Scandal of the Ages: Documents Reveal Underage Chinese Gymnast

What began as whispers among the media and gymnastics insiders weeks ago about the ages of three of China's female Olympic gymnasts -- Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin and He Kexin -- has grown into ear-shattering, head-hurting shouts. Despite assurances by Chinese officials that all three are 16, the minimum age of eligibility for Olympic competition, newly discovered documents and records prove otherwise.

The New York Times first looked into the age of China's gymnasts with a story on July 27 that focused primarily on He Kexin, whose birthdate on numerous online records was listed as January 1, 1994, making her 14 when the Games began and ineligible to compete.

When the world was officially introduced to He Kexin this week, even those unwise to the ways of competitive gymnastics could tell that with He, something was not right. At 4-foot 8-inches tall and weighing 72 pounds, the Beijing native appears significantly younger than most of her Chinese teammates much less her American and European counterparts.

The world's foremost expert on female gymnastics Bela Karolyi has routinely referred to the 2008 Chinese team as "half people" and in his contributions to NBC as a commentator during the Games he has railed against the Chinese for engaging in age falsification. After China outscored the U.S. in the qualification round, Karolyi had this to say about the Chinese gymnastics officials:

These people think we are stupid...We are in the business of gymnastics. We know what a kid of 14 or 15 or 16 looks like. What kind of slap in the face is this? They are 12, 14 years old and they get lined up and the government backs them and the federation runs away. There is an age limit and it can't be controlled.

Chinese Olympic officials have forcefully defended He's eligibility, maintaining that when asked, they submitted proper passport documentation to the IOC. He's passport says her date of birth is January 1, 1992, making her 16 and old enough to compete. However, as Karoyli told the AP, "passports mean nothing."

China has a rich history of age falsification in Olympics competition, especially in gymnastics. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, three years after the minimum age was raised to 16 in gymnastics, Chinese gymnast Yang Yun competed and won a bronze medal in the uneven bars (coincidentally this event is also He's specialty). Yang's passport said she was born on December 24, 1984 and turning 16 in the year of the Games, making her eligible. She later confessed in a television interview that she was only 14 at the time of the competition and that she and her coaches had lied about her age.

As in the case of Yang Yun, the existing records prior to the Olympics -- local registries, athletic records and news articles -- were all correct, whereas the documentation she showed Olympic officials to confirm her eligibility proved to be false. It is no coincidence that He Kexin's passport was issued on February 14, 2008, a mere 6 months before the Olympics.

What did the IOC have to say about the scandal? President Jacques Rogge said, "The IOC relies on the international federations, who are exclusively responsible for the eligibility of athletes. It's not the task of the IOC to check every one of the 10,000 athletes." Not every one Jacques, but maybe just the ones who look like they're ten.

So, for all of those who are still left unconvinced, I offer a collection of evidence that will demonstrate not only that the Chinese gymnast in question was born in 1994 and underage, but that Chinese officials, over the last few weeks, have systematically tried to cover it all up.

Click on images for full-sized versions

EXHIBIT A: A China Daily article dated May 23, 2008 titled "Uneven-bars queen the new star in town" about He Kexin. This is the cached version (thanks Google) of the article as seen on August 4, 2008.

EXHIBIT B: The same China Daily article dated May 23, 2008 titled "Uneven-bars queen the new star in town" about He Kexin. This is the version currently available online*. As you can see, when compared to EXHIBIT A, everything is identical. Except for one little thing. The state-run newspaper has changed He's age.

EXHIBIT C: A Chinese article written by state-run news agency Xinhua in 2007, and discovered by the great China Digital Times that refers to He Kexin as 13 years old. And though I wasn't a math major, if she was 13 in 2007, then she's 14 this year. Here is an image of the article with a translation from CDT beneath it.

Translation: The thirteen-year-old He Kexin, from Wuhan, met opponent Yang Yilin, who is on the National Team. Amid cheers from her hometown audience, the young girl excellently executed the full set of moves in the finals, and just beat out Yang Yilin, who already had high scores. Lu Shanzhen, the General Coach of the National Gymastic team, also applauded her performance.

