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

[GhiaccioPronto]

WE MUST NOT ALLOW>>> A CUTENESS GAP!!!!

[wizinit]

Just another passport doping scandal. Buyer beware, China's government cheats.

[AgathaX]

In nearly every setting there are a few people--sometimes more than a few--who are willing to cheat to win. Thus, drug testing. Improper ages are easy to suspect and difficult, or even impossible, to determine with any certainty--at least if the home country is in on the deceit. A more enforceable rule needs to be adopted. One thing that has occured to me is an average min. weight for each team. Or perhaps an assumption that gymasts under a certain weight are underage--a presumption that could be rebutted by high quality documentation. If all the documentation that is required is an age on a passport, you might as well get rid of the rule.

[vietveter]

Yeah, right

and

the check is in the mail.

[KarateKid]

The Chinese cheat, plain and simple. Look at the two girls in the picture. I'm Asian, have two daughters, and I'll eat my pants if they are 16. The one on the right looks like she's 12 or 13 and the one in the center no older than 14. What kind of idiots do they think the we are? If that's the way to win, they can have it and they have no conscience.

It's not surprising from a country that puts lead in the paint of children's toys or don't have any semblance of quality control over their food exports, which have killed people in Japan.

[nibblybits]

Oh brother. I get that there's some friction between the Chinese and Japanese (well, actually, all Asians dislike the Japanese) but do you have to bring that stuff here?

Unless your kids have been competitive gymnasts for the last 10 years, they may not have the same body type. Is that too obvious to point out?

[stickNmove]

Please don't feed the tr0\s.

[paixa3]

...and ""THE boo$$sh"". cheney and other MF's do not cheat...get a life, please......

You may in fact be one of the reasons that the world does NOT RESPECT, any longer the USA.

Please start worrying about something significant....fer Christ's sake......

[justamazed]

So you come here and lecture KarateKid about worrying about something significant. Yet you clicked on this story. Read at least one post and went off on the President of the United States. You are the reason the world thinks we are stupid. Because when you open your ignorant hole ironic stupidity rolls out. Freedom of stupid speech.

Try you own advice before you stroke out man.

[SaraPulis]

I certainly do not believe China on this matter; who would? They are the 1984 government. But seriously, if these young teenagers can hold their own against more experienced gymnasts, they deserve their medals and their government deserves a swift kick in the ass. Why do we have these age rules anyway?

[bouyant]

We have these rules so the playing field is level. Twelve-year-olds are lighter and less developed so some moves and balancing poses are easier, plus they are generally more fearless than sixteen-year-olds.

[learnsomething]

Exactly. This is why for China to use these 12 and 13 year olds, is so unfair.

[dogman44]

Is this the reason for Africa's child armies?

[nonconformist2]

Because, specifically in gymnastics the age of the competitors were getting younger and younger, and the brutal training regiments were getting harder and harder. You have young undeveloped girls with severe injuries. The put in the age rule to protect the gymnasts from potential abuse.

[SaraPulis]

Hmm, that is a good reason. Such a shame it's necessary, though - we're looking for the BEST in the world, not the best in the world between certain ages.

[stickNmove]

Yes, it would be an gross injustice to those girls if all their sacrifice and work were for nothing. They are not to blame for this deception, and tainted though those medals may be the girls have earned them. Personally, I would like to see China barred from competing in Olympic gymnastics for at least one or two Olympic cycles.

[gmlaster]

It would be an even greater injustice to the girls they cheated if all their work was for nothing. THEY are not to blame for this deception, and the girls who played fair earned the medals, NOT the cheaters.

[gmlaster]

We have rules for the sake of a concept called "fairness". Don't you?

[SaraPulis]

Having rules simply for the sake of having rules is a pointless endeavor. Circular logic defeats itself. You need to specify what it is you call "fairness".

[GhiaccioPronto]

American media ratings dependency on Olympic gold for American female gymnasts and Ice skaters, evolved out the deep trauma experienced in the 60's and 70's when "communist" girls from the soviet union, with their tradition in ballet, took the form to a new level, and were consistently crowned queen of the games. Not unlike sputnik, this was an affront to the racially enhanced deep propaganda of Soviet inferiority which in this case characterized Russian (and by default eastern block) women, as brutish, primitive, and ugly.

