I mean, if they can make 8 year olds build bicycles and force people into slave labor, why can’t they let 13 year olds become Olympians?

Easy. You get sloppy when you think you have control over all aspects of your population’s browsing habits. They aren’t used to people investigating them.

James on August 23, 2008 at 1:22 PM

Very believable scenario. The government hacks just got complacent in an environment where they could squelch dissent and control information.

Why was China so sloppy about hiding the evidence? Not only did Walker find the spreadsheets on a government website, but until recently reports of the actual ages of the gymnasts were available on Chinese state news pages. They spent years planning a mind-blowing opening ceremony to impress the world, yet no one thought to devote five minutes to scrubbing the ‘Net of evidence of their grand fraud in the actual competition?

Easy. You get sloppy when you think you have control over all aspects of your population’s browsing habits. They aren’t used to people investigating them.

they said that he was only 17 years old.(IF he really is only 17) wonder if they gave him a pee or blood test .. lol

The greatest thing about this scandal is it calls into question every medal China’s won in this Olympics.

amkun on August 23, 2008 at 12:27 AM

If they are going to openly cheat with ages like this how many of their athletes are doping?

Don’t worry everybody. Jim Caple of ESPN is here to remind us that even though the Chinese cheated, Americans are just as bad. Oh right, this is the same network that gave us the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann!

KGB on August 22, 2008 at 10:57 PM

not sure why he’s complaining about the speedo swimsuits speedo gave ALL the teams the same swimsuits(or offered to give them suits if they wanted them, Australia, France, even China was wearing the same suits.. where is the problem?) Also, in like the butterfly they aren’t wearing suits.. so whats the excuse?

They must take the girl’s birth year, use the Chinese calendar to find her designated animal, and then use the corresponding *animal years* to figure out when the little tyke becomes eligible. So, for a precious pumpkin born in the Year of the Dog, she’s eligible as soon as she’s 16 dog years old (that’s about 3 years and two months, for all you human-year-obsessed judgmentalists out there).

See, it’s no *wonder* the Chinese Olympic team took umbrage at our accusations. They’re upset that we’ve misplaced our Chinese calendars!

The burden to undo the shame is China’s alone.

They stripped Jim Thorpe’s decathlon gold medal from him because he played semipro baseball at one time.

Screw the Chinese. Strip the medals. Ban them from 2012 gymnastics competition.

fossten on August 22, 2008 at 7:10 PM

Bingo. Which is why we – and the rest of the world – need to shame the Chinese, mercilessly. No matter *what* the IOC “decides”.

We also need to DEMAND that EITHER (1) they yank the medal away from this embryo and her underage companions, I might add, OR – if they cannot accomplish that – that they MUST (2) remove age as a criterion in all future Olympic gymnastic events. Due to their failure to accomplish (1).

And then, we should not accept ANY response from the IOC that does not accomplish at least one of the two options.

It’s their move. If they can’t get the Chinese to bend, then they need to remove the rule altogether, because they will have effectively conceded that they can’t even ensure their own, *vital* rule (one that determines winners & losers, not some mere academic pointilla) will be followed, or that those who follow the rule will be protected.

And the rest of the world needs to shame, shame, SHAME the Chinese. Make it clear that this move by the PRC government brings shame to the entire Chinese people, not just the PRC regime, and that the rest of the world is waiting to hear *something*, from *somebody* (Taiwan? Expats???), about the issue. Something assuring the rest of us that this kind of behavior is not considered honorable by Chinese, *not* representative of China, and that the PRC government represents neither the Chinese people nor their national ethos (& multi-thousand-year history, …).

I’m no longer so quick to buy the explanation at face value that all of this is simply an artifact of *mainland* China, or simply because they have an authoritarian regime, etc. etc.

I’m done “understanding the situation” without even a modicum of skepticism directed toward the larger Chinese community; done with the compartmentalization of the shame of this outrage to a few bad apples, simply for the benefit of protecting others’ feelings. When do we begin to question, quiz, and compel Chinese expats around the world, their American business partners, and the rest of the global entourage, to go on the record as to what *they* make of all this?

The greatest thing about this scandal is it calls into question every medal China’s won in this Olympics.

If it were the USA, they’d strip the medals, but they won’t strip Chinese medals in this case. In the US, if an athlete cheats, then usually it is an individual who cheats. In China in this case, if they find wrongdoing, then it lies squarely on the government. The passport was issued by the government. The websites are the government’s. The protestations are the government’s. Is the IOC willing to call an entire country out?

I bet the IOC will quietly drop this.

I see your point. My apologies, sir.

RushBaby on August 22, 2008 at 8:34 PM

Respectfully accepted. Have a good night.

As an educator, if I caught any of my students cheating on an exam, they’d get the boot right out of school.

This reminds me of the East German women swimmers of yesteryear, the ones that looked like NLF linebackers complete with mustaches and 5 o’clock shadows, that the East Germans swore took no steroids.

Remember, when you are dealing with dictatorships, communistic or otherwise, the rule of law and respect for the rule of law does not exist in daily life. What exists is the rule of win-at-any-cost and the rule of what-we-say-goes-until-we-say-otherwise. That does not mean that countries that respect the rule of law do not have incidents of cheating in the Olympics or other international venues. What it does mean is that these incidents are not supported or condoned or orchestrated by the state. What we have here is state sponsored cheating to make China look good. I would expect no less from the Chicoms or any other dictatorship. What surprises me is: a) the fact that many folks are surprised at their behavior; b) many more try to explain it away; and c) that the Chinese were so bad at covering there tracks. They really need to reread 1984.

Sorry, late to the thread. I don’t believe the girls are complaining, as a matter of fact I read a quote saying that they knew there were mistakes and thought the team overall rankings were fair. As far as an “advantage” I think it may be a draw. Younger girls are lighter and more limber but older girls have more experienced but fact is that the rules are the rules. If you suspend them for this then where else. Thanks for you contributions, the appearance of sour grapes is a valid concern, even if it does not apply to the girls on the team.

BS. On a level playing field, this so-called 14 yr old beat older US gymnasts. I would be hiding my head in shame if I were the US team, instead of whining.

Chudi on August 22, 2008 at 4:40 PM

Try substituting doping instead of age… “this so-called doped-up athlete beat clean US athletes. I would be hiding my head in shame if I were the US team”

You do realize that being younger, generally makes you more flexible, which is a strong advantage in gymnastics. All things being equal, a 14-year old girl has a strong advantage over a 16-year old girl.

He was telling Americans to stop crying, and I called him a xenophobe, which obviously didn’t fit since he was making an argument in favor of the Chinese.

Come on Rush, it was a pretty obvious joke.

BadgerHawk on August 22, 2008 at 8:24 PM

I see your point. My apologies, sir.

If they took steroids or something, then i have a problem with it, but I don’t know how this made the US team to be falling all over the place, and stepping out of bounds. This is just too much. This girl worked really hard for her medals, and it shouldn’t be taken away, cus the US girls got their ‘feelings hurt’.

Chudi on August 22, 2008 at 4:42 PM

Sally Jenkins writes in today’s Washington Post:

Four years ago the USA’s best gymnast was young Nastia Liukin, but because she did not turn 16 in the 2004 calendar year, she was ineligible for the Athens Games.

Why should we reward cheaters with Olympic medals when other athletes have followed the rules and given up their chance to compete?

But the slurs were undeserved.
RushBaby on August 22, 2008 at 7:49 PM

He was telling Americans to stop crying, and I called him a xenophobe, which obviously didn’t fit since he was making an argument in favor of the Chinese.

Come on Rush, it was a pretty obvious joke.