EXHIBIT D: An official gymnastics roster dated January 27, 2006 published by the Chengdu government for its City Games, a competition in which He competed. As you'll see from the translated version I have provided, He Kexin's date of birth, according to these government documents, is January 1, 1994.

UPDATE:

EXHIBIT E: A Xinhua (Chinese state media) article* from November 3, 2007 stating clearly that "The Wuhan Team's 13-year-old He Kexin faced off against the National Teams' Yang Yilin in women's parallel bars." Once again, 13 in 2007, 14 in 2008.

UPDATE II -- MORE: The Gateway Pundit has more on the underage gymnast scandal and includes some interesting information on He's teammate Yang Yilin.

*UPDATE III -- BROKEN LINKS: As I had suspected would happen, the links that I provided in EXHIBITS B, D and E, all links to Chinese state newspapers or websites, have been disabled. At the time of publication on August 14th, the links to all sources worked. I found a cached version of the link to EXHIBIT D, which is now in the post above. The original link I used, now disabled, is here.

Here's a photo of He from Sunday's women's qualification round in Beijing:

Read more HuffPost coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Comments

[baffling2us]

The only thing I can't believe is WHY the IOC is not going APE over all this? Why hasn't the United States filed a FORMAL COMPLAINT against CHINA, and SPREAD THIS STORY ALL OVER THE WORLD--to pressure the IOC to investigate this further? (We know that China would be dong this, if it were any OTHER country.)

I remember when China was puming in PURE OXYGEN to their SWIMMER'S DRESSING ROOMS--before each competition. Or, when their LITTLE LEAGUE TEAM was STEPPING FORWARD OF THE BATTING BOX ON EVERY PITCH--to THROW OFF THE UMPIRE'S CALL, SCORING SYSTEM, .... (Little League World Series). They HAVE and will use ANYTHING including CHEATING as an advantage.

I'VE COPIED THE ENTIRE ARTICLE and I'M EMAILING IT TO EVERYONE I KNOW.
I'M TELLING THEM TO SEND IT ON TO EVERYONE THAT THEY KNOW.

I ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO DO TTHE SAME.
PLUS, SOME CALLS AND MESSAGES TO OUR LEADERS--wouldn't hurt either.

The Olympics are not a place for CHEATING.

[denbois 777]

In reading about the possible lying that occurred WRT to the age of these Chinese athletes, I will admit I am NOT surprised! I just came back from 3 years of teaching in China and regrettably NOT all but MUCH of the Chinese society is based on playing and manipulating the "grey zones". Corruption, lying and deceit is rampant and is 'par for the course' there. I was lied to, sooo many times in China (by college masters and Foreign Affairs people) and cheated of money by college masters! They say one thing, and yet do another. Police and FEB are useless. Western world needs to open their eyes and do so very quickly. China, as a whole, is truly not what they pretend to be. Very disappointing experience and this has completely changed my views and impressions of China from being pro-China to being neutral and wary of Chinese society and people. They also need to stop "harping" about we"re the oldest society in the world and we have suffered terribly from foreign invasion " hence our anger and bitterness against foreign people. ** I feel most sorry for other athletes around the world who worked hard to compete and respect the rules, and who might have lost out because one country again decided to "bend rules" once again. **

[alexiaangel120]

I for one believe the accusations against the Chinese government are true. Hasn't anyone thought that the links being disabled is a sure way the government is trying to cover their tracks? If they really aren't guilty of this crime then why did they do that? They do not want to be incriminated any further than they already are.
Furthermore, I understand each country wanting to get the most medals, but being underhanded isn't the way. This is supposed to represent world peace and yet it doesn't. With China, the host country putting children in at the age of 14 and younger, shows they aren't really with the program.