[GhiaccioPronto]

The 84 Olympics provided US media an opportunity to re-write the script, but when the Romanians did not go along with the Soviet boycott , the Americans were determined to forestall the possibility of another ringer like Nadia Comaneci from spoiling the Regan/Mary Lou Retton triumph, and began the push to impose higher and higher age limits on the participants. Mary Lou Retton was given the magic "come back" from impossibly down "perfect 10" fairy tale ending while Ecaterina Szabo had to settle for the realpolitik of golds in the individual events over Retton. This storyline, replete with evil foreign judges to "overcome" and miraculous comebacks has been essentially repeated (and enhanced by the pathological narration of commentators in case you missed the point) at every Olympics since. The all time low was reached at the Salt lake Olympics, which fatally deviated from the formula and caused the
double gold medal whine fest crisis. Its now clear that the Russians and Romanians ex-Soviet Union have been written out of the script, and can barely hope to bronze in a sport they brought to the forefront of the world stage which is now entirely dependent on American ratings. The American media face a new threat however, Chinese TV ratings
for the Olympics approached half a billion viewers, to America,s 28 million and they have their own script. For now however, the Americans retain their edge in revenue.

[GhiaccioPronto]

With the fall of the soviet union and the loss of Russian "potency" American racial stereotypes of former eastern block female atheletes underwent a radical 180 degree shift, the propaganda value of masculised mustachioed "soviet" woman no longer served its purpose and the conquered females of eastern Europe were rapidly transformed into media fantasy objects a la anna kournikova, beautiful, but no threat to win, there for the pleasure of their american hosts. The right to Media Queendom of a sport is reserved for those eastern Europeans who are sufficiently americanized to serve Madison avenues requirements - Maria Sharapova and now Nastasia Liukin.. The new and sexualized paradigm of "our" russian women devalued the now outmoded good, clean, (non-sexed) "all american" Mary Lou Retton stand in Shawn Johnson.
This is a lesson the Chinese with their equally underdeveloped and non-sexed versions in contention haven't yet adopted - sex sells.

[coco77]

2004 had the same age limits as 2008 where the Romanians won team gold and Sofronie and Pavlova had a strong chance to win the AA, but they made small mistakes whereas Patterson was very clean (stuck Patterson dismount, stuck or near-stuck on all passes on floor). Romania also took many event medals.

2000 also had the same age limits with the US taking no medals. Romania had gold in team, Russia had silver due to falls. Romania swept the AA though Raducan was later disqualified. Khorkina had falls due to a maladjusted vault and Lobaznyuk had small errors.

The dominance of US and China came mainly due to the revised COP with no realistically obtainable ceiling on A score. Romanians were not historically the biggest risk takers (though they did do risky skills) and beat the Russians due to consistency. Also Belu left as head coach and Forminte has a different philosophy. The Soviets and later Russians were risk takers with big skills that would be rewarded under the new COP, but I'm not sure that is as much the case with the 2004 generation (Pavlova, etc.) as with the ones before (Produnova, etc.)

How is this all an American media plot?

[jqcitizen]

I am older than dirt but have not forgotten the BOMBING in Atlanta. Richard Jewell was falsely accused of it. Jewell is dead and Eric Rudolf is is where he belongs.
Do not forget the graft and corruption that went on in Salt Lake City prior to the Winter Games.

Who was the 'Savior" for US 'integrity' at Salt Lake? ... Mitt Romney.

GOLD MEDALS for the athletes, just leave the politics, religion and cultural differences out of sporting events.

[stopgeorge]

The ChiComs made the games political themselves. They are the ones that broke their promises to the IOC with respect to human rights and freedom. They are the ones that faked the documents and lied about a multitude of things that were not political for political reasons.

Give me a freakin' break.

[paixa3]

Perhaps you were naieve in the beginning.? Geezuzz, the USA is filled with stupid folk.

[1differentdrummer]

BS. There is no excuse for this. Tell me again why China got the Olympics, could you?

[IAmYourDad]

because they didn't lie to start a war

[stickNmove]

Oh, now THERE's a logical conclusion for you.

[stopgeorge]

They will when they invade the free and democratic nation of Taiwan around 2012.

[Driver125]

They are the only people with that amount of money to waste. I guess it doesn't come with any ethical guarantees or commitments.

