Is China cheating in WOMEN'S Gymnastics?

Question

The minimum age is 16. This is the stats on some of the Chinese team.

Five of the six team members have the appearance of pre-pubescent children.

Li Shanshan is 4-foot-9, 79 pounds.

Yang Yilin is 4-foot-11, 77 pounds.

He Kexin is 4-foot-8, 73 pounds.

Jiang Yuyuan is 4-foot-7, 71 pounds.

Deng Linlin is 4-foot-6, 68 pounds.

How much you want to bet they faked the birth certificates?

I think the Olympic Committee needs to investigate this.

Answer 1

Do you really think Olympics is JUST about the sports itself?  And plainly the sports itself?

There are regulations and process to monitor and keeping people from cheating.  But at the end of the day, it's all about how much money and resources the country is able to put into R&D.  The better drugs(supplement if you will), the better performance on top of the hard work the athletes put into their practices.  The system can detect one drug or the other, but there are always new "supplement" which can get away from the regulation.

Asians always look younger than their ages. Don't you know that is a common sense?  You are innocent until proved guilty. That's the law of the game. Stop baseless accusation and just accept the reality. Take a breath and have a good day.

Bottom line?  Just enjoy watching the game and stop speculating.  There are endless possibilities on how stronger countries can breed amazing athletes.  As long as the performance you saw was not fake.  You gotta give credits to those who did a good job competing.

Answer 2

Yes, China is cheating.

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."

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 3

If you listened last night, they said that they take these girls away from their families when they are 3 or 4 years old & train them constantly. The girls don't get to see their families except maybe once a year.

They have probably also given them a certain drug/hormone that stops the growth process, puts off puberty etc. So they might really be 15 or 16, but the reason they look so young is because they haven't been able to develop into young woman.

Its really a sad sad story if you ask me. But I agree some of those girls are so tiny & look as old as my 7 yr old! But China will do ANYTHING to win.

Answer 4

Officially: No, are not underage.

Unofficially: Yes, they are underage.

Answer 5

um...why would china be cheating in the olympics?

i mean.sure some of the people are short and weight less than the average but so,my cousin is 22 and she is 4 foot 6 and weights about 65 pounds.is anything wrong with her?huh?is she faking her birth certificate?i dont think so.just because you are american and want the americans to win doesnt mean that you have to around accusing people of cheating because of there height and weight.maybe you just want the americans to win so you are just wanting people kicked off of other teams.

Answer 6

They actually don't have to fake their birth certificates they only have to fake their passports. In order to compete in the Olympic Gymnastic Competition you must be 16 within the Olympic year. It has been reported in numerous articles (even within China) that up to 1/2 of the Chinese Ladies Olympic Team is under age. While I understand that all you need is a validated passport from your home country to compete I don't understand how the IOC can let this slide. Several of these gymnasts actually competed at previous international competitions this year and were registered as 14. I think that something has to be done before the next Olympics in order to assure that underage individuals are not competing (for any country). These rules were put into place to protect younger athletes in all disciplines, but especially in gymnastics (and figure skating), where the pressure to remain small is extremly high.

Answer 7

They really need to do a little investigation. I mean, China is just too good to be true. Yes, I think they're under-age, well, for some of them.

Answer 8

I think you are right... and if they actually are the right age, then I still think there is something sneaky going on behind the curtains here. If those poor girls are that small and underweight, there is just no way that they are healthy!

Answer 9

Verne Troyer (Mini Me from Austin Powers) 2’9 ..... OMG HE MUST BE UNDER-AGE!!!

Answer 10

Those are the stats of my daughter....who is 11...

I have a hard time believing those girls are 16 - there definitely needs to be an investigation if not one already.

Answer 11

I'm more than sure they are faking it! I mean those girls look anywhere from 9-13 years old! Also it shows from their height & their weight that they sure are underage! I'm sure theres something wrong!

Answer 12

I sent an e-mail to the IOC on their website and complained about what everyone in the US already knows, which is the prepubescent group of female gymnasts that cheated their way to the gold medal.  Also, I included why Chinese female and male gymnasts get away with mistakes that should have cost fractions to whole point deductions, but received full credit scores from the judges, who I think got a stern "talking to" by the communist secret police.  

Answer 13

i think the committee should investigate this.

im very disappointed with all the "tricks" that china is playing.

for instance, the underage gymnasts- who also look like they have eating disorders.

i mean, yang yilin has the skinniest legs i have ever seen.

also on the NBC reports, they show the training of young gymnasts in china who are taken away from their families and forced to train grueling hours at a young age, there was a clip of a coach slapping a young boy's legs in a round off.

also during the opening ceremony,

the girl that wasnt the true singer,

and how when the lights traveled from the middle of China to the event in beijing, turns out that it was recorded and then spliced together to make it look as if it happened that moment, when it had really been done in advance.

the judging on the womens gymnastics also seemed a little biased.

there were quite a few balance checks on the chinese beam routine, and yet they still managed a high score that was quickly given,

whereas with the american women, the scores seemed lower than deserved, took alot of time to decide the score, and some of the mistakes marked down for, were hardly visible and the judges took time to catch each one and replayed the american routines alot...didnt really see them do that for the chinese routines.

well im ranting, i dont know why,

cause i mean we got gold and silver, and thats pretty incredible.

so i wont complain, those were just some of the thoughts i had.

:)

Answer 14

Yes China are cheaters. We all know the chinese gymnast are underage and even if we were beaten by them they still have to follow the rules. Does China think just because they are the host nation that they could get away with it? even the people and media in China know that half the team are underage. Why does this matter? Its still just gymnastics right? Well it matters because most female gymnast reach their peak by the age of 14. Would the score be different if every country brought in all their gymnast at the age of 14 or younger? It definitely would. It disgust me to know that my own country would cheat like this. They did mention that they will get more gold medals than the United States, but they failed to mention that they would do "Whatever" it takes to achieve them. Yet they have a statement to back up and either look like cheaters and win or look like losers that is wrong.