Twelve is the new sixteen
By Kevin Kane
kkane@ss-times.com
The Olympics are behind us, but the controversy isn’t.
The events are over, the scores tallied and the medals awarded, but the dispute over the real age of the Chinese female gymnasts is far from settled. In addition to multiple individual medals, the Chinese women won team gold for the first time ever behind a group of talented, but suspiciously young, gymnasts.
The Chinese government says these young women are 16 — the minimum age required for competition — but proving otherwise would mean China’s disqualification and a gold medal for Team USA. So with Michael Phelps out of the pool, this is what we’re focusing on now.
To shut us up, the International Olympic Committee and International Gymnastics Federation are conducting an investigation into the matter, reexamining the same information China originally provided. So far, the IOC has stated that it is still convinced that the gymnasts are 16 because their government-issued passports and identification cards say so.
How do these global organizations not know about fake IDs? Yeah, the gymnasts are 16, and every college freshman in Indiana is a 21 year old from Louisiana. Apparently it takes the same amount of effort and resources to fool the IOC as it does for an 18 year old to buy a case of Keystone.
The IOC is investigating this as thoroughly as a parent checking the closet for monsters. “Yep. Everything’s fine,” they’ll say. “Now no more talking.”
But this once-over isn’t even necessary. The gymnasts look as if they’re several birthdays away from sweet 16, and supporting evidence seems to be very prevalent. If anything, we need an investigation to prove these girls are over 10.
Xinhua, a Chinese news agency, released a story last year stating that He Kexin was 13 at the time, making her 14 during the Beijing Games. That article was recently erased, and the Chinese government probably did the same to whoever posted it.
A few weeks ago, the Associated Press reported age discrepancies posted on the Web site of the China State General Administration of Sport. Gymnasts who were repeatedly listed as being born in 1994 were suddenly 1992 babies beginning last year. One day they’re 14, and then they’re 16 literally the next day. Today’s kids grow up so fast.
We have evidence from Chinese agencies proving these gymnasts are 14, yet by the time we get a definitive resolution, the girls really will be 16. At that point it won’t matter anymore. But then again, does it really matter now?
It may provide a slight advantage, but being in eighth grade is not a prerequisite for winning Olympic medals in gymnastics. Just ask Oksana Chusovitina (via translator). She’s the 33-year-old German who won the silver medal, out-vaulting competitors nearly two decades younger than her.
The U.S. women didn’t lose the team gold because of age, but that’s not why we want to prove China’s gymnasts are ineligible. While there have been numerous American grumblings about biased scoring in multiple sports, illogical seeding in women’s beach volleyball and seemingly fabricated tiebreaker rules, this age controversy may be the only one we can prove.
Taking away China’s first women’s team gold medal would certainly make up for any wrongdoings we suspect the country committed during the past two weeks. So we’re hoping these allegations stick like a Nastia Liukin dismount.
14 Responses to “Twelve is the new sixteen”
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1August 29th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Mr. Kane, while “twelve is the new sixteen” is debatable, what is not is sensationlism is the new journalism standard for Southside Times.
Here’s what IOC said, via AP wire:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_10292803
“The international federation has required the delivery of birth certificates and all the documents like family books, entries in schools and things like that,” Rogge said. “They have received the documents, and at first sight it seems to be OK.”
Also, please do some fact checking. The Google caches also contains evidence disproving the underage allegation. I’m sure you’ve seen Mike Walker’s blog – read the comments where netters like myself have posted those links.
Disappointed,
Charles Liu
Seattle, WA
2August 29th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I actually liked your article. You go staight to the point. Unlike some, i understand the need for the sarcasim. If all the Chinese Gymnast are the appropriate age, then we will all shut our mouths, but for a team, who’s previous gymnist admitted to be 16 when they were 14(2000 olympics) then they should be stripped of the team and individual medals. If one of our athletes admit to being doped up and said athlete and teams medals are taken away, then whats fair is fair and let them all eat cake.
Appriciated
Jordana
North Carolina
3August 29th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Mr. Liu,
It isn’t a new standard, unfortunately it has been this way for sometime. It seems to get worse and worse, with one exception…Ms. Gentry’s article last week. Too bad they buried it with the classified ads where no one would read it.
4August 29th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Mr. Liu,
Just because the IOC says everything “seems fine” doesn’t mean anything. Everything that was asked for can be forged especially when the Chinese government itself is supplying the documents.
