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

[Lupin77]

It's a shame China cheated using underage children to win gold. They have a history of using children in the work force - so this isn't so surprising - just disgraceful.

[curocat]

You sound like a China expert. Tell me your qualification(s)??

[Sioen]

Lupin's statement didn't require expert qualifications -- it's just fact and history.

What part of it are you contesting?

[mangonut]

And your proof would be...??

While China may have used underage gymnasts, if we bitch about it, we sound like a bunch of sore losers, or worse, sore winners.

If we are gracious and it comes out that China cheated, they look like idiots.

However, if it's never found that the gymnasts are underage, we look like asses.

Guess what we're going to look like?

[coco77]

If only the FIG had a history of being reasonably proactive instead of woefully reactive, I would be content to leave things in their hands.

Example: waiting until after 2000 to change the vault after the world saw how dangerous it was, but doing nothing prior even after some girls broke their necks on it; waiting until 1997 to change the age rule after "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" was published, but doing nothing prior even after the girls were clearly becoming more stunted and malnourished over time

[Pupster]

So does the US. It just happened 100 years ago.

BTW I'm sure you are absolutely diligent in making sure you don't buy products made by children in China. Or do you? You sound so morallistic, I'm sure you check everything, right?

[gmlaster]

You know, I went by PetsMart the other day looking for pet snacks and toys, and I told the salesman to be sure none of it was from China, because we're afraid for our pet. He said, "Boy, if I had a dollar for every person who said that to me, I'd never have to work again".

Apparently, PetsMart has a special section for pet goods from China because it seems that after the poison Chinese petfood scandal, most Americans will NOT buy pet food or toys unless its made in the USA. As hard as times are, we're happy to pay more to make sure no Chinese poison goods end up in our homes hurting our children and pets. We check everything really carefully. Anything Chinese stays on the shelf. Expect to see more of that after the elections.

Speaking of morality, Confucius taught that morality was the responsibility of every individual to their community. Odd that the China that once gave the world Confucius now breaks the rules with baby gymnasts, foists tainted goods on us, and suggests that cheating is okay in the interests of national pride.

What the hell happened to you people?

[PDXTransplant]

Do they have turnip trucks in China?

[gmlaster]

If they do, they must be awful big for them to think the rest of the world fell off.

[PDXTransplant]

My thoughts exactly. Doesn't anyone tell the truth anymore?

[Mort]

Do they have some of o politicians over there? Misunderstanding, not flagrant violation. Bad paperwork, not fraudulent passports. Sound like classic coverup and schmoozing.

[gmlaster]

They call it "saving face".

[c3m]

I really don't care at all. I believe the whole Olympic thing
is unnecessary, a bunch of bullsh*t, many athletes are
scamming the system with performance enhancing drugs.

A cure for cancer would be of interest!!!!!!

[gmlaster]

Oooh, somebody's had some sour grapes!

[cultkicker]

c3m - You wish is my command! Check out oleander soup, anvirzel, and SutherlandiaOPC. Also look into MMS at mmsdr.com.

Cheers!

[Johnagain]

Thanks. I'm a biomedical researcher working on cancer. Nice to see that someone sees our work as a priority.

[piquet]

pppffftttt­...**wave off**

[collprof]

Yeah right...an­d I'm Mao Tse Tung. I just sat up in my crypt. $50,000,000,000 to show the world the power of China and they make paperwork mistakes? People in China have disappeared for less than that...

[Roxanna]

It's a Crock!

First it's steroids..­. Now it's Age..... ONE BIG COMMERCIAL placed on Who Wins?

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT!!!

[eugenegerard]

The fact is the CHINESE cheated. end of story. Take the medals away.

[learnsomething]

They cheated with the boxing also.

[Pupster]

If it's a fact, then I'm sure you can prove it with evidence. Or can you?

[gmlaster]

X-ray the girls. There's your evidence.

[Guynemer]

I realize these rules are in place to protect to kids, but the competition is over. The fact is, we'll never know for sure. Even still, I'm not sure we'd want to. It's bad enough to be beaten, but to be beaten by a 14 year old?

[S1m0n]

It's easier for 14 year olds; that's why they cheated in the first place.

At puberty women's bodies gain 5% in fat (curves!), their joints less flexible, and their hips change shape and become way less efficient. All three changes make gymnastics harder.

