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

[NKRosenbaum]

Have any of you ever heard of Turner syndrome??
It's a condition that delays puberty in children.

I wonder what else the government and media are hiding from us...

[dukeitout]

In what other sport do the grownups have to worry about being outdone by the kids? I'm calling on all kids to protest this infringement on their civil rights. Don't eat your spinach kids? It tastes ruckie anyway. Where's the free market when you need it?

[olephart]

We have to give them the benefit of the doubt on this. They hired Douglas Feith to do the research and background checks and ran it past Condi.

[nibblybits]

Hey, Americans voted for the guy who hired those doofi.

[Rubyfoo]

I could swear I saw one of those little girl gymnasts put her pacifier away before performing.

[Steeevyo]

As credible as any presdiential candidate.

[leeleslan]

Bottom line.....C­hina cheated and the world knows it. Surely they don't think everyone is that stupid. I suppose if they change the rules for the next Olympics to twelve years old, China will send 10 year olds.

[Rubyfoo]

They don't think everyone's stupid. It's 'plausible deniability' as practiced in the Rove presidency.

[nibblybits]

Really? Does "the world" know it? Cuz it sounds like a bunch of whiny Americans who can't get off their couches think they "know" it, but not really.

[stopgeorge]

It's more than just Americans. And good strawman, nibblybits.

You debate like a well-rehearsed Chinese propagandist.

[nibblybits]

Hey, if a 14 yo shows more mental toughness than a 20 yo who falls twice, then maybe they deserve to win.

[BurtR]

the jamaicans kicked ass fair and square

[aOsO]

Yeah right China, and the sky is not blue.

[whatchamean]

They take the girls away from their family and they don't see them for 2 years. We should not acknowlede such a system with praise. It is a machine and the product was some very good gymnasts with very low centers of gravity due to their size which gives them a decided advantage.

[nibblybits]

And that's totally different from people here who send their kids to boarding school. Totally different, if by different I mean the same.

[justhope]

Are you for real? Have you ever heard of IMG PENDLETON, The Ballitieri Academy and the numerous such mega schools in Bradenton Florida and around the world. Kids are sent to boarding schools that are specific to their sport where they live and become the best in their field of tennis, basketball, track and field, football, gynmastics, ice skating etc. They train for 6-10 hours per day. Ice skaters get up at 3am and are on the ice by 4am where they train for hours. The chinese are just more organized and they pay for everything. In the USA, you only have a chance if your parents are rich or you are lucky enough to get a scholarship. Ask Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova, the Williams sisters etc. Ask Tony Parker or Joaquim Noah about the basketball schools in France. There is a whole new crop of Russian tennis players being trained in that way in USA and Europe. They now dominate in numbers. Know the merits of each program before you spew garbage! When Russia had such a system they dominated. Now people have to pay for their own training, most can't afford it.

[TFlint]

HELLO EVERYBODY !!! Is anybody out there thinking???
Chinese and Koreans count their age from DATE OF CONCEPTION - NOT DATE OF BIRTH.
A 15 year old Chinese girl is officially 16. Think, people, think!!!

[rwe]

SHOULD NOT WE ALL?????

[spiffarino]

No.

[lunchbag]

The IOC does not, hello

[Nyland8]

That's just because they start them on the balance beam in the first trimester.

8

[Johnagain]

Even then, He Kexin would still be under age for the 2008 Olympics.

[Dots]

"You've got to be carefully taught."
We are teaching the whole world how to spin the truth.

[BannedInBoston]

"I thought the 4 was a 6."

[stringer]

I'm so sick of this crap.

And the head of IOC, on NBC last night, cryptically saying they'll have a solution in the hour and then agreeing when Bob Costas points out athletes have been stripped of their medals for less.

If you're not going to do anything, quit pretending you will.

It's bad enough Nastia Liukin got robbed of one of her golds.

But to wave this in our face, when we all know you won't do anything, then pretend you will before doing nothing is beyond the pale.

Quit pretending. The Chinese cheated on their gymnists age. And hthe IOC is too scared to do anything about it. Disgraceful.

[IAmYourDad]

cry me a river

[Meggie]

translation: Chinese news agencies and chinese officials are incompetent, stupid bunglers who cannot be relied on for accuracy.
But, their gymnists are the correct age to compete in the Olympics.

[AdobePhsyko]

Whatif we lobbed a couple of Nukes at Bejing and call it a Computer Glitch ?
Sounds fair

[nibblybits]

You know what would make more sense? If you stopped buying Chinese products. Less hypocritical too.

[Johnagain]

D@mn. That would include this computer I'm typing on, the table it sits on, the flooring that the table sits on, the wiring that the electricity flows through to power this computer, the shirt on my back, the bank that holds my home loan, ......

[spiffarino]

Not to mention a lot less stupid and self-destructive. I can't believe anybody would be stupid enough to even talk about lobbing nukes at any country. What a buffoon.

[IAmYourDad]

then the chinese will fired a few back at you.
sounds really fair

[spiffarino]

But first will burst into thousand different colors very beauty!
Warning: Make loud discharge of sound