Do you really believe that the girls on the chinese gymnastics team are actually of age (16 yrs)?

Question

There are a few girls on the Chinese olympic gymnastics team that don't look like they're 16 years old. To compete in the olympics, an athlete must be 16 within the olympic year, but one girl doesn't even look a day over 12 (if even that). The chinese government has "provided passports" that claim the girl's are of age, but I think it's all a lie. What do you think?

Answer 1

omg people get over it.

i'm 18 people think im 14, they think my 50 yr old mom is my freakin sister.

meh i get into movies for cheaper.  

Answer 2

My mom didn't believe AT ALL that they were 16.  

Answer 3

Americans need to spend more time with Asians. Then they'll find out that not everyone looks like a 60 year old when they're really a teen (thanks, Anderson Cooper).  

Answer 4

they acctually found records saying 3 of there girls are underage and that they have the passports that say they r ok but there is more proof...so 3 of there girls acctually are underage

this is the begining of the story...

Accusations of age falsification have swirled around the Chinese team and have intensified after news outlets found official documents stating alternate (and younger) birth dates for three athletes: He Kexin, Yang Yilin and Jiang Yuyuan.

Answer 5

they have a whole page dedicated to age controversies in gymnastics in wikipedia so this is nothing new

Answer 6

Of course its a lie they wanted those gold medals bad enough to falsify papers.  You can't fool and eye! Do they think we're that blind and stupid? WHy not strip the age limit if you're going to cheat and make it fair for everybody else? Sooner or later they will be known as cheaters.

Answer 7

well until an inquiry is forthcoming their will be some people who will believe otherwise.... Im watching the gymnastics now and perhaps 2 are questionable however alot of asians do look younger than their stated age so Im just gonna go with they are 16.

Answer 8

Its fake, they all have 'Hello Kitty' clips. And some of them are missing teeth-.-

EDIT!

They are not 16! I got this from [link]. I'll just point out important deats.

But Chinese online records and local newspaper articles have presented different information, raising questions about these three gynmasts' true ages. A 2006 biography from the local sports bureau where He was registered gave her date of birth as January 1, 1994, which would make her 14. A story earlier this year in the China Daily, the country's largest English-language newspaper, also reported that she is 14 years old. Another local-level competition roll had the date of birth of Jiang, who is only 32 kg (70.5 lbs.), as October 1, 1993, making her also 14. And from 2004-2006, the biographical data for Yang on the State General Administration of Sport's website listed her date of birth as August 26, 1993, one year later than what Beijing Olympic records show. Responding to a New York Times article that reported on questions about He and Jiang's ages, Zhang Hongliang, a Chinese gymnastics official, suggested that perhaps local sports authorities had listed their ages incorrectly, but insisted that their passports were fault-free. "I'm sure the information is correct," Zhang said. Officials from the International Gymnastics Federation said they would accept the passport information, until convincing evidence to the contrary is presented.

Answer 9

These girls are still losing baby teeth. Do you know any sophomores or juniors in high school that still receive money from the tooth fairy?

Answer 10

it is a lie.  China has doe it before about with more important things to make themselves look good.

Answer 11

I would just like to say:

Who cares?

Why does it matter?

Why must we reach the worst possible conclusion in our minds?

Why must we always think so negatively of others?

The fact is that they won. And even if the other teams got beat by a bunch of 6 year-olds, then fine. They deserve to win. There is nothing wrong with that, accept and move on. I however, have chosen to believe them unless they state otherwise. What do I have to gain from doubting them? Absolutely nothing.

Answer 12

Yeah seriously! The chinese are lying about EVERYTHING, to attempt to make themselves look good.

Like look at this:

The opening cerimonies were so spectaular that millions watched around the world.

Remeber that song "Ode to the motherland"?

The chinese hid hear behing someone so no one would see her face, and then they put on some OTHER girl.

Just so china could present a flawless image.

AND IT HAPPENED AGAIN WITH THE FIRE WORKS. *they were pre-recoded*

----

So no, i dont belive there 16.

Answer 13

maybe chinese girls are late bloomers, but they looked like 11 year olds

Answer 14

I just can't believe this question is being asked every 5 minutes

Answer 15

The Chinese calendar works kind of like reverse dog years.

