Chinese state media reports gymnast age as 13.

[iamthebandfanman]

BEIJING (AP)—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.



http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/gymnastics/news?slug=ap-gym--underagechinese&prov=ap&type=lgns

[BlooInBloo]

1. Hmmm... I'm not certain, but I don't think totalitarian governements react well....

to being found out as complete liars and cheaters. It might be prudent to take steps to protect our people.

[bluestateguy]

2. Johnson, Liukin, Sacramone, etc. may get that team gold after all

I may not approve of the rule about having to be 16, but any team that knowingly breaks that rule should be DQ'd.

[tridim]

3. Yep. If the rules aren't followed what's the point of even having a competition?

And I do agree with the age rule.

I was a (male) gymnast up until 16 and it's extremely dangerous to compete at the elite level at that age. It can destroy your body for life.

[chelsea0011]

4. It's a meaningless argument. The IOU only cares about the age

on passports. Unless the Chinese government issues a statement saying they doctored the passports, this issue goes nowhere. Bottom line? If the women didn't err on the beam and floor, they would have gold and we would hear nothing more. As to the age limit being 16, I find it rather funny that the biggest complainer is Karoyli. He is one a the reasons the age was increased to 16. He lived by creating a factory of pint-sized, stunted growth miniature little girls to compete. read the book, I believe it's called "Pretty Things in Little Boxes, and you find out about why 16 became the limit.

[iamthebandfanman]

7. i dont agree

"If the women didn't err on the beam and floor, they would have gold and we would hear nothing more"

i simply dont agree with your assumption. sorry. regardless of who got the gold, it woulda still been an issue.

[TahitiNut]

5. Maybe the Chinese lunar calendar works differently.

:dunce:

:hide:

[SoCalDem]

6. Just change the damned rules to ADD : must be 5 ft tall and weight 100 lbs

That would certainly even out the odds a bit :)

[depakid]

8. Bela Karolyi seemed pretty matter of fact about it

[flamingdem]

9. At least no one has used the term "imperialist running dogs" yet n/t

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

10. It seems a counter-productive rule

World class gymnasts go through that craziness from the time they're tiny, so doesn't the 16 year old rule just keeps them stuck in the system for years longer?

Nadia Comaneci was 14 when she scored all those perfect tens. Then she was able to get something to eat.

Under the current rules she would have had to wait four more years to be in the Olympics, adding four more years of grueling abuse and stunted growth. We wouldn't see her on TV, so our concienses would be clear, but her life in a gymnast mill would be the same whether she got to compete or not.

So then she's 18, four more years of privation, probably still hasn't had a period, and is not even as good a gymnast. All that extra pain just to hang on to being only 90% as good.