Sunday, July 27, 2008

The shenanigans of the 29th Olympiad ...

It's stuff like this that really drives the point home that holding the Olympics in Beijing has to be the worst idea since Ferris Bueller was turned into a TV series. Olympic gymnasts have to be at least 16 (mostly to protect the welfare of the young female athletes, partially so guys who end up catching gymnastics on TV only feel a little dirty), but China's allegedly found a creative way around that:

"Another registration list that is unblocked, dated Jan. 27, 2006, and regarding an 'intercity' competition in Chengdu, China, also lists He's birthday as Jan. 1, 1994. That date differs by two years from the birth date of Jan. 1, 1992, listed on He’s passport, which was issued Feb. 14, 2008.

"There has been considerable talk about the ages of Chinese gymnasts on Web sites devoted to the sport. And there has been frequent editing of He’s Wikipedia entry, although it could not be determined by whom. One paragraph that discusses the controversy of her age kept disappearing and reappearing on He’s entry. As of Friday, a different version of the paragraph had been restored to the page." -- The New York Times
Related:
Records Say Chinese Gymnasts May Be Under Age (Jere Longman and Juliet Macur, The New York Times)

1 comment:

Duane Rollins said...

he age should really be 18--not that it would stop the cheating ass Chinese from trying to manipulate things to prove the superiority of their "race." It would be harder to sneak a 14 year old in, but it would increase the age that girls start to seriously train by two-ish years to when a little more of their own thought might go into the decision to push their bodies to inhuman levels. It would also change the nature of the sport to give more reward to strength and flexibility (like men's gymnastics) rather than just who can fling themselves the furthest.

I love the Olympics and watch WAY too much every two years, but I catch up on my sleep when girls gymnastics takes over the TV screen. I have limits.