Nastia and Shawn handled it much better than I would have if I'd worked so hard for so many years. They both are classy examples to represent the US. Of course, being gymnasts themselves, they interact with these girls and see them as people. It's not that I think Shawn and Nastia aren't pissed on the inside if they were to be completely honest, but they're centered enough to be pissed off at the Chinese coaches and government system that forces these girls to lie.
China's Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team- All Be Older Than 16?
- Thread starter Ro_Laren
- Start date
Ugh why should we give a damn? There are about 500 million dirt poor people in China. I doubt any of those are better off than the failed gymnastic girls.
Some of these girls may very well be from those dirt poor families. Okay, little Deng Lin Lin, no pressure. We'll go back to living in the ramshackle hut if you can't do that triple twist and stick the dismount on your ankle sprain. We don't need a house. It's like bribery with their system. The better the girls do, the better off for the families of the girls. It's totally f'ed up.
Well at least they're finally doing something about it. Hopefully it isn't just for show and hopefully they do a thorough search. I wonder what they would do about the medals. I tried looking on-line to see the Chinese girl's scores during the team competitions, but haven't found anything yet. Would they just give the underage girls 0's instead of the scores they received? They could recalculate the scores and then America would definitely get the gold. Perhaps Romania could then get the silver and Russia the bronze. I hope that both of those countries are complaining as well!! I think that Anna Pavlova from Russia was fourth for the all-around competition. She had an underaged Chinese (forget which one) in front of her... perhaps they will drop her scores and Russia will get a bronze!
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Dorian
Or you can look at it this way. If Deng Linlin didn't become a gymnast she and her family would still be living in a mudbrick hut. She'll most likely not go to college and will probably struggle to earn a living as an adult. While I disagree with China's system but my disagreement is on a much more basic level i.e. the government should not spent public money on the promotion of sports. On that front I don't like Australia's extensive gov. funded sports program as well as the whole concept of Olympics. Of course don't me wrong I still like watching Olympic events because it's good entertaintment.
Or you can look at it this way. If Deng Linlin didn't become a gymnast she and her family would still be living in a mudbrick hut. She'll most likely not go to college and will probably struggle to earn a living as an adult. While I disagree with China's system but my disagreement is on a much more basic level i.e. the government should not spent public money on the promotion of sports. On that front I don't like Australia's extensive gov. funded sports program as well as the whole concept of Olympics. Of course don't me wrong I still like watching Olympic events because it's good entertaintment.
I found the team score's on-line. If at the very least, they drop He's score of 16.850 (she only performed the uneven bars during the team final) then that would drop China to last place during the team competition!
Even if it didn't drop them to last place, the team cheated by having an ineligible member, the team should be disqualified.
I hear what you're saying. Who knows? Maybe an embarrassment of this level could change a few things.....or change nothing.
Banning the entire country would be a little overkill, but banning China from competing in gymnastics for the next two or three olympiads might sting quite appropriately. I just don't see how the IOC can ignore it if it ever wants to be taken seriously when it enforces penalties for doping offenses and other rules violations in the future. The evidence is there.
Absolutely. They could be acting like prima donnas which seems to be par for the course for celebrities (both men and women) of their age in the US. Major props to both of them.
I was very proud to be an American (and a school teacher) when I saw Shawn Johnson hug every competitor at the end of their routine as they came back to the waiting area. Not only that, but she congratulated winners as well as their coaches. Class act and a role model for young people.
Shawn Johnson is an example of a gymnast who did it for the right reasons, who wasn't pushed or bullied by a coach. The system worked with her. She is a darling. I hope she can hold on until 2012. I'd love to see her again. 20 year old gymnasts rule!!
^ I hope we see Shawn Johnson in 2012 too. We could always see Nastia there as she would only be 22. Of course that all depends on if she can avoid injuries and stay in prime condition.
BTW, according to a report on NBCOlympics.com, the IOC still has not launched a formal investigation of the age of the Chinese Gymnasts. The article doesn't put a very positive spin on things making it look like nothing will come of the evidence brought forth thus far. Part of the article said:
""So far," the IOC's sports director, Christophe Dubi, said, "everything that has been received demonstrates we have no problem of eligibility for these competitors."
In a country full of software pirates and designed knock-offs factories it wouldn't be very difficult to provide documentation to "prove" that the girls are all at least 16.
Who knows how it could be proved. We can just hope that a formal investigation is launched.
BTW, according to a report on NBCOlympics.com, the IOC still has not launched a formal investigation of the age of the Chinese Gymnasts. The article doesn't put a very positive spin on things making it look like nothing will come of the evidence brought forth thus far. Part of the article said:
""So far," the IOC's sports director, Christophe Dubi, said, "everything that has been received demonstrates we have no problem of eligibility for these competitors."
In a country full of software pirates and designed knock-offs factories it wouldn't be very difficult to provide documentation to "prove" that the girls are all at least 16.
Who knows how it could be proved. We can just hope that a formal investigation is launched.
Here is an article from MSN.com where the IOC says there is still no proof that the girls are too young.
I saw that. There's definitely proof that He Kexin's underage, but the IOC and FIG are too wimpy to do anything about it. All the IOC would have to do is focus on her because there's so much documentation. You prove one girl is underage and that's proof that there's institutionalized cheating by China. It's too inconceivable to believe that Xinhua, the Chengdou Sports Bureau, the documents Mike Walker pulled up off of cache from the other Chinese sports agency, and every online listing for her former competition, all of which listed the same birthday of Jan. 1, 1994--all of which conveniently disappeared right before the olympics when anyone in the press looked for them--were all wrong. If they all listed different birthdays for her it might be different, but they don't. This way, all China has to do is alter the final digit in her year of birth in her passport and the newly surfaced "residency" card.
They're too afraid to offend China. It's all about money. If they won't do anything about this, it's pretty hard to deny. The thing is, if one of the other countries did it, the FIG would be all over them. If the US did it, the FIG would strip the medals in a heartbeat. Once they refused to budge on poor Andrea Raducan and took her all around medal away, the FIG set the bar pretty high on "we have to follow the rules."
It's just such a blatant case of cheating this time when it wasn't in the past. When you have so much documentation coming up, that the AP and Mike Walker found, and still the IOC does nothing, it's pretty obvious. When you have gymnasts under 70 pounds who are missing baby teeth, good grief.
It's all about money. Of that, I'm convinced.
It's just such a blatant case of cheating this time when it wasn't in the past. When you have so much documentation coming up, that the AP and Mike Walker found, and still the IOC does nothing, it's pretty obvious. When you have gymnasts under 70 pounds who are missing baby teeth, good grief.
It's all about money. Of that, I'm convinced.
It's almost always about the money.