Chinese gymnasts use fake passports to get around Olympic age requirements

I was replying to the person who said that a 3 or 4 year-old doesn't know what they want...

Never in my post did I say I agree with how the Chinese select their gymnasts...

Someone said the fact that Nastia and Shawn started at age 3 or 4 is a bad argument because kids that young don't know what they want...

ncxcstud wrote:

My wife started Gymnastics around 3 or 4 and she definitely wanted to do it at that age.

Hell, when i was 3 or 4 I wanted to play baseball and I did...

Don't sell 3 or 4 year-olds short just because of their age, tots still know what they LIKE to do...just ask any of them. They'll tell you.

A lot of the reason why I said I wanted to TRY OUT gymnastics (back then the class was called "tumbling") when I was so young was because my friends' older sisters were doing it, and we wanted to be just like them. I realized I didn't like it as much as swimming, so I told them I'd rather concentrate on that... Many of my friends stayed with it and were actually very good - but that was their choice too. They weren't shipped off to some camp to endlessly "train for the Olympics."

The point is, I did know what I liked, and there were no negative consequences for me because I said "no."

These Chinese girls can't do that. If "usa [peking] girl" doesn't get it, they are just idiots.

Maybe you don't remember anything because your parents dropped you on your head one too many times. Don't feel bad. It's not your fault. Nice comebacks, btw. Any other good insults besides "moron?"

are you cereal? wrote:

Any of you saying you knew what you wanted to do when you were three are lying idiots. i cant even remember ONE thing from when I was three. F***ing morons.

Ask the majority of people, moron, 99% (yes a statistic out of my ass, but i know its right) of people can barely remember stuff when they were three.

Moron.

I never said that, you blew what I said out of proportion.

I was simply responding to the statement that said "The Chinese girls started at 3, whereas Shawn and Nastia etc started competitively at 10." So I just pointed out that these girls also started around age 3, that was it. Nothing on whether they were "forced" by their parents to start at that age or on their own will, just that they started around then.

I actually teach gymnastics. I caught a segment on the Chinese training that showed preschoolers in their gymnastics school doing bridges, and the degree of back bend they had the little ones do would never be allowed in a program here. USAG has protocol for very young children that prohibits forcing the body past what it can naturally do.

The three year olds I teach would only bridge with their feet elevated to lessen the strain on the lower back and be heavily spotted by the instructor for support, as their upper body strength is not well developed at that age.. One of the dangers of too much early back flexibility training is a risk of back problems later on (say , in your teens or twenties).

I am only running a recreational program now and don't keep track of the competition elements for young kids here anymore, but at our lowest competitive levels, it is not uncommon for 7 and 8 year olds to be involved in basic gymnastics competitions. how fast you progress through the levels to elite is dependent upon talent, time available to train in the gym and money. USAG does have talent identification programs in place here, but the parents have to actually get the kids into gymnastics and on the competitive path. I'm just glad my kid is into track.

Bitter sore losers. Bela is an idiot. Just ask the gymnastics team in Sydney- they were pissed that he takes credit when the gymnasts do something great, but blames everyone when they don't perform well. The age thing is just his newest attack. If they've been doing this for years, then WHY THE F*** DIDN'T HE BRING THIS ISSUE UP BEFORE AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WHEN THE US TEAM WON?!!!??!?!

sloan peterson wrote:

Bitter sore losers. Bela is an idiot. Just ask the gymnastics team in Sydney- they were pissed that he takes credit when the gymnasts do something great, but blames everyone when they don't perform well. The age thing is just his newest attack. If they've been doing this for years, then WHY THE F*** DIDN'T HE BRING THIS ISSUE UP BEFORE AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WHEN THE US TEAM WON?!!!??!?!

From the reports I've seen, the age requirement is an Olympic deal, maybe it's a non-player in the WCs.

Is it true that Shawn Johnson has to spend 22 hours per day in a specially made box to stop her getting any taller than 4'8"?

Is it also true that she's actually male but they forgot to change her first name when they performed the switch?

are you cereal? wrote:

Ask the majority of people, moron, 99% (yes a statistic out of my ass, but i know its right) of people can barely remember stuff when they were three.

Moron.

You really did pull that stat from your ass. I do remember things from when I was 3 and younger. Then again, I was reading and started at a Montessori school at 2.5... So I guess I would fall into the 1% you mentioned. Awesome.

You are a loser and a moron, and clearly very stupid.

Who cares? More power to them for their incredible skill and obvious work ethic. They won. They are the best. They earned it. Congratulations.

and many US gymnasts have long been rumoured to have used hormones to stunt their growth, this goes back to the early '80s

sillysimon wrote:

It's almost the same - Americans whining about the age of another nation's athletes after they lose to them. Too old, too young, too doped, too good...Too bad.

Ugh. Everyone knows they did better (a couple posts above me). It doesn't matter. That's the point of the age requirement. Hell, let's just get rid of that pesky weight limit in wrestling/boxing. Do you really think lightweight boxers would be fairly matched with a heavyweight boxer? It's the exact same thing. Gymnastics is a sport for tiny people... tiny people are better than bigger people at it. Younger people are tinier than older people, get it?

At this point, I honestly wouldn't be shocked to hear that the Chinese sent a 275+ lb guy in to wrestle a 150lb guy... but, never fear! The IOC checked his "official" documents from China, and it says he's 150! And all the scales are broken! Aw, too bad.... but that's all the IOC can do, I guess.

Here are the links to the "scrubbed" pages of the articles, which showed the Chinese cheaters' real ages:

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/08/busted-china-caught-cheating-female.html

Another:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/28/sports/OLY-GYM-Young-Chinese.php

And another decent NYTimes blog from before the games started:

http://olympics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/a-visit-to-the-athletes-village-to-see-the-perhaps-underage-chinese-gymnasts/

Oh no, I got taken away from an impoverished family that hates me because I'm a girl so I could win a gold medal at the F***ING OLYMPICS! O yea, these girls live a miserable existence. If a bunch of 12 year olds can beat the best the US has to offer then good for them. Why is the 16 year old thing a rule anyway?

ANother article, with the lists included from the gymnasts' provinces:

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

It is a dumb rule - I think the international gymnastics federation is just being paternalistic, by "protecting" the young gymnasts. I don't know - but here's an excerpt of a Sports Illustrated article on it:

"SI.com: Is the current rule correct in your opinion?

Swift: Well, the rule is there, and whether you agree with the rule or not, everyone should abide by it. So, if one country is not abiding by it, and in these Games that country would appear to be China, it is unfair competition. If what has happened here is that China is giving false papers to underage athletes, that is wrong.

Now do I think the rule is good? I think it is. I happen to think children should not be competing at this level. It is too much pressure on them. If there is no age limit at all, there is the "ick" or "creep" factor in gymnastics. I mean, it's women's gymnastics and not girls' gymnastics that we're covering. Sixteen is young enough.

If you are going to penalize someone for having her body develop, that does not seem right. I also think the more womanly figure in these competitions is more attractive to watch for the viewers. You see it in the floor exercise, these tiny little girls doing their dance moves, and it's just like watching a child out there. The really beautiful gymnasts I have seen in my career -- like [Russia's] Svetlana Boginskaya, who won five Olympic medals when she was 20 -- have an elegance to them that is good for the sport and good for the viewers. You don't get that with these little children doing their tricks."

Here's the link to that full story:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/writers/em_swift/08/14/underage.olympians/index.html?bcnn=yes