China Acknowledges Gymnastics Team Age Confusion, Blames Bad Paperwork

China today acknowledged the confusion about the ages of its Olympic gymnasts. China's deputy sports minister blamed paperwork problems. ESPN has the story.

At last year's China's Cities Games, Chinese officials decided to move He Kexin, who won two gold medals during the Beijing Games, from a local team to the national team. China's deputy sports minister Cui Dalin said Sunday that it was during this transfer that a "misunderstanding appeared" about her age.

"Last year at the all-city competition, He Kexin moved from one team to another and during the process of registering during the move, there appeared this age discrepancy," Cui said during a news conference.

"So it was the appearance of a mistake in the process of transferring teams that the misunderstanding appeared. However, I can right here accurately say that the ages of the members of our gymnastics delegation entirely conform to the requirements for participation in the Beijing Olympic Games."

Read the Huffington Post's scoop on the "scandal of the ages"

Comments

[RushLiberal]

And everyone believes the consummate LIARS - NEVER TRUST THE CHINESE!

[AmandaBC]

You know, racism and xenophobia are mental disorders...

[lunchbag]

To add, that's funny, they seem to have made that mistake with (3) girls.....

[lunchbag]

Rubbish, lets see hospital records

[mathme]

Yes, those are carved in diamond-coated titanium plates and cannot be altered!

[Big0725]

LOL

[frappe]

Or speak with their neighbors...they would know when the children were born. (Can't trust the "official records"...I'm sure that the Chinese covered their bureaucratic steps by now.

[justadood]

China Team, As much as I don't care one way or another about the medals awarded, I see the present controversy over the ages of the Gymnasts as a scandal entirely of your own making, not the USA's.

If you were not so obsessed with 'saving face', and winning at *any* cost, one would have expected the paperwork for the kids to have been accurate when filed, adn not needing any changes.
Altering paperwork is a red-flag warning in *any* developed nation that you're up to no good, and while the USA is itself not all that honest, they culturally put a high value on honest competition.

To 'save face', it would be best to admit the attempt to alter the gymnasts' ages to allow them to compete, accept the judgement of the IOC, and move on. In the great scheme of things, which is more important....winning Gold, of being seen as fostering honest competition in your National team?