China Fielding Under-16 Gymnasts in 2008?

Yahoo! Sports ^ | August 15, 2008 | Dan Wetzel

[ROTB]

For a long time, elements of the Chinese government itself thought women’s gymnast He Kexin was born Jan. 1, 1994, which would make her 14 and too young to compete in these Summer Olympics.

Whether it was repeated mentions in the government-controlled media – including a new one uncovered Friday by the Associated Press – or on official gymnastic meet registration forms and websites, He was “this little girl” and a “new star.”

As recently as December 2007, in provincial gymnastics meets and news reports that covered it, she was a 13-year-old prodigy, too young for the 16-year-old Olympic age limit for gymnastics.

Then, suddenly, she wasn’t.

[ROTB]

They were awful young ...

[TampaDude]

While I’d love to see the IOC strip the Chinese team of their gold medals if it’s proven true, I seriously doubt anything will come of it. The USA went 1-2 in the all around last night, anyway.

[raybbr]

[brivette]

I believe there’s an old chinese saying that goes “If you’re old enough to get bread...”

[ThePythonicCow]

China's gymnast He Kexin is greeted by a teammate during the gymnastics Women's Team Final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008. Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that He was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

[pogo101]

Don’t you insensitive bigots understand that Chinese consider their newborns to be 3 years old at birth?

/sarc

[celtic gal]

I think too something is odd about the Chinese women's gymnastic team. When looking at the 16 year old Chinese women divers and comparing them to the gymnasts..there is an obvious difference in age..these little girls, no question are talented and will be great in future competitions, but for them to compete in this way, win the team gold putting the US in second and Romania in rd is just wrong and perhaps this should be challenged by the IOC.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Too young? No problem. We’ll rewrite history.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

That is one of the other problems with this. By doing this they will be eligible to enter several Olympics competitions whereas gymnasts that follow the rules will not be able to.

[pabianice]

A friend who is a dental technician freeze-framed pix of the Chinese gymnasts. The gold winner’s dentition, according to her, still has its baby incisors. She notes that these are usually replaced by adult incisors at age 12. The Chinese are scummy, totalitarian liars. The very model of Olympic spirit.