[war-mouse]

alexiaangel120, what you say may be a possibility. But there could be other reasons why those websites got disabled. Maybe their really sixteen, disabling the links would prevent any further misunderstanding then there already is out there. After all, Is it possible that all news on the Internet is accurate?.
China won gold many times, but only got to host the Olympics once. As such, they want their Olympics to be perfect. They wanted to show the world what a great country it is. It would be unlikely for them to engage in the act of cheating over a few gold medals. They Olympics means more to them.
Like I said, we can't confirm whether their 14 or 16 for the time being. Let's leave this to the IOC.

[alexiaangel120]

Okay, but all the evidence is there. I'm not gonna argue about this because I can't really do anything about it, I'm merely stating a fact. I'm also stating how I feel, which isn't doing anything against the Chinese government. My opinion is my own and if I feel the need to post it, then let me post it.

[war-mouse]

This case is based on accusations with no solid proof. These athletes have passports saying their 16 years of age... yet people say the passports are fake. Then comes the documents saying their 14 years old, couldn't they be fake as well?.
This case is still under investigation, nobody cheated as far as I know.

[coco77]

It's not just that being younger, smaller, and lighter gives an advantage, but ignoring the age rule also greatly increases the pool of athletes the country can choose from. It's funny how smaller countries like Romania, N. Korea and Australia obeyed the age rule despite being so disadvantaged compared to China with 1.3 billion people. As some examples of what small, young girls have done see videos on Kim Gwan Suk (1991-1992 bars), Shantessa Pama (2004 bars dismount), Nastia Liukin (2005 floor and quad attempt). Could they still do those skills at age 18? How many exceptional juniors were left off Olympic and world teams for the past 20 years because they were underage?

[minikinann]

One word...
Totalitarianism.
You'd think that China would have tried a bit harder to clean up the truth, you know, before the Olympics started. Should have used Nineteen Eighty-four as a instructional booklet, imo.
This whole affiar reeks of newspeak and big brother.

[greatdane44]

Let's face it things aren't perfect in the western world either but I don't think you would find falsified passports being issued because somehow it would be leaked to the media. It's called "freedom of speech" which probably isn't directly translatable into any of the chinese languages as know one there has ever heard about it.

The olympics are supposed to be about fair competition and world unity. Unfortunately there's so much pressure to perform and financial incentives to win gold that cheating athletes can be found in most sports, across many nations. Never before have I seen so much bad judging in an olympics however, especially when it came to helping the host nation. The whole country has felt the pressure to win medals that they've done whatever they could to get their athletes on the podium.

I really don't care how old someone looks but when articles are repeatedly contradicting government information we have an issue. The IOC has no intentions of investigating the matter just as we don't see decisions being overturned when it's obvious there was match fixing, or bad judging. China can have it's gold medals but they certainly haven't earned the respect of the world which this olympics was their opportunity to do so.

[LadyDi84]

Simple solution, hook all of these girls up to a lie detector and ask "Are you 16 years old?", if yes then congratulate them on their victory, if no then strip them of their medals and ban China from the London games. Give them 8 years to think about what they've done. Might seem harsh, but those girls weren't able to provide themselves with false passports, their government did that. And it doesn't matter if younger girls are more flexible, lighter, bouncier, whatever.....their not eligible, end of story.

[firelord5000]

Liar liar pants on on fire! China is a buncha cheating robots. Fedor Emelianenko needs to go in and smack them scrubs around.

[chong]

A lot of you are missing the point, their own country wrote articles of her true age where article stated she was 14 year old in June 2008. And most importantly what about the American gymnast that played by the rules and worked all her life for this moment and it finally came to be tcheated out of her gold medal that she rightly won by following the rules and rightly being the best !!!!!!!!!!............

[lunchbag]

As well, the Chinese govt actively participated in this deception by forging 'He' passport

[i3i2iain]

for those that don't know, there have been some updates to this story. Official government documents have been uncovered from Google's and Baidu's cache and show He Kexin's birthdate as Jan 1, 1994.
see more here: http://www.aftertheanthem.com/2008/08/google-and-baidu-say-he-kexin-is-14.html

And although I agree, that china should be held accountable for this calculated deception, I really think this age restriction is useless. It doesn't accomplish anything.

