimming -- 7 (thanks phelps)

[Evets]

but c'mon... Phelps winning 5 Golds and breaking 5 World Records, surely it isn't only China that is cheating. Call me sceptical but I think that the Olympics is less about the athletisism and more about who can fool the drugs tests most efficiently.

[Tinysmasher]

Originally Posted by Evets

but c'mon... Phelps winning 5 Golds and breaking 5 World Records, surely it isn't only China that is cheating. Call me sceptical but I think that the Olympics is less about the athletisism and more about who can fool the drugs tests most efficiently.

Phelps is a physical mutant. 6'11 wingspan or some crap. I believe he actually gave the IOC extra pee in case any new drugs were uncovered so they could go back and retest him. Why don't I see chinese weightlifters doing this....

[Harpoon]

Originally Posted by Evets

but c'mon... Phelps winning 5 Golds and breaking 5 World Records, surely it isn't only China that is cheating. Call me sceptical but I think that the Olympics is less about the athletisism and more about who can fool the drugs tests most efficiently.

Yeah dont be a hater..

[treesmoke]

When i said cheating i really met curropting the judges. I mean what type of a kid watches some body do all this cool stuff on a mat, field, in the pool yawns and then sees some one raise a number up, throw a flag or raise a card and goes like "That is what i want to be."

I expect them to dope they always then and the thing with the little gals is some what insignificant compared to directly paying off or influencing the judges.

That said most countries win more medals when they host. Doing something as simple as making a judge comfortable, by some people might be considered corrupting. And China does have a Billion odd people in it. They hunt for talent. maybe they just got better at find it. (Like the type of talent that knows how to open up innocent looking bank accounts for judges family members.)

[lost in melb.]

Originally Posted by AnthemZ

State-media story fuels questions on gymnast's age

By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
Thu Aug 14, 8:54 AM ET



Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He 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. In the final, "this little girl" pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, http://www.hb.xinhuanet.com

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.

If the age reported by Xinhua was correct, that would have meant He was too young to be on the Chinese team that beat the United States on Wednesday and clinched China's first women's team Olympic gold in gymnastics. He is also a favorite for gold in Monday's uneven bars final.

Yang was also on Wednesday's winning team. Questions have also been raised about her age and that of a third team member, Jiang Yuyuan.

Gymnasts have to be 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible for the games. He's birthday is listed as Jan. 1, 1992.

Chinese authorities insist that all three are old enough to compete. He herself told reporters after Wednesday's final that "my real age is 16. I don't pay any attention to what everyone says."

Zhang Hongliang, an official with China's gymnastics delegation at the games, said Thursday the differing ages which have appeared in Chinese media reports had not been checked in advance with the gymnastics federation.

"It's definitely a mistake," Zhang said of the Xinhua report, speaking in a telephone interview. "Never has any media outlet called me to check the athletes' ages."

Asked whether the federation had changed their ages to make them eligible, Zhang said: "We are a sports department. How would we have the ability to do that?"

"We already explained this very clearly. There's no need to discuss this thing again."

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has said repeatedly that a passport is the "accepted proof of a gymnast's eligibility," and that He and China's other gymnasts have presented ones that show they are age eligible. The IOC also checked the girls' passports and deemed them valid.

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 corrected to list her as 16.

"This is not a USAG issue," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. "The FIG and the IOC are the proper bodies to handle this."

There's nothing we can do. Unfortunately there's no "age test" so if they want to say she's 16 she's 16.

The truth will come out though - you watch.

[lost in melb.]

Originally Posted by Evets

but c'mon... Phelps winning 5 Golds and breaking 5 World Records, surely it isn't only China that is cheating. Call me sceptical but I think that the Olympics is less about the athletisism and more about who can fool the drugs tests most efficiently.

I reckon the aussi and US swimmers would be amongst the guaranteed cleanest athletes. It's a close-knit team and culture. If there were cheats we'd know about it...