[nofltwlt]

This is an insult and an embarrassment to themselves.

China, the land of great pride and culture expects that world to believe they couldn't say to these very, very young girls, how old are you honey.

Wow! How stupid are they to believe that anyone is stupid enough to accept their excuse?

[stopgeorge]

They make a habit of underestimating the intelligence of people outside of China. They have successfully muted the will of a billion humans, afterall. Their arrogance sometimes gets the best of them. This is a perfect example.

[nibblybits]

So are you an anti-China protester? Because you admitted you're not American nor do you care who got the silver medal in gymnastics. So you don't seem to be arguing for the sake of the American girls. What's your beef? Why don't you openly admit your agenda if it has nothing to do with gymnastics?

[stickNmove]

Precisely. The Chinese government made the critical "face-losing" error of forgetting that unlike their terrorized and cowering citizens, the rest of the world is not afraid to expose them for the "thugs and goons" they are (Cafferty had it just right).

[rpahk]

The Chinese govt will change birth certificates, schools records and anything else needed to avoid losing face over this issue. We will never know the truth unless it comes from the athletes directly and you can be absolutely certain that will not happen or the athletes and their families will all be sent to re-education camps never to be heard from again.

[stopgeorge]

I don't think that's true. The paperwork given to FIG can be analyzed to determine how old it is. If the paperwork was created in the last couple of weeks, then it is direct proof of deception and the medals should be stripped from the Chinese team.

[IAmYourDad]

either way the bashing will not stop because everyone h a t e the chinese

[lunchbag]

Pen, ink and paer fade as well just check other documents at that time written by the same cleck to see variances in any forgeries

[rpahk]

I would never underestimate the ruthlessness of the Chinese govt. No one thought they would send tanks into Tiananmen Square to kill their own people either.

[justhope]

Guys this is really enough. We have changed birth certificates, changed the rules when it suited us, remember Paul Hamm who stole the gold at the 2004 Olympics, and covered up for our cheating drug using entitlement believing athletes. Let's move on for pete's sake. The next time we must treat others with empathy and they will be more inclined to remember when the roles are reversed. Jus saying, laws of the Universe. What goes around comes around. MOVE ON!

[lunchbag]

Two things we have learned from China's latest statement
1) The Chinese governmant is incompetent
2) they keep records (so we must demand more records)
It appears we still don't have other records confirming 'He' age

It would appear, the age 'He' was plucked from her family at age 3 which was Jan 1/97 (according to Chinese govt newsources) which made 'He' 14 in 2008 at which a gymnast-girl would be at their peak. .
Later in 1997 th rule of age 16 was introduced. Either the govt individuals who plucked 'He' were unaware of this, or didn't care.

[obamaluv]

Why are ther 8 pages of comments about this.? Why so much concern . 14 or 16 so what -when there is so much true life and death unjustice in this world.

[stopgeorge]

This is symbolic of how the Chinese government operates and how the enablers of this world let it continue to happen. It is a blatant lie and denial by this Chinese governemnt and the IOC will probably let it slide for the sake of saving face.

Many parallels can be drawn here to how bigger and more important issues play out in China.

[bobbuck]

So what?
The Chinese lie about a birth date...
George Bush allows torture...
I'd rather the lie.

[nibblybits]

stopgeorge, why do you even care? You admitted you don't care who got the silver. You admitted you're not American. So what's with the ants in your pants? You sound seriously hysterical, overcome with your hate of the Chinese government. What's your issue?

[gmlaster]

Geez, StopGeorge. What did you say that this nibblybits person has such a hard on for you? You strike me as a calm, logical person who dispassionately lays out clear and concise reasons for why China totally sucks ass, and you're ABSOLUTELY correct. But you are clearly getting under this guy's skin.

Way to go. Keep it up!

[GhettoGrapevine]

You don't think the Chinese government's repressive treatment of its citizens a worthy enough example of the "true life and death unjustice(sic) in this world?" You don't think some poor slob and/or his or her family isn't going to pay a heavy price for this "appearance of a mistake in the process of transferring teams?" You can bet that the Chinese government is not going to "lose face" over this without inflicting a lot of pain on whoever they pick to take the rap.

