Let's talk about cheating - What does Cheating entail?

Question

All over YA people (mainly US citizens) keep saying that the Chinese gymnasts cheated.

If cheating means breaking the rules let us look at who has been proven to cheat.

The IOC (a WESTERN body ratified by the USA) created the RULES for protest.

Protest was made about the the age of Chinese gymnasts and there were found to be no grounds for further investigation.

A second protest was lodged and a second investigation undertaken and again there were no grounds for further investigation.

No grounds were found for objection because every proof of evidential standard requested by the IOC was provided by the Chinese.

In other words, under the rules, whether you like it or not, whether you GUESS otherwise or not, the Chinese gymnasts were found to be of the correct age.

These are the rules... and to ignore the rules is to cheat, therefore all of you who are too petty to accept that decision, merely because you dislike it and diagree with it ARE THE CHEATS!

You are cheating by making groundless accusations when your allegations have had not one, but two "days in court".

You talk of the precedent of Chinese cheating but are offended if the precedent of cheats from your countries are named (and let's be honest, there have been more than a few over the years).

Is that not cheating too?

We are all faced with decisions that we do not like from time to time. Some of those decisions are made under rules that our own systems ratify because they are the best rules we can create.

We are honour bound to abide by the decisions.

Would there not be more honour in accepting the decision of the investigation and offering congratulations to the Chinese than there is in continuing to make accusations for which there is no proof?

What do you think?

Answer 1

i for one think the chinese won fair and square.  

Answer 2

You're correct in saying that the IOC has its rules, and that the Chinese girls met the age requirements of the IOC, because the only proof the IOC requires regarding the age of the competitors is that their passports indicate that they are 16 years or older.

But this is an odd situation, because in this case it's the country's GOVERNMENT who might have cheated (by falsified the girls' passports), not the individual gymnasts on their own..  It's not like the cases of performance-enhancing drug use, where the individual gymnasts are trying to cheat.

THREE POINTS:

1. The IOC does not have the necessary means to challenge the accuracy of the passports if, in fact, a country's government has chosen to falsify these documents.  It may be that the only way to prove the girls' real age involves Xrays of the girls' hands or hips--something the IOC couldn't take on.  It HAD to be left until after the Olympics.

2. The idea that any GOVERNMENT can falsify Olympic gymnasts' passports JUST so its contestants can win ?  And get away with it????  What message does that send to other governments of the world? That they can--in fact they may have to--cheat, too, to give their competitors an edge in the Olympics?

3. There is no way I can think of that the IOC can change its entrance requirements regarding age to prevent a government from cheating again except for enforcement after the fact (after all, they can't require that Xrays be taken of all contestants in advance).  Either they have to drop age requirements altogether (which would be damaging to young children's bodies), or they have to trust government information such as passports and ENFORCE any government's violations after the fact.

The only way to keep the Olympics clean is to keep them clean. Let the girls' histories be investigated by the proper experts.  If they're underage, they should lose their medals.

Remember that the reason there are age restrictions is to prevent children from being exploited.  It would be wrong to  brush this aside.

Answer 3

I agree with you in a way.  There was no investigation prior to the events in this case.  The FIG just accepted the original passports and said that those were sufficient.  No investigation was ever started because of the protest.  During the games, further evidence was located and an appeal was made to the IOC to request the FIG to investigate the issue.  The IOC agreed to ask the FIG to investigate after receiving the new evidence. The FIG then agreed to investigate the issue.  All along it was the FIG's responsibility to make sure the age rule was being followed.  The FIG's decision has not been made since they started the investigation after the events were over.  That investigation is ongoing.

So, yes, if the FIG finds there was no foulplay, then yes the USA is bound by that decision.  But as of yet, there is no decision.  Therefore the US has not cheated as you say they have.

Answer 4

I think you sum it up pretty succinctly when you make the statement that "(cheats) ... are HONOUR bound to abide by the decisions". An oxymoron if I'm not mistaken - but a good rant nevertheless .  

Answer 5

US and others have been subjected to FULL investigations because of accusations of cheating.

It's only fair that ANYONE accused, be FULLY investigated.

Why would an innocent person object to a FULL investigation?

I have absolutely no idea whether anyone cheated, or not.

But, let's give all parties involved, all the documents and records they require, to put this thing to rest.