It is a terrible thing that China has done to those girls. But it is not fair to the other girls who have played by the rules. Nastia could have made the last Olympic team, but she wasn’t old enough. She certainly had the talent. She’s undergone two growth spurts since that time, and she’s had to deal with injuries that almost always follow those growth spurts. It’s a lot different swinging a smaller body around the uneven bars than the size body Nastia has now.
In the future, the rules should be amended to drop the age requirements altogether or to return to the rules of yesteryear when 14s could compete.
The whole point of that rule was to cut down on these 3rd world countries like China and Russia running gulag gymnastic academies and puting 12 year old girls out there to compete in the olympics. It was also to try to strike a balance between complicated moves and artistic performance.
It's called Women's gymnastics at the olympics, not childs gymnastics. Keep 12 year olds out of the olympics.
I agree. The age rule does NOT prevent these kids being taken for training by the state for intense 24/7 training from infancy or at whatever age they show some ability.
China has done a terrible thing to these girls, but more importantly, they dishonored the Olympic competition by not complying with the rules.
This is the same country that brought poisoned food, medicine, and toys to the world market. What else can one expect from low-down cheating commie bastards?
Too bad for the girls, but as a subsequent poster says - this is women’s gymnastics, not children’s gymnastics.
The medals need to be taken away from He and from the others who “won” the team event in which He took part.