[learnsomething]

Exactly, thats why using 12, 13, and 14 year olds gave China an unfair advantage.

[gmlaster]

That schoolyard line is getting pretty tired. And we do know for sure because our eyes work. We knew the moment we saw them that those weren't 16-year-old girls. Get a better argument.

[Pupster]

And our eyes also told us that one of the US members fell on her butt twice. And you want to give her a gold medal.

[coco77]

You don't want to get me started on Chinese gymnasts falling on skills that recreational gymnasts can do. China falls 4 times more often than the American team but Pupster talks about the Americans falling. ROFL.

[coco77]

Cheng Fei-- 1) crash on Cheng vault, 2) fall on front full (floor), 3) fall out of triple turn, 4) fall on full twist (beam)
He Kexin-- 5) fall on pak salto
Li Shanshan-- 6) fall on full twist swing down
Jiang Yuyuan-- 7) crash on Amanar (team prelims) 8) crash on Amanar (AA)

[andvoodoo2]

If you knew anything about gymnastics you would realize how stupid your comment was.

[Pupster]

Pul-eeze. If you (or any of these outraged people) can name all 6 US team members without using google, maybe we can take your opinions seriously.

[MarkInIrvine]

my 14-year old can beat your 14-year old ... but since China cheated, my 14-year old didn't get the chance to show her stuff. that's what this is about.

[Pupster]

Despite the fact that even without that rule, the same 6 US girls would have made the team?

You know what is embarassing? That the 14 yo was more mentally tough than the 20 yo. The 20 yo being Alicia Sacramone, the US gal who fell twice. It wasn't her body that failed her, it was her mental weakness.

[malrubius]

Ha ha ha. Thank you very much. We will be here all millennium.

[justhope]

Wow guys!! Never before have I seen a post where I was in almost total disagreement with all the posts I've read. Granted I haven't rad all the posts, but I couldn't wait til the end to respond. We are not in any position, let me repeat..no­t in any position to call the Chinese cheats because of our perceived discrepancy to the ages of the girls. We cannot use our own brush to paint others. These girls may not look like American 16 year old gymnast, but rarely do other countries 16 year old gymnasts look like ours! Look at the Japanese girls. Chinese women are usually smaller bones, and stature and look very young. I remember a Chinese girl on my high school swim team who was more worldly and much more mature with an adult male boyfriend, yet she looked like nine and swam faster than I or anyone else on our team could. The first time I went to her house after a swim meet and met her older sister I thought that was her 8 year old neice. This woman was at least 25 years old!! I learned to be less judgemental!!

[Independent007]

I have lived in China and have seen enough Chinese people and dated Chinese women that she was not 16 years old.
But how can you prove it? You can't.
China cheated in my opinion. Too bad, especially since they did not need to cheat in order to win gold at the Olympics.

[WinstonSmith]

The question becomes, do you know because you were dating Chinese girls who were not yet 16?
This all boils down to who cheated the best to win. This is a win at all costs world. The only people "doing it clean" are the ones who have figured out how not to get caught. I fail to see why anyone cares.

[gmlaster]

Sure you can prove it. X-ray the girls and do a bone growth analysis. They do it all the time to find out the age of murdered children.

[stopgeorge]

Umm...

please check the stats I posted below.

Also, this is somewhat of a non-sequitur, since there is viable proof from earlier official documents that show that their birthdate has increased by 2 years since.

Also, Age-changing is common in China.

Also, there was a Chinese gymnast that ADMITTED that she was 14 (registered as 16) in the 2000 Olympics.

[justamazed]

Hold on there big fella. HuffPo is not a place for truth, proof or logic. The story about a swimmer from china and an older sister that looked 8 but the swimmer looked 9. Yea okay. I have 9 year old right now. I know 8 year olds her size and 10 year olds her size. At those ages it is pretty hard to tell. So this story is typical of HuffPo puffpo. It is a BS story. The story is suppose to tell us to not be judgemental. Yea, that is not the HuffPo way either. Stay tuned for more silly stories like this.

