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China's Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team- All Be Older Than 16?

Do U Think Everyone on China's Women's Gymnastics Team is at Least 16?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 4.1%

  • No

    Votes: 47 95.9%
  • Total voters
    49
Ro_Laren

Ro_Laren

Commodore
Commodore
China's Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team- All Older Than 16?

ChinaWomensGymnastics.jpg


I think that it is ridiculous that China says that every member of their Women's Olympic Gymnastics team is at least 16! According to an investigation by the New York Times (Read article here), the Chinese government falsified passports claiming that all of their gymnasts were over 16. While gymnastics can stunt the growth of its participants, China's claims are just ridiculous. Look at the pic above, they get younger as you go to the right. Look at this close-up pic of Deng Linlin from NBCOlympics.com:

DengLinlin.jpg


According to the profile on the site, she is 4'6" and 68lbs. That is crazy!! It just makes me mad thinking that America would have won gold if China had gone by the rules. Why should they even have the age rule if it is impossible to verify? They should just throw it out so that there will be a level playing field!! What if there were some amazing young gymnasts in America, Romania, Russia or another country that would have helped their countries win the gold this year????

Of course there are other things I could rant about in the women's gymnastics. The judges definitely seemed incompetent at times. Cheng Fei lands on her knees in the Vault finals and yet beat America's Alicia Sacramone for the Bronze. Fei's final score (fall and all) was 15.562, while Alicia (who didn't fall) got a 15.537. And then for some reason it was decided that they can no longer hand out two Gold medals even if you tie... So Nastia Liukin and He Kexin of China tied in the Uneven bar event finals (of course if you were to watch the coverage on NBC the commentators said He's scores were inflated). Because of some tie breaking rules the Gold went to He Kexin. So because of incompetent judges and crazy rules Nastia lost to He (and please keep in mind that New York Times found evidence that He is only 14).

Has anyone else been frustrated? Women's gymnastics if my favorite Olympic Sport, but I've definitely gotten annoyed at this years games!!
 
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I was under the impression that they were all about 9.

I was unaware of the 16 rule, though.

I just feel bad for these kids. They can't be having any kind of worthwhile childhood.
 
I refuse to believe Deng Linlin is older than 10, 12 tops. But I do feel sorry for those girls because they start training when they're, what, 3, 4?
 
Ro_Laren said:
ChinaWomensGymnastics.jpg


I think that it is ridiculous that China says that every member of their Women's Olympic Gymnastics team is at least 16! According to an investigation by the New York Times (Read article here), the Chinese government falsified passports claiming that all of their gymnasts were over 16. While gymnastics can stunt the growth of its participants, China's claims are just ridiculous. Look at the pic above, they get younger as you go to the right. Look at this close-up pic of Deng Linlin from NBCOlympics.com:

DengLinlin.jpg
Click to expand...

At least 2 of them are probably 12 to 14 years old (He Kexin and Deng Linlin. To be fair the Chinese women do look very young. All of them including Cheng Fei who is actually 20 years old look like tiny children.

According to the profile on the site, she is 4'6" and 68lbs. That is crazy!! It just makes me mad thinking that America would have won gold if China had gone by the rules. Why should they even have the age rule if it is impossible to verify? They should just throw it out so that there will be a level playing field!! What if there were some amazing young gymnasts in America, Romania, Russia or another country that would have helped their countries win the gold this year????
Click to expand...

Yes I support Bela's suggestion for an open competition.


Of course there are other things I could rant about in the women's gymnastics. The judges definitely seemed incompetent at times. Cheng Fei lands on her knees in the Vault finals and yet beat America's Alicia Sacramone for the Bronze. Fei's final score (fall and all) was 15.562, while Alicia (who didn't fall) got a 15.537. And then for some reason it was decided that they can no longer hand out two Gold medals even if you tie... So Nastia Liukin and He Kexin of China tied in the Uneven bar event finals (of course if you were to watch the coverage on NBC the commentators said He's scores were inflated). Because of some tie breaking rules the Gold went to He Kexin. So because of incompetent judges and crazy rules Nastia lost to He (and please keep in mind that New York Times found evidence that He is only 14).
Click to expand...

I can't say I know much about judging so I am not going whine about it but the tiebreaker system has been set for awhile now. It wasn't just something that is decided by the FIG live.

Has anyone else been frustrated? Women's gymnastics if my favorite Olympic Sport, but I've definitely gotten annoyed at this years games!!
Click to expand...

Not really. The US women did very well and I am proud of them especially Nastia and Shawn. They could've won team gold as well if not for a few glaring mistakes.
 
I don't believe that all of those girls are 16 or are turning 16 this year as the rules require. But IOC won't do anything about because they don't want to offend the human rights abusing, totalitarian Communists.
I do feel bad for the girls though, whether they are 10 or actually 16, they are being used by their country. (Not all the girls, but the Chinese ones.)

