Is It Me Or Do The Chinese Woman's Gymnastics Team Look Underage Or Is It Just The Matter Of Height?

Question

I am needing to know this after watching the highlights of the Olympic games today and it has been getting to me for a while, can anyone shed some light on this for me?

This question is not meant to cause offense.

Answer 1

so many people feel this way.

i dont know if you are new to Yahoo!Answers, but questions like this seem to be asked 50 times a day.

Answer 2

Cheng Fei is 20! She sure fooled me.

Answer 3

Yes, I feel they're all underage! I feel the people in charge of the Olympics needs to freaking step up and look at birth certificates NOT PASSPORTS!! Countries will lie on those. I feel the Olympics needs to straighten up and figure out the athletes real ages!

Answer 4

They look so young because of their training regime.

They train all day every day from the age of three years old, at a rate of which one would classify an American Elite gymnast. Pushing on 70 hours of training a week most definitely stunts their growth, which explains the height matter. Also, training that hard stops puberty, which is another definite cause for the underage look. The strain on the body can cause permanent damage, which is why they like them to be at least sixteen years old.

It also may just be that they are underage...there has been come controversy with Kexin He, with the Chinese media pegging her as 14 in May of 2008.

Answer 5

it isnt just you we ALL know that they are underaged, and when they realize it and futher investigate it, im going to tape china being stripped of thier medals.

Answer 6

I think some of them look underage. And why do people keep saying that if they are good enough now they should be able to compete. I mean if they are only 13 they can only get better within the next three or four years its not like they are 30 or or 40 and this is their last chance to compete. And if they did wait its not like they could not have found people that would be better or trained to be better, they don't have a shortage of people in China. Everyone else follows the rules, why can't they?

Answer 7

Asian people look very young.  I'm Chinese, and I'm going into college next year, and a woman at my work thought I was just starting high school.  However, I do think those girls are probably a year or two underage.  True it is against the rules to be under 16, but if those girls are good enough to compete at that level it's up to them to compete or not.

I don't understand why everyone is blaming China for underage competetors.  It's not like other countries don't do it as well.  China probably does have more, but people act like they are the only ones doing it.  Saying you want to strip them of their all their medals is ridiculous.  Then why don't you investigate every Olympic game to root out every single underage competetor?

Answer 8

It's not you. Deng LinLin is like 10. He Kexin was proved to be 13 by the Associated Press (AP). They found a Chinese website with an article from Nov. 2007 reporting He Kexin as being 13 then. Now the web page doesnt work and Chinese officials wont comment on the story. Hmmmm. The Chinese government simply forged documents (birth certificates, and passports) so these girls could compete with an advantage. Thats why theyre winning. In my opinion, none of those girls could do what Nastia Liuken and Shawn johbson do when theyre that age. I mean look at the pig faced captain, shes actually of age and shes been s******g up the entire olympics. Only the kids are doing good. There are 3 very young  girls, Deng LinLin who looks the youngest, He Kexin, and Yang Yilin who are not even close to 16 and everyone knows it. O.K. some people look younger than thay are just as some look older than they are but I don't believe in coincidences like that half the Chinese women's gymnastics team looks younger than they are. You should of seen their coach pick up Deng LinLin like she was a little girl. Not to mention she's still losing her baby teeth. You simply can't pass a 10 year old for a 16 year old.

BTW, by this is mary, training does not stunt your growth it accelerates it. Smoking at a young age will stunt your growth. But seriously, who told you that?

Answer 9

They look underage because they probably are underage. But they have the passports to prove that they're all at least 15, so it's alright. On that note, most of them are about as tall as Shawn Johnson.

But: The average height of the Chinese girls team is 144.33 cm, average weight 35.00 kg. Let’s look at the Japanese team. An average height of 146.67 cm, average weight 37.33 kg.

Cheng Fei competed in Athens. She is actually 20.

Answer 10

Cheing Fei is 20 or something

Is that a April Fools Joke?

Answer 11

Yes, it's just you.  No one else thinks they look underage.  lol