Should the IOC investigate the ages of China's Women Gymnasts at the 08 Olympics?

Question

There is speculation and some credible evidence that China's womens Gymnastics team at the 08 Olympics are under age. Evidently in this calendar year some of the gymnasts have reported ages less than 16. Shouldn't the IOC carry out an investigation to ensure that the 16 or above age rule was being followed?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, they would have to rely on the Chinese government for birth certificates or passport Date of Births, so an investigation is unlikely.

Answer 2

yeah, the only defense they have is chiense poeple look young which is  bull, yeah but they wont cause thats the world we live in its ridicoulous the IOC was probably paid off

another thing is how did they get awarded the olympics their air quality is a concern for athletes, poor human rights, i mean some guy kileld an american!

Answer 3

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 4

I don't know how they can. The IOC is sleeping with Beijing authorities. They can't even make China comply with the agreement that they promised when they were awarded the Olympics. Besides, how do you investigate age? Passport? Birth certificate? Those can be forged. Then what do you have? Karolyi is right. They should abolish a rule that they can't control.

In response to the others. Yes, I would still question it even if the US won. I don't have any loyalty to the US gymnast team. Heck I don't have any loyalty to any event in this Olympics. To me, a rule is a rule. It would be unfair to other countries who followed the rules, not just US but all other countries.

Answer 5

YES, for sure!! They look all under 15. Seriously they should be checking some ID's for once  hahaha

Answer 6

Oh give it up, all of these "Chinese gymnasts under-age" questions are getting annoying. Just accept the fact that they did better than the US and they deserved it. If they had lost i bet that nobody would be fighting about them being under age!

Answer 7

this has been asked or questions like it have been asked all morning. Again I say if the USA had won the gold would you still ask this question. Even if they are found to be underage and they are stripped of the gold medal they were still better then the US team. That fact will never change. Lets not even talk about the athletes in the past from the US that took Illegal drugs (steroids) to enhance their performance. Teams have been cheating for so many years. I have seen gymnasts and figure skaters in past years that have looked younger then 16 and no one questioned it. Michelle Qwan looked about 12 her first year and I don't remember anyone questioning her passport. I do think that there should be an investigation but lets make it equal and investigate all the athletes that look underage. Some of the Romanians look like they are only 13 or 14 but we don't talk about that because they have hardly showed the other teams on TV. What about that woman on the German team who is 32 I have to say that her body looks a lot younger then 32 so it goes to show you can't go by some ones appearance to decide some ones age. And by the way just because they still have some baby teeth does not mean anything. I still had 6 baby teeth until I was 18 and had to have them pulled because they would not come out on their own.  

Answer 8

I don't question their ages.

When I was 16, some people used to say I looked 13, and I bet I was taller than those Chinese girls.

Anyway, what scares me is that those teenage Chinese girls have absolutely children's bodies.

I don't refer only to their height, but to their body forms. They hardly have any hips or b*****s.

Answer 9

Yes, I believe so. I'll quote an answer I wrote to another question regarding this issue:

"I find it upsetting that China, having opened the Olympics with such an amazing display of co-ordination and preparation (fake, lip synced, or not), gave themselves an unfair advantage in the women's gymnastics. While I do not disagree that their team displayed the best skill and undoubtedly won the gold, their team did NOT meet the age requirements. There is no doubt in my mind that at least two of those girls were age 14, at most. To me, this is the equivalent of doping in baseball or other sports where extra strength would give one an edge over others. Here, younger athletes have less height and weight, thus giving them increased control, agility, and mobility. Aside from inexperience playing a factor in a younger candidate, obviously for the Chinese competitors this was not an issue, since they displayed the best performances. But rules are rules, and if your athletes are underage, they cannot compete. The United States made mistakes, and I agree they did not put on a Gold performance that night. However, as well as the Chinese performed, it was an upsetting and unfair road to victory. Why not allow these young candidates to strengthen in experience, and then display an even more stunning display the next Olympics, when they are within the age requirements. My respect for the Chinese has diminished significantly. It is truly a disappointing portrayal of their country which has previously displayed so much honor, pride, and dignity."

I respect the skill of the Chinese team, but not the way they went about achieving their gold medals.

Answer 10

I bet you will not ask this question if the American won, right?  Stop looking for excuses.  On that night the Chinese girls are better, whether they are 16, 15, or 14.  The Amercians lost not because the Chinese girls are underage or not, the Americans beat themselves because they screwed up......period.

Answer 11

Yes, I hope so.

Answer 12

no because if they do they gotta investigaae shawn johnson

if shawn johnson is over 16 years old then im 30 ok im 15 and people mistake me for 20, no way shawn johnson looks over 16

and stop looking for excuses to blame for the US to get the medal they Choked! much like the yankess to my dismay :(

Answer 13

Absolutely!  Maybe not all of them, but at least one of the girls is under 16. Just my opinion though!

Answer 14

Heck yes they should investigate, but of course they won't. Had the americans ages been in question, the IOC would have been all over it. Even if they did investigate, the chinese gov't would not cooperate. Their gov't is very shady imo.

Answer 15

No. The Chinese deserved it. Stop looking for excuses.

Go Team USA!

Answer 16

Yeah they should because they need to crack down on this issue. Not just for gymnastics but all sports overall. There has been speculation about age in all sports: basketball, baseball, etc.  

Answer 17

yesss