Huffington Post: Documents Reveal Underage Chinese Gymnast

[antigop]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-flumenbaum/scandal-of-the-ages-docum_b_118842.html

What began as whispers among the media and gymnastics insiders weeks ago about the ages of three of China's female Olympic gymnasts -- Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin and He Kexin -- has grown into ear-shattering, head-hurting shouts. Despite assurances by Chinese officials that all three are 16, the minimum age of eligibility for Olympic competition, newly discovered documents and records prove otherwise.

The New York Times first looked into the age of China's gymnasts with a story on July 27 that focused primarily on He Kexin, whose birthdate on numerous online records was listed as January 1, 1994, making her 14 when the Games began and ineligible to compete.

When the world was officially introduced to He Kexin this week, even those unwise to the ways of competitive gymnastics could tell that with He, something was not right. At 4-foot 8-inches tall and weighing 72 pounds, the Beijing native appears significantly younger than most of her Chinese teammates much less her American and European counterparts.

[XemaSab]

1. Is she the one who still has gaps from where her baby teeth fell out?

:shrug:

:eyes:

[amandabeech]

6. She claims that she broke them in training.

Which is a possibility, but does she wear a bridge when not in the gym?

[AngryAmish]

2. I find it hard to believe that the Chinese Government would fake a passport

They have no interest in making this games a success...

[JackORoses]

7. are you kidding? they had a little girl lip sync their anthem just because she had better teeth

Of course they would fake passports to win.

[AngryAmish]

10. Obviously this is just jealous Westerners making up stories

Besides, who cares? And every country does it. Aren't we all guilty?

[JackORoses]

11. sorry, but every country does not cheat at the Olympics

only those who find the appearance of winning more important than the sanctity of the games.

[skids]

3. I bet this soaks 15 minutes out of every news show tonight...

...nevermind all the important stuff going on in the world today. We have an excuse to show pictures of underage girls in tights and talk about whether they look 16 or not. :eyes:

[amandabeech]

4. Gymnastics is a lot like figure skating.

Girls who train heavily encounter the puberty monster later than average, but by 16, almost no skater looks 10. Busts and hips tend to pop out, no matter if the athlete is training like there's no tomorrow or not. Nature rules.

The only exception I've seen, and I've followed a lot of local and regional skaters, is Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist and recent "Dancing with the Stars" winner.

Perhaps He is another Kristi, but it doesn't look or sound good.

[TomInTib]

5. Hell, they all look scary to me.

Hard-ass children.

I have coached National Select Baseball teams (ages 15-18) who had more emotion on parade than do these little machines.

[Doctor Cynic]

8. She'll probably get DQ'd once the games have ended.

[antigop]

9. More on nbcolympics.com

http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=213588.html#age+chinese+gymnast+under+scrutiny

Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He 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, www.hb.xinhuanet.com

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.

If the age reported by Xinhua was correct, that would have meant He was too young to be on the Chinese team that beat the United States on Wednesday and clinched China's first women's team Olympic gold in gymnastics. He is also a favorite for gold in Monday's uneven bars final.