Do you think He Kexin should be stripped of her medals?

Question

see Yahoo article: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/IOC-orders-investigation-into-He-Kexin-s-age?urn=oly,102564

I used to think that as long as she was a good gymnast, we could set the issue aside and think about the competition and tnot the rules, but Fourth-Place Medal makes a good point!

I think she should. The U.S. doesn't cheat but they're still beating China, and China is still 30 medals ahead of Russia so there shouldn't be much of a difference. With the fake fireworks at the opening ceremony and the fake gymnasts, China doesn't seem to be making much of an improvement.

Answer 1

Well to be honest, watching our very own champion Beth Tweddle miss out on any award finishing 4th in the uneven bars despite her very complex routine was heart wrenching. If Either Yang Yilin or He Kexin were competing against the rules, then Beth should should have got a silver and US the gold. Other than that, it would mean the wins in other events wouldn't be legit either. If they any gymnasts are under age there is no doubt they should lose the medals, rules are rules.

Answer 2

No  

Answer 3

OK - here goes... There are two thoughts to this:

1) He (she) is an unbelievable gymnast, and was the best in her events.

2) Rules are there for a reason.  If she (He) is indeed underage, as it seems there is indeed evidence of, then she and the team should get stripped of their medals.  Since they say that younger gymnasts have an advantage, then it is cheating, just like doping is.

As for the fake fireworks and the lip-synching, we would do the same thing in the U.S. to put on a good show,

Answer 4

ABSOLUTELY!!!  Cheating is cheating is cheating... and there has been a lot of it during this Olympic season.

Answer 5

Yes because the Chinese lied about her age and they would do the same if it was the U.S.

Answer 6

The thing that it comes down to is that He's age is against the rules and China falsified documents to allow her to compete.  She SHOULD have her medals stripped because its cheating!

Sure, she's a great gymnast and did a great job, but she shouldn't have been competing in the first place.  I feel bad for the kid after all the training she's been through.  She can compete in the next Olympics (when she's old enough).

Answer 7

yes they should be stripped

and nastia deserves the UB gold its not like HE beat her they both has gold medal scores

and Alicia deserves the bronze on vault

and the chinese womens gymnastics should be banned from the 2012 olympics and the world championships until 2013!!!

Answer 8

if it true the entire team is gonna lose the medal. kinda like when marion jones admitted to her steriods use, the entire relay team had to give back their medals

Answer 9

No. She did the work. She earned it.

If she is a child, it is the adults that should be punished or penalized in some way.  There is no way she forged her own paperwork or passport. Maybe in the next Olympics, China shouldn't be allowed to participate in this area if she is found to be underaged.

Answer 10

Yes, she is underage and its against the rule. He Kexin is a very good gymnast but for lying about age, she might not be able to compete in the Olympics ever again which is kind of sad...:(

Can't believe the Olympic Committee has said proof from her passport is good enough. O_o Can't that be easily forge?

PS: Is He her first or her last name? I thought in asain countries, they do last name first.

Answer 11

Yes, wouldn't U.S. gymnasts be stripped of medals if we had done the same thing?

The IOC needs to take a stand and set a standard. They need to send the message that cheating is simply unacceptable - especially for the host nation. It's disgraceful.

Plus, it isn't fair to real gymnasts from the many other countries that competed without cheating.

Mary Poppins: She didn't earn anything if she didn't play by the rules.

Answer 12

if that is so rules are rules an should be followed. So yes they should take it and maybe redo the competition  

Answer 13

Yes he should

Answer 14

i wish they would have done all these investigations BEFORE the Olympics started. when the Olympic committee saw this little girl come up and show her passport (seeing that she was unusually small, and still had baby teeth) they should have taken proper action. i don't see why they waited until after the competition to decide "hey now that we look back, she doesn't look 16 does she?" it would have avoided so much drama and contreversy if the committee had just done their jobs right the first time.  

Answer 15

i think the whole women's gymnastics team needs to give their golds to the us team...and silver to bronze and bronze to whoever got 4th.  

Answer 16

it depends. i mean, the majority of the United States is against He Kexin, so the IOC might strip her to make this superpower happy. however, the IOC might not because it would make me look bad to the rest of the world to have not investigated her before the olympics, and plus it would insult and condemn the host country which could turn EXTREMELY nasty. also, it would look a bit bad to have launched an investigation purely upon a person who was mad that china beat them at gymnastics and this would go down in history. in case none of u have noticed, there are several ppl in this world who don't quite like the usa, and this whole dilema might make the usa look like sore losers.

if i was the IOC, i would maybe just put a ban for like 5 years on He Kexin if she was found underage.

o, and everyone who says it would be the same if it was the usa, i think not. she is only being investigated because some americans are complaining. if america was cheating, there still would be a chance that they would get off because other countries would choose not to report her so to not condemn the entire nation.

Answer 17

It's sad for her cause its her country that did it to her but YES all medals related to her should be stripped.

Answer 18

If IOC investigate and concluded He Kexin to be underage, her medal should be stripped. The runner-up should be awarded the Gold medal and so on. Plus, China should be ban from participating in gymnastic event in London 2012 as a punishment. That would be a fair to everyone.

But I do feel sorry for her. It's not her choice to participate while underage. I'm sure she have to obey the instruction by the government. Poor girl.

Answer 19

If the new information about the Chinese gymnasts ages are deemed accurate then the gymnasts involved will be stripped of their medals (team, uneven bars, etc).

It'll be interesting what will happen to the Chinese IOC though.

Interesting question upon hearing this new proof.

Enjoy!

Answer 20

Trust me it's a made up story.  

Answer 21

Fake gymnasts?  How is anything she did fake?  

If she is younger than 16 (which personally, I'm not convinced of) and beat out all the over-16 gymnasts of other countries, it makes her wins even more impressive and it makes me respect her even more.

Besides, we all know that He Kexin didn't have any choice in this - China's government was the puppermaster, He is just a puppet.

Answer 22

Until proven.

Answer 23

No.  China should be punished instead.  The little girl is the pawn or victim in this.  The cheating was done by the Chinese institution and handlers.  China should be placed in the next olypmics under a "probationary" penalty.  Any more discoveries of institutionalized cheating should lead to a banning from the olympics.  And that goes fro every country including mine, the USA.