5August 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Charles Liu is a Chinese nationalist jerk (actually lives in Seattle) who collects humidors as a hobby and got his start dwelling on newsgroups dogmatically defending China against the any and all accusations, whatsoever.
6August 29th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Totally agree. When the central government has an interest in manipulating information, and the means to do so, they have proven that they will consistently do so. There’s practically no way we can trust anything they tell us.
7August 29th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Excellent. Finally you find an article that actually addresses the obvious fakes provided by the government.
Some people will argue “innocent until proven guilty”, but I say that is worth absolutely nothing in this case. China can just continue producing fake papers until the end of time, and people can continue to ignore all the evidence (not to mention common sense) that points to the gymnasts being underage.
Charles Liu, the world can continue to dance around the stupid evidence as long as it likes, but this is how it is: The girls appear to be very young. There is evidence that points towards this. The Chinese government has already been trying to cover its tracks. There is concrete evidence that there was a precedent for the Chinese government providing fake papers to allow an underage gymnast to compete. If you look at the entire issue instead of the fake crap from the government, it’s obvious what the truth is.
8August 29th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
The only logical explanation is that someone doesn’t want to offend China, given its current power in the world. However, that’s clearly not working, as they’re already getting offended just by the accusations that the girls might be underage, so may as well go for broke and tell the government to stop producing fake papers.
9August 30th, 2008 at 5:10 am
You guys just dont get it. We got our butts kicked by some Chinese toddlers, who looked as if they needed a bottle of warm milk and a bedtime story. On top of that our (mature) and (older) American girls made (many) blantant mistakes. Even if the Chinese girls would have been 16, we still didnt deserve the gold medal. Hell, after watching our miserable team performance, i am surprised that we even got the silver.
The age controversey is a straw man, designed to take away attention from our horrific performance in the team competiton. Yes i am a dumb-redneck, but i know what i saw.
10August 30th, 2008 at 10:20 am
In response to “terre haute redneck”:
No, apparently you don’t get it. Sure, our gymnasts made some serious errors in the team competition, while China put nail after nail in our coffin. HOWEVER… the age controversy has absolutely nothing to do with the United State of America, because the INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee ordered the investigation and the INTERNATIONAL governing body for the sport of gymnastics is conducting it. I don’t care if we end up getting some extra gold medals, I care that the Chinese government is slapped across the face for the fraud they’ve repeatedly committed.
Also, it seems that you’re not aware of the fact that being younger is a competitive advantage in gymnastics… more flexibility, faster recovery from injury, and better strength to weight ratio because they haven’t hit puberty yet.
11August 30th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
This message is to Terre Haute Redneck,
If you knew anything about the sport of gymnastics it takes great skill and balance to perform the tricks that these men and women do. I am a former collegiate gymnast and have seen girls bodies who are 20 years old that look like they are 16. Yes, we made mistakes but each performance is composed of skills, bonus tricks and other necessary dance moves, which makes a routine. Even though we fell a few times the routines were worth more points to begin with, but besides that, the Chinese made many mistakes too. Know the sport before you criticize it! It is not b/c of the little mistakes that we made that we are using the Chinese age controversy to take the attention away from our silver metal performance, that we WELL deserved!!! You’re thinking is absurd, hence, why your name is “redneck”!!! We know these girls are under 15, we’re just waiting for the IOC reps. to prove it.
12August 30th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
how about “American Media is the new sore loser”? Rather than praising the wonderful performances given by the Chinese girls, who totally deserved the gold medal, the media tries to taint their medal with groundless accusations. May I remind you that their ages have been verified by official documents. Are you blind? Are you deaf? Are you dumb? Can’t you see?
13August 30th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Fake fireworks- Lip sync opening ceremonies-
Does anyone doubt fake credentials?
But, since the government creates new ones, and eraces old ones- it will never be proven.
14September 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Wow, i go deer hunting for a few days, and total ignorance breaks out. First, there is no investigation, the IOC (asked) for more documentation. Second, that one Russian gymnast Svetlia was damn near 6 foot something, and is one of the worlds best gymnast, so dont give me that size stuff. Third, being older should give a mental and more mature advantage over some 12 year old. For crying out loud, Sacromone is an Ivy league sophomore at Brown University. Fact is, your arguments are absurd, and smacks of silly excuses.