Why did it take so long?

Question

We have all read article after article and multiple yahoo questions about some of the ages of China's gymnasts, yet the IOC is just now starting to look into it. Why have they waited so long, after gymnastics in the Olympics is over and all the medals awarded, to investigate? Do you think they feared that something would happen to the gymnasts of Team USA if they investigated while they were still in the country - as all of them but Shawn Johnson are still in Beijing?

What do you think they will do if they find these atheletes in question guilty of being underaged? As Bella Koryli stated, these girls are not at fault, but the government for trying to conceal their ages and falsifying documents such as passports.

Do you think it is possible that the IOC would let them keep their medals, or take them away and award it to the others that came after them?

Would you feel bad for the girls who get their medals stripped, seeing as they are innocent (or do you think that they are innocent? But remember, China puts a lot of pressure on them)?

Answer 1

I think the I.O.C. is bowing to media pressure, which I personally think is wrong. It opens the door for people to throw accusations around all over the place. The eligibility issues should have been sorted before the games, for ALL athletes. Obviously if rules ARE broken the medals go, whether the competitor was innocent of the fact or not.

Answer 2

No, It's not the girls' fault.

But they must have known that they were cheating in order to get into the olympics.

Not only were they cheating the other competitors, but they also cheated the girls who should have been on the team instead of them.

They need to learn that cheating to win is not a good thing and that it ends up hurting a lot of people.

Answer 3

easy, politics. they didn't want to insult china when china said that he kexin was old enough and the IOC didn't quite believe it. i mean, china was the host country and accusing china of cheating before their games would deeply insult the chinese.

but when the usa, at the moment a bigger superpower then china by a bit, complained that they lost because china had underage gymnasts, the IOC probably didn't want to insult the biggest superpower in the world (that's the truth for now, accept it), so they started to investigate. this is my theory, and it is logical. the IOC can and probably was going by the whole "who is bigger" thing, just like everyone else. i don't blame them, but it kinda makes them look bad.

o, and i agree with fallenangel that the IOC are also going with a computer hacker's charge which should NEVER hold in court or in a case like this.

Answer 4

There are 6 billion people on earth, and IF many of us just submit some false allegations against some athletes or some national teams, would it be possible or even feasible to investigate?  Moreover, the person who "supposedly" submitted those is a hacker, and hacker can even falsify those documents.

Don't be naive and just follow herd instincts just because sore losers are everywhere and they will not stop till they can bring damage to others.  

Now that the IOC had confirmed He Kexin's age to be within the rules, and has put the matter to rest, will those accusers apologise to her for causing her much distress?

Answer 5

The New York Times reported this in late July.  The problem is that their sources were then censored by the Chinese government (ie the proof disappeared from the google cache).  With all the recent media attention, a hacker was able to pull the censored sites off the cache of a Chinese search engine which the Chinese government forgot to censor.

Burden of proof issue, but not sure if anything will happen at all.

Answer 6

i think it was about their confidence in winning but when they found they lost they got sour. Even if I am not condoning going against the rules