The notion that the age restriction is in place to save young girls bodies from the intense training that comes with being a gymnastics star is silly. They are just going to train while they wait for the age at which they can compete.

This guy really analogizes the situation well: http://www.aftertheanthem.com/2008/08/against-unfair-laws-we-must-protest.html

For those who say that it's unfair because China is allowed to compete with it's amazing 14 year old gymnasts and other countries aren't allowed to showcase their amazing 14 year old gymnasts. The reality is no other country has any 14 year olds as amazing as China does. If they did, they would be caught in a similar scandal, I almost guarantee it.

[CinnamonPixie]

It doesn't matter what would happen if other nations had 14 year old as good as He Kexin (and I doubt seriously that there's no other 14 years olds as talented as she is). The point is that the rule stands that she is too young, China knew it and decided to flagrantly disobey the rule in order to gain an advantage over the other nations' teams (they have a higher strength-to-weight ratio - despite not having as much physical strength).

They knew they rules, they chose to break them. I have no sympathy for them and do NOT think that they should be let off the hook because "the rule in unfair." Maybe it is, Heck I'm not 16 and if I were good enough to go the Olympics I'd think it'd be pretty crappy to be told "You're too young right now, young lady." and be made to wait until I am basically "too old" to be a viable candidate for selection to the national team... BUT the rule IS there, they knew it, and whether or not it's a good rule or a fair rule doesn't matter one bit. China broke the rule with at least one girl being too young to legally compete (likely two more girls, too). They should have those scores expunged and the medals taken back. They didn't earn them fairly and by the rules that those who placed in the next several ranking positions did.

[FluteLoop99]

No one is arguing over the fact that He Kexin is an incredible gymnast; in fact, I believe that that is one thing we can all agree on. The issue here is that if she really is 14, then she, her coaches, and her country lied to get her there.

I personally believe that the rules are in place for a reason. Rules are rules, no matter how stupid and pointless they seem, and usually they are put in place for a reason. It's like a parent telling their child they are not allowed to do something, it's because the parent is trying to protect the child, correct?

I am an American citizen, and I am not going to pretend that we have been blameless in the past. We have been caught cheating, and we have been laughed at, riduculed, and held accountable for our crimes. If China really is lying about He Kexin's age they need to be held accountable.

I believe that if China lied about Kexin's age, that they should revoke her metals, because if they don't, it is basically saying that it is okay to lie if it gets you somewhere.

The bottom line is that this gives an unfair advantage to China. If they have an amazing 14 year-old gymnast in the Olympics, all the other countries should be able to have their 14 year-old gymnasts in the Olympics too.

[lunchbag]

Unfortunately if China does not own up to 'He' age, these Olympics will go down in history as the Olympics of Deception.

we have

1) lip synching
2) false night light display
3) gymnasts underage
4) track star didn't show up

all reflecting badly on China

[hopefull2008]

There seems to be almost universal agreement that they were the greatest olympics ever. What are you talking about ? Have you been watching ?

[MagisterLudi]

Amazing Olympics... fully 2/3 of world's population watched in awe. Amazing facilities, stunning performances.....

[IAmYourDad]

the IOC is still investigating this issue and you guys have already made up your mind huh? i guess there is no point to investigate anymore. let's shoot the accused then.

[OceanFive]

I made up my mind when the evidence points to 14, the face and body points to 12 and the fact that the evidence is disappearing or changing points to a cover-up, but we don't have to shoot them, they save the shooting for the protesters......I'm sorry not shooting; reeducation

[OceanFive]

I love these Chinationreports, they remind me of Baghdad Bob in the 90's. Nothing to see here, move along, nothing wrong with cheating we have to win no matter what....no that American was not killed at the Drum Tower, there is no Drum Tower. China and Foxnews get the gold medal for spinning...spinning lies so they're side always looks good.......China your need to cheat makes you look sad, so very pathetic