Answer 16

They probably are 16. Are you aware that female gymnasts are given medication to delay the onset of puberty? Estrogen production is suppressed, that's why their bodies look so young.

Answer 17

i think that the girls on the chinese team are definitely not 16.at most they look like 13 year olds. i've read that some of the girls on the team had other official documents where there birthdays are later and therefore make they younger and they wouldnt have been able to compete in the olympics. i definitely think that the passports that they provided were fake. i also think that some of the scores for the chinese team were bs cause even if they had a higher starting difficulty score they definitely didnt deserve that high on balance beam. obviously nothing going to be done about this since china is hosting the olympics but i think that any kind of cheating like this is bull****.

Answer 18

Cut her in half and count her rings.  

Answer 19

These girls definitely are under the age limit to compete.  The Chinese government has a rule that everyone has to be "essential" to the success of the country. Children are sent away to "sports factories" by their parents in order to learn diving, swimming, gymnastics, tennis and other sports. If not, they are sent to military schools to join the Red People's Army.

At the "sports factories", they live the sport they are "forced" to excel at and nothing else matters until they are released back to their parents, which is only when they "retire" from that sport to become a baby breeding machine after marriage.

Americans, on the other hand, have lives, can freely go to the mall or visit their friends, can say bad things about the government without fear of reprisals, do not get punished if they make mistakes while performing, don't eat dogs, can grow up doing whatever they want to do, visit the gym whenever they want, can leave the gym to go home to their parents, do not get kidnapped and brought to "reprogramming" centers, are more creative in gymnastics and don't need to cheat by having a communist country's government strong arm the judges by intentionally having them delay results while other athletes are awaiting their start time and falsifying birth documents

Answer 20

I definitely think it warrants further investigation by the Olympic Committee.

Answer 21

The FIG (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique) recognizes all the Chinese girls except Deng Linlin and He Kexin as world class gymnasts. This is probably the proof they need to show that these 2 are underaged because they have just recently appeared on the world stage due to their age.  

Answer 22

A majority of the Chinese team have been competing in gymnastics internationally for the last few years so their age can be verified or is set. Only a couple are in speculation since they do not have much of a competition history. So please, as far as the FIG is concerned they are of valid age.  

Answer 23

They look like they are 4 to 6 years old. I say if she looks 6 to ME, then she IS 6. Who cares about passports!  Ugh!!!  USA should win ALL gold medals dammit!  

Answer 24

I agree, those girls can not be 16. Look at all the other Chinese people and 16 looks like 16, but in gymnastics 16 looks like pre-puberty 12.  

Answer 25

I must disagree. I have no idea if they are of actual age or not. When I see Asians I usually guess that they are 3-4 years younger than they really are. And before I knew that the gymnasts had to be 16 to compete, I thought some of the American girls were 15/16 but their like 18/19.

Answer 26

they are deff. under 16 and investigation needs to be done. they had hello kitty clips? - what 16 year old wears them?

Answer 27

Hmm, well it is true that female gymnast's bodies have delayed puberty and that no gymnast's body regardless of country looks like a normal more developed body, some of the Chinese gymnast's faces look considerably younger.  When compared to the 20 year old Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei, they all look like they are maybe 13 years old.  You can definitly tell that Cheng Fei is actually 20.  So the people who say all Chinese people tend to look younger are completely and totally off base there.

Answer 28

I think its funny that the Chinese government's defense is "they have passports"

FYI, The Chinese government are the people who MAKE the passports. they can put whatever the h**l they want on them. They can say a female gymnast is a man if they wanted.

Answer 29

Those girls may look prepubescent but, in fact, the heavy type of gymnastics training those girls must endure stunt their growth due to the female bone to muscle mass ratio, making them look much younger then they really are.

Answer 30

Almost everyone will agree with you.

If i saw one of them, i would mistake them anywhere from 6-12

Answer 31

"Americans need to spend more time with Asians. Then they'll find out that not everyone looks like a 60 year old when they're really a teen (thanks, Anderson Cooper)."

That's exactly what I wanted to say.

At least TRY to open your eyes.