So, how old *are* the Chinese gymnasts?`

[Swiss Mercenary]

Angel' date='Aug 16 2008, 10:21 AM' post='152279']
Ashock: So because the Chinese government made a faux pas with the lip-synching girl at the opening ceremony, the media should ignore and not report other potential violations to the rules of the olympic games?

You misunderstand him - what he means to say is that he is (has for a while) completely disguisted with the commies, to the point that he is not seeing anything unexpected in what they are doing, here.

[shoju]

The thing is, if they are indeed under age, you WILL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH. Why? Because the Chinese government would never risk losing that much face. They would have either been in on it, OR they would have gotten in on it to make sure that nothing ever came out about it.

Honor, Face, Tradition. Those three things will drive them to any length to conceal the truth if it would hurt them.

(and kill someone if they weren't in on it from the beginning)



Look at it like this. If those gymnasts are to young, they are even more AMAZING to be able to compete with the best in the world who are years (and puberty) ahead of them.

Keep in mind too, that gymnasts often suffer for their work. Because of what they put their bodies through, they often suffer in physical puberty development. It's a fact.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Look at it like this. If those gymnasts are to young, they are even more AMAZING to be able to compete with the best in the world who are years (and puberty) ahead of them.

Not really. As has already been said, the body proportion of pre-pubescent girls is an advantage in gymnastics. Which, of course, would be the reason for cheating on the age in the first place. It is unusual, to say the least, to find someone cheating in order to gain a disadvantage.

--Pete

[shoju]

an edge physically sure. but there is a lot of mental stuff that goes into it that I don't know if a kid of that age can handle. I know that there are kids who can do it, but I personally don't think that my son could handle the psychological portion of it.

[kandrathe]

Chinese newspapers had reported ages of 13 -14 for He or whatever her name is. I find it interesting that such reports were either removed or "corrected." By the time this Olympics is over, I don't see any validity at all to the games. Same crap, different arena.

New information from a "hacker" who sifted through internet history