« Elizabeth Taylor Murder Hoax | Home | Wired Music: Win a Vinyl Signed by Albert Hammond, Jr. »
China’s Olympic Gymnast Scandal
By Cara | August 14, 2008
Cheaters!? Well….you be the judge. The last thing I want to do is piss off China.
The Chinese gymnastics team maybe host to an Olympic scandal. To be a qualified Olympic participant, you must be 16 years old. A little girl named He Kexin is said to only be 14 with a true birth date of January 1st 1994. After suspicion of the true age of one of the members of the team came under fire, an older article on the girl in question has surfaced.
“In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He Kexin as one of “10 big new stars” who made a splash at China’s Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. In the final, “this little girl” pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites.”
Since the discovery of the page, it has been taken down. The New York Times also investigated the issue. They discovered that 3 of the team members are under the age of 16. That is half the team. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics the bronze medal winner admitted to only being 14 at the time of her win.
The catch? Their passports all state that they are 16 years old. Kexin’s passport birth date is January 1st 1992. Why use younger gymnasts? It provides an upper hand. The younger crowd is more flexible than the older gymnasts who have gone through or have started the puberty process. Currently there is nothing that can be done to prove the passports wrong.
“The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has said repeatedly that a passport is the “accepted proof of a gymnast’s eligibility,” and that He and China’s other gymnasts have presented ones that show they are age eligible. The IOC also checked the girls’ passports and deemed them valid.”
It is obvious there has been foul play. I bet one of their passport names is McLovin’ Pang or something.
[Yahoo]
Topics: Wired Gossip, Wired WTF |
Related Posts
10 Responses to “China’s Olympic Gymnast Scandal”
Comments
August 14th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Hey, thanks for the link love. I’m doubting these young ladies will have their medals stripped, even tho there’s all this reasonable doubt.
Thanks again.
August 15th, 2008 at 5:21 am
[...] Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete. [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 5:50 am
[...] Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete. [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 10:01 am
[...] Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete. [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 10:25 am
[...] Pretty loves overnight lip treatment, Sally Hansen Lip Recovery. Allie is Wired questions whether Chinese gymnasts are old enough to compete. BagBliss dishes how to choose the right bag for your body. Beauty Snob lines her way to sexy, with [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Please write letters regarding this issue to FIG: info@fig-gymnastics.org
Please provide any more email addresses you have found to send more letters to. Only pressure and letters from us can make this fair.
Sample letter follows: (Please forward to friends and families and repost across blogosphere, only pressure from us will fix this)
Dear Sirs/Madams:
Please investigate underage female gymnasts at the
2008 Beijing Olympics. We understand that passports
were used to verify ages for this competition and that
yours and related applicable organizations are content
to hide behind a passport age verification excuse in
the face of obviously contradictory evidence, without
even so much as an investigation.
We, as an international community, expect you to
investigate this issue.
Athletes from the country in question are on
record as having admitted that in past Olympics they
themselves were underage at the time of their
competition in direct violation of the rules.
There is an established history of a country breaking
age qualification rules in the past, documented by
their athletes own admission.
There is print evidence from numerous sources, within
this countries own media and athletic department
documents, showing a discrepancy in ages of athletes.
As an international community and in the true spirit
of the Olympic games, we expect this to be taken
seriously and investigated immediately. Any failure to
do so will be seen as a complete lack of credibility
and enforcement by your organization. Your lack of
action will also cause irreparable damage to the
hearts and minds of developing athletes across the
globe when they realize that you will not investigate
a serious claim to maintain the openness and fairness
of global athletic competition.
“Go Get ‘Em Folks”
August 15th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
[...] Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete. * Funke Adenodi Akinbuli is Ladybrille Woman of the Month! * Do you agree with our picks? Check [...]
August 19th, 2008 at 9:38 am
[...] Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete. * Funke Adenodi Akinbuli is Ladybrille Woman of the Month! * Do you agree with our picks? Check [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 11:17 am
The proof has come
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,407803,00.html
August 26th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
[...] Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete. [...]