Do you Believe Chinese Gymnast are underage?

Question

There have been alot of questions about this, but what if it was just a mistake and they are the correct age? What do you think the IOC do if they are underage? Are the USA the only ones who are complaining about this or are other countries too?

I Believe it is wrong as rules are set for a purpose, if u arent of age then you cannot compete simple as that.

Answer 1

yes i do sooo much they are kept in boarding gymnast school when they are about 10 i think its ridiculous i'm glad you are concerned to xoxox

Answer 2

How could anyone not believe they are underage?  Have they seen them?  I know that chinese girls look younger then others but even compared to other chinese 16 year old girls they still look like babies.  I'm talking about the 63lb 16 year old diver.  She looks old compared to the gymnast.  Somethings up...

Answer 3

YES, they are underage, but the IOC will not do anything about it even though there is a lot of very clear evidence that He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan are not 16. The evidence that China provides is "copies of their passports." Ok, how hard it is to print up new passports, birth certificates, etc. and hide/destroy the old ones in this Communist nation? Think about what a huge deal this is to China and the lengths they have gone to make this Olympics a success for them. The IOC is ignoring the many public records that these gymnasts are underage, and they are doing nothing more about it which is appalling. Official Web sites in China showing documents of these girls' ages are now mysteriously inaccessible, official media documents and the equivalent of press releases FROM THE GYMNASTICS PROGRAM available to Chinese media outlets that give biographical information on all the athletes have also disappeared, and information in publically-accessible news stories by the Chinese media has been recently changed. Just the "copies of the passports" are presented as proof to the IOC, and they are ignoring all evidence to suggest the passports are not real.

China is doing everything they can to hide the truth because it would not only be a HUGE embarrassment, but every Chinese Olympic success would be overshadowed by this scandal, and that is what the world would remember about China in these Olympics. They have put forth a lot of effort to display a certain image to the world (even going so far as to kick out the young girl that sang in the Opening Ceremonies because she wasn't cute enough). This would destroy all the work they put in and they are not about to let that happen.

Answer 4

Possibly, and i agree that if it's ever proven then they should do something about it.  BUT i think the whole issue is blown out of proportion.  Just because they are 1 year younger (15), doesn't make them super gymnasts.  They are just slightly more flexible, but are far weaker than a fully grown adult.  Like the accusation of the fake fireworks, i think it's poor form from the American media to keep spreading controversy instead of focusing on their own athletes.

Answer 5

I don't think so because these girls didn't just suddenly appear, they have been participating in international events for years. Their age have never been questioned by the authorities and their documents have been consistent over the years.

Answer 6

We should just let this rest and allow the appropriate authorities to handle the case. For one, I don't care about age, they earned their medals.. Being young does not guarantee a gold medal, you have go out there and earn the medal. The only advantage I see is the possibly of being more flexible. They're at disadvantage at everything else, with being shorter, not as strong, lack of experience and smaller wing span. As for the lack of fear some might claim as an advantage, that depends entirely on the individual's personality. If they broke the rule and they can prove it, then I don't care if they strip their medals.

Answer 7

Yes I do in fact talked to a couple of Chinese here in my country and asked them that questions. Here is what they said, of course some of the girls are under age but hey we got the gold that is all that counts. Rules are rules if every one broke the rules then why bother even having an Olympic events.

Answer 8

After reading a news article the other day, I do believe that one or more of the gymnasts on the Chinese team may be under the age of 16. The story reports that the Chinese gymnastics team was upset that a certain girl was too young to compete because she was very talented. They gave the girls age in this story. That same girl is on the team and currently competing in the Olympics and if you do the math with the age they gave of the girl, the year of the comment, and the current year, the girl is not old enough to be competing. The Chinese now say it was an accident and that they reported the wrong age when they made that comment. A little too suspicious if you ask me. If they are underage I heard they lose their medals. That would be very sad because all of the girls who are the right age who are on the Chinese team would lose their medals as well because the underaged girl(s) contributed to their overall score.

Answer 9

There really is no way to find out, I saw some of them, and by god they really do look underage. But, then I really thought about it. I have allot of Chinese friends, and they do tend to look younger, in their teen ages.

It's unfortunate the only proof we can get is from the actually country, but there just really is no way to find out for sure. You have to be turning 16 the year of the Olympics to participate, which means a 15 year old CAN take part in the Olympic events. But one of them looks 13-14. As I said, this could simply be her looking young. It wouldn't be the first time.

Answer 10

I don't think that they are underage. It is totally unnecessary for China team to do that.

I put an eye on Gymnast for many years. China have tons of girls who have the same perfect skill to do the Gymnast. If they are underage, China can find another girl for replacement. Really not a big deal for China team. That's no reason for them to bear the age risk.

In contrast, USA is really disappointed in 2008. Once they lost, they always complain nonsense. Really ridiculous.

1: Complain China gymnast underage

2: Complain at female 100m short run