Did the Chinese really use under aged gymnasts to win gold?

Question

Did the Chinese really use under aged gymnasts to win gold?

Answer 1

You should stop asking this question because this has been asked 1000000000000 times and the answer is: nobody knows.

Answer 2

Sydney 2000 - One Chinese gymnastic Olympian, Yang Yun has said she was 14 at the time she competed - but she only won 2 bronze.

Beijing 2008 - Don't bother asking us - we have as much Actual Tangible  NON opinion based proof as anyone else. None. Only the girls, their family and Chinese officials know the absolute truth. We are left to wonder, just like with that teeny tiny little Korean, Kim.

So based on the actual, real, tangible, non opinion based proof available - the girls passports -  the answer can only be No.

Answer 3

I think they are underage. Their ages were reported to be 14 in China Daily, People's Daily, and Sina, all of which are government owned or run There is also evidence from an inner-city registration list and one of the gymnast's own coaches.

Americans are not saying this out of "poor sportsmanship". It was reported in the New York Times in July, before the Olympics started.

China has a history of age falsification in the Olympics. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics Chinese gymnast Yang Yun competed and won a bronze medal in the uneven bars. 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.

If the girls really were 16 it could be proven using an MRI scan.

Answer 4

of course not!!

chinese girls always look young...

Answer 5

They might be, or at least Bela Karolyi thinks so. My whole family thinks so. I find it a little bit suspicious, because there is one girl, who doesn't have a profile on NBCOLYMPICS.com and she is the one who I think looks like 10.

Answer 6

they probobly did, but it doesn't matter since they still have more skill even though they're small

Answer 7

Yes they dd. Look at how big there eye pupils are. china has been training them since they were 2.

Answer 8

no, they're just better than the US, notice how the only people who think they are underage is the americans and all of the news paper articles are AMERICAN, get over it, thats on gold medal your not getting

Answer 9

I think they did...Many others do too.  I think the truth will come out and if they did use under aged girls they will be stripped of the gold medal and it will go to the United States, the silver to Romania, and bronze to Russia.

Answer 10

Examine the evidence for yourself:

From the New York Times:

"In Chinese newspaper profiles this year, He was listed as 14, too young for the Beijing Games.

"The Times found two online records of official registration lists of Chinese gymnasts that list He's birthday as Jan. 1, 1994, which would make her 14. A 2007 national registry of Chinese gymnasts - now blocked in China but viewable through Google cache - shows He's age as '1994.1.1.'

"Another registration list that is unblocked, dated Jan. 27, 2006, and regarding an 'intercity' competition in Chengdu, China, also lists He's birthday as Jan. 1, 1994. That date differs by two years from the birth date of Jan. 1, 1992, listed on He's passport, which was issued Feb. 14, 2008.

"The other gymnast, Jiang, is listed on her passport - issued March 2, 2006 - as having been born on Nov. 1, 1991, which would make her 16 and thus eligible to compete at the Beijing Games.

"A different birth date, indicating Jiang is not yet 15, appears on a list of junior competitors from the Zhejiang Province sports administration. The list of athletes includes national identification card numbers into which birth dates are embedded. Jiang's national card number as it appears on this list shows her birth date as Oct. 1, 1993, which indicates that she will turn 15 in the fall, and would thus be ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games."

An admission of cheating in 2000:

"Yang Yun of China won individual and team bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and later said in an interview on state-run television that she had been 14 at the time of those Games. A Hunan Province sports administration report also said later that she had been 14 when she competed in Sydney."

China's People's Daily newspaper stating He Kexin's age as 14 on May 23, 2008:

"Olympic gymnastics title contenders suddenly have one more thing to worry about other than the eight gold medals China claimed at the Tianjin World Cup last week. Her name is He Kexin.

"The 14-year-old newcomer to the national team, who was recruited last year, has raised a lot of eyebrows recently after she broke two world records on the uneven bars in as many months. She will be just one more weapon on an already star-studded Chinese Olympic squad."

Answer 11

I know that this question has been answered numerous times. I just wanted to add to anyone that is saying the story was only broken by an American newspaper you are incorrect. The story was also written up by China's People Daily that He was underage.

While I understand that people are getting tired of all the whining it is a legitimate concern. The age limits are in there for a reason, if you do not believe that they read the book "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes". In addition, if China had played by the rules it could have changed the standings - not just for the United States, but also for other countries. Romania could have a silver instead of a bronze.