that isnt even the one who looks like she is 8 who there is no chance at all is 16.
pure cheating, like getting caught at the tour de france witha needle in your ass. US team was legit, maybe got unbalanced by the little tumbling tots perceived edge and skill.
this is not good to leave unadressed. complete cheating, government sponsored. will this stand?
if yes, its like double black eyes on this. cant get any more blatant as to outright fraud.
underage kids given passports phony claiming they are 16 by the homer government.
not good.
pure cheating, like getting caught at the tour de france witha needle in your ass. US team was legit, maybe got unbalanced by the little tumbling tots perceived edge and skill.
this is not good to leave unadressed. complete cheating, government sponsored. will this stand?
if yes, its like double black eyes on this. cant get any more blatant as to outright fraud.
underage kids given passports phony claiming they are 16 by the homer government.
not good.
check the article.
I heard the NY Times outed them a month ago.
Ill look for it.
If one was clearly 14, should the team be disqualified? especially when others looked younger?
the problem before was nobody could prove it and the Chinese government officially sanctioned these children as 16.
nobody DQ'ed Danny Almonte just because he was dealing like 80 MPH fastballs to little leaguers, it took a little time. Same here, clear cheating. It isnt holding.
Works for me. :lol:yet another one
Records Say Chinese Gymnasts May Be Under Age </NYT_HEADLINE>
Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
According to her passport, Jiang Yuyuan will be 17 in November. One list, however, has her age 14.
<NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0">
By JERÉ LONGMAN and JULIET MACUR
</NYT_BYLINE>Published: July 27, 2008
<!--NYT_INLINE_IMAGE_POSITION1 --><NYT_TEXT>China named its Olympic women’s gymnastics team on Friday, and the inclusion of at least two athletes has further raised questions, widespread in the sport, about whether the host nation for the Beijing Games is using under-age competitors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html#secondParagraph
Coverage of the 2008 Beijing Games from every angle — the politics, the arts, the culture and the competition.
Matthias Rietschel/Associated Press
He Kexin is 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility, according to her passport.
Chinese officials responded immediately, providing The New York Times with copies of passports indicating that both athletes in question — He Kexin, a gold-medal favorite in the uneven parallel bars, and Jiang Yuyuan — are 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility since 1997.
Officials with the International Gymnastics Federation said that questions about He’s age had been raised by Chinese news media reports, USA Gymnastics and fans of the sport, but that Chinese authorities presented passport information to show that He is 16.
Online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, however, seem to contradict the passport information, indicating that He and Jiang may be as young as 14 — two years below the Olympic limit.
Mary Lou Retton, the Olympic all-around gymnastics champion at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, recently watched a competition video of He and other Chinese gymnasts on the uneven bars.
“The girls are so little, so young,” Retton said. Speaking of He, Retton rolled her eyes and laughed, saying, “They said she was 16, but I don’t know.”
An advantage for younger gymnasts is that they are lighter and, often, more fearless when they perform difficult maneuvers, said Nellie Kim, a five-time Olympic gold medalist for the former Soviet Union who is now the president of the women’s technical committee for the Swiss-based International Gymnastics Federation.
“It’s easier to do tricks,” Kim said. “And psychologically, I think they worry less.”
The women’s gymnastics competition at the Beijing Games, which begin Aug. 8, is expected to be a dramatic battle for the team gold medal between the United States and China. At the 2007 world championships, the Americans prevailed by 95-hundredths of a point.
On the uneven bars, He and Nastia Liukin of the United States are expected to challenge for the individual gold medal.
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.
There has been considerable talk about the ages of Chinese gymnasts on Web sites devoted to the sport. And there has been frequent editing of He’s Wikipedia entry, although it could not be determined by whom. One paragraph that discusses the controversy of her age kept disappearing and reappearing on He’s entry. As of Friday, a different version of the paragraph had been restored to the page.
The other gymnast, Jiang, is listed on her passport — issued March 2, 2006 — as having been born on Nov. 1, 1991, which would make her 16 and thus eligible to compete at the Beijing Games.
A different birth date, indicating Jiang is not yet 15, appears on a list of junior competitors from the Zhejiang Province sports administration. The list of athletes includes national identification card numbers into which birth dates are embedded. Jiang’s national card number as it appears on this list shows her birth date as Oct. 1, 1993, which indicates that she will turn 15 in the fall, and would thus be ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games.
Zhang Hongliang, an official with the Chinese gymnastics federation, said Friday that perhaps Chinese reporters and provincial sports authorities made mistakes in listing He’s and Jiang’s birth dates differently from the dates given on their passports.
“The two athletes have attended international sports competitions before, and I’m sure the information is correct,” Zhang said of the athletes’ passports
Records Say Chinese Gymnasts May Be Under Age </NYT_HEADLINE>
According to her passport, Jiang Yuyuan will be 17 in November. One list, however, has her age 14.
<NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0">
By JERÉ LONGMAN and JULIET MACUR
</NYT_BYLINE>Published: July 27, 2008
<!--NYT_INLINE_IMAGE_POSITION1 --><NYT_TEXT>China named its Olympic women’s gymnastics team on Friday, and the inclusion of at least two athletes has further raised questions, widespread in the sport, about whether the host nation for the Beijing Games is using under-age competitors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html#secondParagraph
Coverage of the 2008 Beijing Games from every angle — the politics, the arts, the culture and the competition.
He Kexin is 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility, according to her passport.
Chinese officials responded immediately, providing The New York Times with copies of passports indicating that both athletes in question — He Kexin, a gold-medal favorite in the uneven parallel bars, and Jiang Yuyuan — are 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility since 1997.
Officials with the International Gymnastics Federation said that questions about He’s age had been raised by Chinese news media reports, USA Gymnastics and fans of the sport, but that Chinese authorities presented passport information to show that He is 16.
Online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, however, seem to contradict the passport information, indicating that He and Jiang may be as young as 14 — two years below the Olympic limit.
Mary Lou Retton, the Olympic all-around gymnastics champion at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, recently watched a competition video of He and other Chinese gymnasts on the uneven bars.
“The girls are so little, so young,” Retton said. Speaking of He, Retton rolled her eyes and laughed, saying, “They said she was 16, but I don’t know.”
An advantage for younger gymnasts is that they are lighter and, often, more fearless when they perform difficult maneuvers, said Nellie Kim, a five-time Olympic gold medalist for the former Soviet Union who is now the president of the women’s technical committee for the Swiss-based International Gymnastics Federation.
“It’s easier to do tricks,” Kim said. “And psychologically, I think they worry less.”
The women’s gymnastics competition at the Beijing Games, which begin Aug. 8, is expected to be a dramatic battle for the team gold medal between the United States and China. At the 2007 world championships, the Americans prevailed by 95-hundredths of a point.
On the uneven bars, He and Nastia Liukin of the United States are expected to challenge for the individual gold medal.
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.
There has been considerable talk about the ages of Chinese gymnasts on Web sites devoted to the sport. And there has been frequent editing of He’s Wikipedia entry, although it could not be determined by whom. One paragraph that discusses the controversy of her age kept disappearing and reappearing on He’s entry. As of Friday, a different version of the paragraph had been restored to the page.
The other gymnast, Jiang, is listed on her passport — issued March 2, 2006 — as having been born on Nov. 1, 1991, which would make her 16 and thus eligible to compete at the Beijing Games.
A different birth date, indicating Jiang is not yet 15, appears on a list of junior competitors from the Zhejiang Province sports administration. The list of athletes includes national identification card numbers into which birth dates are embedded. Jiang’s national card number as it appears on this list shows her birth date as Oct. 1, 1993, which indicates that she will turn 15 in the fall, and would thus be ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games.
Zhang Hongliang, an official with the Chinese gymnastics federation, said Friday that perhaps Chinese reporters and provincial sports authorities made mistakes in listing He’s and Jiang’s birth dates differently from the dates given on their passports.
“The two athletes have attended international sports competitions before, and I’m sure the information is correct,” Zhang said of the athletes’ passports
No chance these girls are 16.
NONE
yet the Chinese government issued them passports saying they are, IOC doesnt want to embarrass them apparently.
So let the needles stick out of the asses so to speak here. clear cheating.
I dont care that the USA finished second, the point is this is 100% clear cheating and sponsored by the homer government and the IOC wants to sweep it under the rug.
give me a NY Times opinion article spot, this is ridiculous!
NONE
yet the Chinese government issued them passports saying they are, IOC doesnt want to embarrass them apparently.
So let the needles stick out of the asses so to speak here. clear cheating.
I dont care that the USA finished second, the point is this is 100% clear cheating and sponsored by the homer government and the IOC wants to sweep it under the rug.
give me a NY Times opinion article spot, this is ridiculous!
I don't recall much shame in the U.S. when Paul Hamm was awarded the 2004 men's gymnastic all-around gold medal because of a mistake in judges' start rating.
He flat out lost, was awarded a medal that should rightfully gone to another competitor, then refused to concede or give the gold to the person who deserved it. Are Americans ashamed of his actions or proud of him for being "a winner"?
Its one thing to cheat by an individual like Floyd Landis in the Tour de France, that happens a lot and its dealt with, but in this case the Chinese government signed off on the cheating.
Official cheating, completely outed.
No doubt at all, smoking gun.
Not like their was any doubt just looking at them, or by that pic in my first post who cant be over 12 at the most.
Chinese government issued them official passports saying they were 16 so they could compete.
Official cheating, completely outed.
No doubt at all, smoking gun.
Not like their was any doubt just looking at them, or by that pic in my first post who cant be over 12 at the most.
Chinese government issued them official passports saying they were 16 so they could compete.
