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

[Blutus]

I'm up to 86 deletions!


Latest one deleted pertained to female infanticide
in a certain Asian country.

Oh well. They really are taking over.

[dogman44]

I'm up in the 80s myself. Almost one tenth of what I've posted. And I wasn't swearing or making
attacks on other posters. Who knows what this site uses for censorship criteria.

[WoudKano]

It never ceases to amaze me how hypocritical and self-righteous a people we Americans can be.

When Floyd Landis, he of the famed Mennonite work ethic, tested positive for a banned substance in his urine sample, most blogs were rife with an American public that wanted the blood of the French because "those dirty French are jealous because an all-American rider has once again won the Tour"...

Listening to the NBC commentators during the games and all one had to do was replace "American athlete" with "Russian or Chinese athlete" and the tag "state-run TV" would immediately be added to the network.

We are a great country....a great people...there is not doubt about it. But we are not alone in this world. And other countries/people are just as great....actually better than us in some areas.

The world has gottten smaller and the interaction/exchange of ideas between countries makes it possible for a Kenyan runner to represent the US...an American basketballer to represent Russia, etc...

As a people, we seem to be having a difficult time dealing with the reality that Americans are not as dominant as they once were...as they have convinced themselves that they are.

Sad indeed....

[Meggie]

My problem with what happened to Floyd Landis has nothing to do with if he used drugs or not. Nobody can make that determination with any accuracy any longer.
First off, the drug he is accused of taking would have done him no good whatsoever in the timeframe that he was accused of taking it.
Second, every complaint about the lab, whether it be innacuracies in their paperwork or corruption of their tests and testing procedures, seems to have been acknowledged and excused by the testing lab. I would hope that if you are ever faced with a career ruining lab test that you want better lab accountability than Floyd Landis got. He was not caught at anything, he was screwed over by incompetent lab personnel and corrupt governance in his sport.

[frieda406]

sorry, floyd did the wrong thing. the result was fair. end of story. next.

[stopgeorge]

Stay on topic, please. This has nothing to do with "world dominance". It has everything to do about "cheating". And what's disgusting is that the Chinese government is forcing these 14 year-olds to lie for the rest of their lives.

To everyone who wants to "normalize" this disgusting behaviour by the CCP -- stop it, please. If it was the American government that was doing it -- we would all be just as outraged. Except, in America (for the time being) -- this outrage is not a cause for being sent to a labour camp for behaviour modification. Not yet, anyway.

[carolkoala]

I'm a former gymnast, a mom, and someone who lived in a Communist country for a while (East Germany, while my non-Communist husband did dissertation research, and non-Communist me went along for the ride).

Age and medals aside, those who watched the competition in Beijing were treated to some spectacular gymnastics.

I worry for the safety and future of the Chinese girls now--they're pawns, very talented pawns, of the their government. They'll serve their purpose--maybe they have already, and what then?

Communist governments seem to go to any length to prove and maintain their own version of reality and greatness. I watched it happen. History gets rewritten, lies get told, news about events doesn't get released. And blame gets shifted, because the government is never to blame. If the girls are indeed proven to be younger than they're supposed to be, who do you think will wind up being disgraced--or worse?

Do I think they were regulation age? No. The final outcome of the controversy is anyone's guess. I only hope and pray that their future will be in the hands of people who truly care for them.

[stopgeorge]

I wonder what has happened to the Chinese girl that confessed to being 14 at the Australian games? Some journalist should follow-up on this.

[Meggie]

Her medal should be removed the same as any other athlete who confesses or is caught after the competition.

[geneven]

Nice post.

[SimonNZ]

If the girl was under-age don't expect anything to come of it. The Chinese will never admit they falsified the records and the best one could hope for would be an IOC investigation. For all their rhetoric about being a "brotherhood of nations" and "hands reaching around the world through sport" etc. they are every bit as corrupt and manipulative as the Chinese government.

The IOC are a private commercial organisation (whilst working hard to give the impression they are public charitable one) primarily concerned with sponsorship and marketing revenue. Any scandal that 'rocks the apple cart' or reflects badly on the games is a threat to their business interests and will be always be swept under the carpet if possible.

The only way the truth will be known is if the media is able to continue it's investigation until there is irrefutable proof that the CCP and the IOC are unable to deny and ignore.

[nibblybits]

The IOC doesn't care because they didn't make the 16 year rule.