I do not think there is any conspiracy going on with the judging, but it is crazy how on more than one occasion the quirks of judging favored China over America...
 
I think they're slightly older than they look, but still well below 16. I don't think anything will happen, though, so everyone will probably have to play around that fact.
 
No, they're not all above 16. No way. Cheng Fei is; she competed in the last olympics, but Deng Lin Lin and He Kexin most definitely are not. There are serious questions about Yang Lin Lin and Jiang Yuyuan as well. It's the faces that give them away. Shawn Johnson is pretty much a shrimp at 4'10" and 90 pounds, but her face is much more mature. She also has several inches and 20 pounds on the two littlest Chinese gymnasts.

The Chengdou Sports Bureau and Xinhua, a major Chinese news agency, both seemed to think He Kexin was 13 last year. Funny how she suddenly turned 16 just in time for the olympics. :rolleyes: Now that's what's galling about the tie breaker with Nastia. Liukin isn't stupid. She knows the girl who got the gold isn't eligible to compete.

I support the age limit. It's much healthier for the female athletes. After the age limit was raised, most of the female athletes started looking healthier and a bit more adolescent as opposed to looking like little girls. There are, unfortunately, exceptions. You want a shot of Deng Lin Lin at the team competition that really makes her look like a little girl? Check it out. She's a cutie pie, but I wouldn't bet the farm on her being a high school junior. :D
337eb9bd0fcbc004f7e693cfa8571f14-ge.jpg
 
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By the way, Foxnews.com now has an article about the Chinese team. It says that "The latest unofficial investigation was carried out by computer security expert for the Intrepidus Group, whose site, Stryde Hax, revealed a detailed forensic search for He’s age." Here is the security expert's blog about the investigation.

And here is a picture of "16" year-old He Kexin, who competed in the team finals and also beat out Nastia Liukin for the gold in the uneven bars:

0_65_He_Kexin.jpg
 
Riiiiiiiiiight. :lol:

On sports radio this morning (I get such a kick out of the local football fanatics talking about gymnastics of all things) they were talking about cute little Shawn Johnson competing in London in 2012. She'll only be 20, and the Chinese gymnasts will be back, too. They'll only be 12. :techman: So sayeth the Sports Animal, 98.1 FM
 
^You have to wonder how the gymnasts from the other countries feel about the Chinese girls, who are clearly breaking the rules just by being there.
 
Kexin I can almost believe; it's the fact that they actually thought they could claim that Lilin (the girl in the OP) is any older than about 12 or 13 that is just effing insulting, really. How stupid do they think people are? She's missing a baby tooth! Did the toothfairy bring her that falsifified passport? :lol:
 
I bet I know how Nastia feels about it, with her tiebreaker 2nd place medal in her signature event to one of the thumbelinas. :devil: I wonder about the poor little Russian girl, Ksenia Semonova, who finished fourth in the all around with Yang Lin Lin, one of the thumbelinas in dispute, finishing with the bronze. There's a medal and an accomplishment denied that she'll never have the chance to experience again. It's not fair.

However, like Augustus says, these girls are abused by the Chinese system. It's not as if they can reasonably say "no." Cheng Fei's family got a house because of her participation; the commentators talked about it on the air when they were talking about Cheng. That's too much pressure on a young girl, thinking that her family's situation depends on her continuing in the strenuous government program for this sport. Cheng Fei is 20 now, but she went into the system as a little bitty girl like they all did.

The 16 year old age limit was designed to protect the girls themselves. You have to wonder what happens to the girls who don't make it. They are abandoned by the system and sent home to exactly what kind of prospects in life? All so China can get more medals.

She's missing a baby tooth! Did the toothfairy bring her that falsifified passport? :lol:
Click to expand...

Now now. She knocked out that tooth during practice. Shame on you, you cynic.
 
RoJoHen said:
^You have to wonder how the gymnasts from the other countries feel about the Chinese girls, who are clearly breaking the rules just by being there.
Click to expand...

Well, you can't really blame the girls imo (or shouldn't at least); they are working their asses off like all the American and European competitors too, plus they have a lot more stress doing it because not only their livelihood but also their family's depends on their success.
 
I have these two thoughts...

1.) Passports are how the IOC and the Gymnastics folks verify age. Passports are issued by the governments. Pretty easy for the Chinese gymnasts to have passports verifying they're old enough to compete. There should be another way of checking ages.

2.) My compliments to Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson for handling these situations with class and sportsmanship.
 
Roger Wilco said:
RoJoHen said:
^You have to wonder how the gymnasts from the other countries feel about the Chinese girls, who are clearly breaking the rules just by being there.
Click to expand...

Well, you can't really blame the girls imo (or shouldn't at least); they are working their asses off like all the American and European competitors too, plus they have a lot more stress doing it because not only their livelihood but also their family's depends on their success.
Click to expand...
They should still be pissed at the situation, if not the girls themselves.
 
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