# IOC: No proof Chinese gymnasts underage

[dacher]

Or obvious that giant Americans make unusually big gymnasts in a land of midgets. How do Americans do gymnastics at all with such bulky unwieldy bodies? More power to them.


http://www.john-zhu.com/blog/20080814/a ... -gymnasts/

From the Chinese perspective, they still have the shortest and lightest team in the field. However, when viewed in relation to the entire field and not just the U.S. team (effectively the second biggest team in the field), the differences among the gymnasts don’t seem anywhere near as dramatic. The Chinese team is only 1 inch shorter and five pounds lighter than the Japanese team. The U.S. team has more than 2 inches and 24 pounds on the Japanese, 1.5 inches and 15.5 pounds on the Romanians, and more than 3 inches and 18 pounds on the Russians.

[canoner]

American girls, on average, are fat and look old, compared to Asians. That is a fact.

[5DOM]

American girls, on average, are fat and look old, compared to Asians. That is a fact.

thanks for pointing out that FACT

btw it was never JUST about the looks.

[ljp24]

Well, I don't know much about gymnastics but I still believe there are advantages with being older. More experience, better control of stress etc.. I think it's pretty impressive for a 11 year to to maintain her composure in front of 50k spectators with a whole Country behind her.

Well I'm going to have to take the word of a gold medalist over a RGM poster so

[canoner]

American girls, on average, are fat and look old, compared to Asians. That is a fact.

thanks for pointing out that FACT

Don't laugh. Look at those chinese cheerleaders, runway model type of body. Look at NBA cheerleaders, cows.

And look at Liukin, already showing wrinkles on her face. Does she not look old for a 20-year old? Maybe not by American standard.

[hype_2004]

The smallest of the six competitors is Deng Linlin, 4 feet 6 inches and 68 pounds. The team’s average size is 4-9 and 77 pounds. That is 3 ½ shorter and nearly 30 pounds lighter than the average for the United States team. Shawn Johnson, a favorite in the all-around, is the only American gymnast both shorter than 5 feet (4-9) and lighter than 100 pounds (90).

C'mon, it's so OBVIOUS, that they are underage.

Shawn Johnson looks like shes 11 or even 12 yrs old, seriously, no joke. The Chinese Olympic comittee should file a protest to the legitimacy of Johnson's age, anyways the age rule in sport is really stupid, if the individual is good enough who cares if they're 5 or 95, its totally irrelevant to competition.

[hype_2004]

With all this bureaucratic stuff aside, if I was one of the athletes and the investigation revealed that I was beaten by a 12 year old kid, I would applaud him/her and let him/her keep the medal.

Gymnastics doesn't work that way buddy.

Generally, the younger you are(from age 11-14), the better you perform. A famous Olympian said something like that on CNN.

Lol@this 12 hour investigation. Ridiculous. If we were suspected of doing this, it would be a full blown effort.

hearsay, the younger the athlete is the more immature they are physically and emotionally therefore they committ more mental mistakes, and mental mistakes in gymnastic is akin to suicide.

[hype_2004]

As far as Im concerned this is really politics on the American side seeing the Chinese are thoroughly dominating the Olympi gold medal haul, the American delegation have a cae of penis envy @ the moment as China is thoroughly exhibiting ang flexing their superpowr status in these Olympic games, these protest are nothing more than a political distraction from far bigger political issues between the 2 countries.

[5DOM]

oh really? because this rumor came out even before the Olympics started.

[Posey H8er]

American girls, on average, are fat and look old, compared to Asians. That is a fact.

thanks for pointing out that FACT

Don't laugh. Look at those chinese cheerleaders, runway model type of body. Look at NBA cheerleaders, cows.

And look at Liukin, already showing wrinkles on her face. Does she not look old for a 20-year old? Maybe not by American standard.

Yeah falsely stereotype every American cheerleader as a basis for your argument of defending the 13 year old Chinese gymnasts...

And Nastia Liukin has no wrinkles, but good to make note that the American audience is on a lower level compared to whosoever audience you are talking about.

As far as Im concerned this is really politics on the American side seeing the Chinese are thoroughly dominating the Olympi gold medal haul, the American delegation have a cae of penis envy @ the moment as China is thoroughly exhibiting ang flexing their superpowr status in these Olympic games, these protest are nothing more than a political distraction from far bigger political issues between the 2 countries.