[stopgeorge]

nibblybits -- you sound like my Chinese co-workers. Parsing technicalities to the point where they become absurd.

These girls most-likely cheated at the behest of their government.

The burden of proof is on the Chinese government, since this practice of changing ages is a common practice in China. What's more, a confession has been made from a former Chinese bronze medalist that she also cheated by lying about her actual age of 14.

I know saving-face is important (especially for the Chinese), but you're never going to do it this way.

[frieda406]

100% correct.

[FogBelter]

Whether the team maintains their medals or not the competition is tainted. It's not the kids fault, however, they worked hard to develop their skills for the competition ... it is the corruption of the Chinese Government that caused this issue in the first place.

[SSF]

Is the whole world expected to believe that even the girls in question don't know how old they are? The Chinese excuse of "bad paperwork" is right up there with the Bush mantra of "flawed intelligence"!

[naturesway]

bad paperwork might be the reason for a suit filed in PA 3 days ago by Phil Berg.
It is against the Senator.

[Bhall35]

It will get laughed out of court:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

[spiffarino]

Isn't it hysterical that they're after a guy who was born in a state while their guy was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which was only marginally a United States possession?

[Hillrick]

What gets me is, aside from the very obviousness of their actual ages, these girls have been training since 3 and this is the best they did? They averaged just better than everyone else, it wasn''t a blowout. They should grow up with their families and train, they might even be happier and do better next time(after their 16th birthday)

[spiffarino]

Just goes to show that gymnastics is hard. It also goes to show that not everybody who trains like a fanatic can win gold.

Most elite gymnasts practice about 40 hours a week. Shawn Johnson practices maybe 25 hours a week - and only if she feels like it - and look at her work...she's the master!

[Blutus]

Sorry China. All those American markers you're holding
are not real. Bad paperwork.

So sorry. You'll have to start swimming to collect.

[goodgravy]

if it were an administrative error for one of the gymnasts i might be able to give china a pass on this. but three administrative errors is pushing it, boys and girls.

[nibblybits]

Hey, if you have proof please send it to the authorities.

[stopgeorge]

(Sigh). The proof is in the paper and ink that was given to FIG recently.

Do proper analyses and they will probably discover that these documents were created within the last month.

FIG will probably not do this analyses, though. Saving face is more important.

[srelf]

All athletes (or their parents in the case of minors) that sully the spirit of competition with drugs, fighting, cheating or that sort of thing, ought to be sent to re-education camps!

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

Sorry China. No one is buying this. Come clean now. It will only get worse and be more humiliating the longer this drags out.

[ignorantwillyharper]

It may be let out of the bag, but the guy, or gal that lets the truth be known will become an organ donor by sun set of the same day.

[MadisonMel]

Excuse me! There were THREE gymnasts who didn't meet the age requirement. Not just one.

I smell the unmistakable odor of bull manure here. Hope the International Gymnastics Federation disqualifies the team.

[nibblybits]

Proof please.

[stopgeorge]

The proof is in the forged documents that the government has given FIG.

If FIG does proper scientific analyses of the ink and paper, they will discover that these documents are as fake as the "harmony" surrounding these Olympics.

[MarkInIrvine]

NOBODY believes that this was a mistake - China dishes out so much BS about so much (freedom to protest? sure; just fill out an application - oops! off to the labor camp for you, granny!). China is still crawling slowly up the evolutionary societal ladder - it thinks that all it has to do is say something and people will fall for it and "lo and behold" it is miraculously as China says it is! China just doesn't understand how things work when people are not afraid to think for themselves!!!

[jqcitizen]

COMMUNIST CHINA GUILTY OF BAD PAPERWORK?

Who ever said the Olympics were anything other than an opportunity to use athletes as a political poster?

Seeing 'Valdi' and 'W' together, in Beijing, would have been good if they were talking about something other than another stupid war.

The 'Paper' that Putin and Bush dislike most is the Constitution of the United States.

In spite of their best efforts to destroy it, they failed. Let the young girls of China have their 'Gold Medal'.

[spiffarino]

The irony of this is that the entire Olympic movement was begun by wealthy, titled European elitists who wanted a jolly show of athletic skill - just so long as it was only wealthy, titled Europeans who got to be in the show, of course.

Now China - COMMUNIST China - wants nothing more than to behold itself as keeper of the Olympic Flame. What a world.