[stickNmove]

With your screen name, obamaluv, you should work on softening the condescending elitist tone of your comments. Poor BarOba has enough trouble trying to live down that undeserved image as it is without his supposed supporters undermining him. I'm just sayin'... ;)

[justhope]

Seriously, how much research have you done into the Chinese treatment of it's own people? Facts only. I clearly remember that it wasn't that long ago, our own Government used our own citizens as test subjects in the Tuskeegee Syphillis scandal, which infected thousands of African Americans, some who stil live with the disease today.. There are numerous more I can tell you. I am a champion for human rights and fairness around the world. Quit being such a media sponge. The problem with Americans, most are intellectually lazy and accept the garbage fed by the corporate media. Information is so more accessible than the past, yet some sit on blogs and spread their prejudices, hiding behind their keyboards.

[IAmYourDad]

because there are too much but hurt going on.

[Blutus]

Because it is very important to China,
the country we will be at war with next.

[Enid]

if the child knows their age, its not simply paper work .
ask the kid her age ? anybody

[stopgeorge]

Umm...you don't think she's capable of lying?

In case you don't remember, the 8 year-old singer at the opening ceremonies lied about singing at the behest of her governement.

[bobbuck]

She didn't lie. When did she say she was actually singing?
It was a show! Just like any Broadway stage show!
Plenty of miming there! But were you told so?
Get some perspective

[stickNmove]

Probably because in China what "at the behest of her government" really means is "if you ever want to see your father again."

[justhope]

Now that is the last straw. The kid din't lie about singing a dam thing. She lip synched just as we have done for decades. The Chines successfully put on a wonderful production, Get the hell over it. The audacity of an adult, sitting on a political forum, willing to tell a lie on an 8 year girl, goes beyond nationalistic pride. It is just pure hate and prejudice, it's people like you make me ashamed to call myself and American. Move on!! Unless you can substantiate this blatant lie, then SHUT THE HELL UP!! It is standard for our own performers to use body doubles and lip synch!!! IT WAS A DAM SHOW!!~

[IAmYourDad]

oh it doesn't matter, if the igno rant people of huffpo don't want to believe it, the chinese will never be free from the accusation.

[Johnagain]

The IOC must strip the underaged gymnasts of their medals. That is the only outcome that will restore any trust in the IOC. As is stands now, if you look up IOC in the dictionary it says 'see corruption'. IOC and corruption are literally synonymous and this age 'confusion' is the starkest proof of it that anyone needs.

[IAmYourDad]

really? show me the link

[nibblybits]

Geez, exaggerate much?

Yeah, it's downright criminal how the IOC is cramping your lifestyle by putting on a two week show of athletics. We should shut them down!

[Johnagain]

Don't change the subject. The IOC is refusing to pursue the investigation of the obvious cheating being perpetrated by the Chinese government in this case, and it is crippling their credibility, such as it is. There are thousands of athletes competing within the rules who are being slapped in the face by this blatant cheating. If this is allowed to pass without the Chinese government being held accountable (by stripping the medals), what is next? Any country that thinks that they can get away with breaking the rules, will follow suit. The Chinese authorities know they've cheated, they know that the world knows it. What they're doing now is saying "So what. We will do whatever we want and there is nothing you will dare to do to stop us." They operate under a completely different mindset, and it is high time you bumpkins got wise to it.

[sacrebleu]

The Olympic-size irony of all this is that as host of the 2008 Olympic Games China will be remembered not for the "perfection" it sought to achieve by any cowardly means necessary, but for lies, cheating and out-and-out fraud.

[nibblybits]

Maybe you'll remember it that way. And if so, that's sad.

Because there were plenty of exciting and uplifting moments in this Olympics, which I will remember for a long time.

[GhettoGrapevine]

You misunderstood me I think. I was speaking only to what China as the host nation would be remembered for, not the actual games themselves, which were, I agree, great fun to watch.

[stopgeorge]

Yeah. Like those protestors that were quickly round up on Tianamen Square, interrogated and deported. Or those empty protest zones. Or the fact that dissidents were hauled off to labour camps before the start of these "harmonious games". The same was done to the people who lost their homes due to this spectacle who had the audacity to protest the taking of their home.

Good times.

[Blutus]

Do you get a meal break?

[gmlaster]

They'll always be Cheatin' China to me.