You lost me at penis. These questions have nothing to do with politics, but rather with sportsmanship. It's unfair that other gymnasts receive only a silver or bronze because the Chinese government provided false documents for their underage gymnasts. It's cheating and no one should stand up for it.

[canoner]

American girls, on average, are fat and look old, compared to Asians. That is a fact.

Yeah falsely stereotype every American cheerleader as a basis for your argument of defending the 13 year old Chinese gymnasts...

And Nastia Liukin has no wrinkles, but good to make note that the American audience is on a lower level compared to whosoever audience you are talking about.

Did I not say "on average", when I commented on the weight and look of american girls? How is that sterotype every girl?

Go the Liukin's website, front page photo. Do you not see wrinkles?

The latest development of the investigation certainly quiet down some fans, I guess.

[MAQ]

anyways the age rule in sport is really stupid, if the individual is good enough who cares if they're 5 or 95, its totally irrelevant to competition.

that's simply not true...what if other countries had athletes under 16 just as good as those girls from china? makes a difference, imo...not to mention the years past of athletes (luikin being one of them) that were more than capable of competing for a medal in other olympic years...

i mean...while the rule itself is silly (and i only say that b/c i dont have much interest in gymnastics...i fully believe it'd be easier for a younger person to do well doing flips and such in gymnastics than it would for someone to be older, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles), it's still a rule...it's like the no turn on red sign...no ones there, no cars are coming from either side...no one is walking in the cross walk...but if the police catch you do it, you're still getting pulled over....

[canoner]

Underage gymnasts can and do compete in tournaments other than olympic game. Liukin and Johnson all made their name way before they got to 16 years old. There are no unknown underage gymnasts that are top class.

[canoner]

Web censorship has got to here, I just found. One of the mod threatened to lock up the thread. Alright, here is the link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26337759/
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijin ... &type=lgns

[Rocky5000]

All the proof you need right here. Almost all of them look like children.

[canoner]

All the proof you need right here. Almost all of them look like children.

A lot of American girls may look this young too if they don't start using makeup and giving BJ's too early.

[hermes]

well they had plenty of time to get rid of the evidence

[5DOM]

“Surely it’s not possible that these documents are still not sufficient proof of her birthdate?” Lu asked. “The passports were issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The identity card was issued by China’s Ministry of Public Security. If these valid documents are not enough to clarify this problem, then what will you believe?

LAWL.

Like we believe China's Ministry of Public Security and Chinese Foreign Ministry. lol

If you trust every Web site but not a government...,” he said. “There are so many Web sites, so much hearsay. These are not official. It is possible that all news on the Internet is accurate?”

it's sad because one of the websites was that of General Administration of Sport of China (the sports ministry)

[canoner]

“Surely it’s not possible that these documents are still not sufficient proof of her birthdate?” Lu asked. “The passports were issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The identity card was issued by China’s Ministry of Public Security. If these valid documents are not enough to clarify this problem, then what will you believe?

LAWL.

Like we believe China's Ministry of Public Security and Chinese Foreign Ministry. lol

If you trust every Web site but not a government...,” he said. “There are so many Web sites, so much hearsay. These are not official. It is possible that all news on the Internet is accurate?”

it's sad because one of the websites was that of General Administration of Sport of China (the sports ministry)

Wait a second. First of all, I have not seen any "evidence" from the general administration of sport of china. Do you mind providing a link. If it is just a sentence like "I saw it but it is not there now" from any blogger or computer "expert", it is nothing but hearsay. Secondly, all government website are error-free? Where do you live?

[5DOM]

1. baidou(sp?)'s cached links are all from General Administration of Sports of China. everyone was able to see them until yesterday, but it was somehow just taken down today (just like the google one). i mean i saw it myself. or do you think im lying?

http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2008/08/h ... mpics.html

2. it's not just the General Administration of Sports of China.

An official gymnastics roster dated January 27, 2006 published by the Chengdu government for its City Games, a competition in which He competed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-flu ... 18842.html

He was born Jan. 1, 1994, according to the 2005, 2006 and 2007 registration lists. Yang was born Aug. 26, 1993, according to the 2004, 2005 and 2006 registration lists. In the 2007 registration list, however, her birthday has changed to Aug. 26, 1992.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26337759/page/2/

btw i live in Canada, and i know my government is not dumb enough to make mistakes 3 years in a row. especially when it concerns a future olympian