[TrinitYxHime]

everyone here is just mad because China won the gold medal with "under aged" gymnasts. Look at yourselves. Ever think WHY are you mad? You people here are just jealous that China can win over the United States of America with "under aged" children. America should be ashamed, losing to CHILDREN, if they really are under aged that is. America is so desperate to find a way out and void the gold medals. wow, what an act of desperation. You people need to learn that is not always about the US. China has their merits too.

[tribecca]

Being underage is an ADVANTAGE for gymnasts, not a disadvantage. All things considered, it's much easier to lose to child gymnasts than to beat them.

[quintus]

No, you're quite wrong. This isn't about jealousy. And your ignorance is showing: it IS actually far easier to win an Olympic gold medal when you weigh less and you have more flexibility. And that is PRECISELY why the Chinese cheated! They knew they could not win these events by playing fairly. Which, in actuality, shows China's DESPERATION, not the U.S.'s

China is desperate to win at all costs (even by cheating) because they feel INFERIOR on the world stage.

[missviv]

Thank you! Although I fear 7out of 10 people reading this will spew back something about "COMMIES!!! DIRTY COMMIES!!!". I wonder how fierce the controversy over the Chinese gymnasts would be if the team they beat were from a lesser known country. Everyone wants their country to be well represented, but some people take it too far and only want their country do suceed.

[coco77]

I was cheering for Oksana Chusovitna and I'm glad she beat Cheng Fei on vault, but I don't begrudge Cheng her bronze on vault (despite the fact she totally crashed on it) because she is clearly age eligible, even though I disagree with the judging.

[magnitude]

TrinitYxHime,

It is just not being 2 years younger that is the problem . When you are younger there is a weight issue too. When you are younger, smaller and weigh less there is more agility to perform difficult acrobatics. So there is the advantage , which then become an unfair advantage if every other gymanast is 16 or over.
I think the chinese team performed great ,but if there actually is an underage problem , the playing field was uneven. There is no racism or jealousy in most of us who watched and enjoyed the Chinese performances. Olympics should be a level playing field.

[S1m0n]

It's also bad for the girls. Training that hard too young has affected their development, and this will lead to medical problems down the road for every one of those girls, and for the hundreds of others who got the same training but didn't go to the Olympics.

A whole bunch of the East Germans who dominated international amateur sports in the 70s and 80s were the recipients of huge amounts of steroids that they couldn't say no to, and for many of them the consequences have been coming due.

[quintus]

No, you're quite wrong. This isn't about jealousy. And your ignorance is showing: it IS actually far easier to win an Olympic gold medal when you weigh less and you have more flexibility. And that is PRECISELY why the Chinese cheated! They knew they could not win these events by playing fairly. Which, in actuality, shows China's DESPERATION, not the U.S.'s

China is desperate to win at all costs (even by cheating) because they feel INFERIOR on the world stage.

[Pupster]

"Far easier"? Says who? Do you mean any 12 yo can get up in a pressure situation, on a stage in front of a stadium crowd, in front of Olympic judges, in front of cameras with a worldwide audience and they can pull off a routine like that?

Damn. You give a lot of credit to 12 yos.

[coco77]

Yes, that is why the oldest member of China's team had the most falls. She even fell out of a triple turn on floor and a front full!

[gmlaster]

"China is desperate to win at all costs (even by cheating) because they feel INFERIOR on the world stage."

Right you are, Quintus. I've been saying the same thing. They feel $40 billion dollars inferior. Imagine what that money could have done to aid their poor. They put the games over the welfare of their own people. No wonder they feel inferior!

China is the kid at school that got picked on for being poor. When he grew up and lucked into a little money, suddenly he becomes pushy and throws his weight around, wearing shiny suits and flashing a ton of gold jewelry to make everyone jealous of how rich he is. But he doesn't realize that people who are used to having money don't ever do that.

They don't have to flash their wealth around for everyone to admire. They wear blue jeans at home and grab a cheesburger when they're hungry. They don't need to advertise their wealth to everyone because it's no novelty to them. Real wealth is quiet, and feels no need to boast or brag about superiority. They don't have to tell everybody they're wealthy...­they just are.

[rwe]

Bad Paper work??/ sounds a lot like " I wasn't in church that time Rev Wright said those things"

[karela]

Check their teeth.

[darthmaul]

Boy do I feel better. Thanks for explaining the "misunderstanding" involving all three of the girls? What a coincidence that all three girls had discrepancies that led to these "misunders­tandings."