Chinese women's gymnastics team

[LazyEngineer]

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[BadgerinATX]

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[Statalyzer]

Gotta love all the "sour grapes" comments. Do people even know what this phrase means?

Not only is it not sour grapes because the USA isn't saying "No big deal, the gold medal wasn't our main goal anyway", but it isn't whining either, because it's based on factual information because previous Chinese documents have shown them as younger and then suddenly they all get passports calling them 16.

And here's the Olympic Creed: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

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[biggie]

Thanks for the clarification.

I haven't read any of the articles on the age rumors - just trying to enjoy and watch the events. Did China list the questionable gymnasts as 16 years old? Just wondering because if the ages are fabricated you'd think they'd at least list 15.

And just to play devil's advocate, I think some cultures consider your age to be 1 the day you are born. (Yup, just found it on wiki.) So if they were born on the very first of the year they could conceivably be 14.

 

[biggie]

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[Huckleberry]

Who cares what their culture says? The rule is clearly based on how many times you've traveled around the Sun on the Earth since you left the womb. If your 16th trip doesn't end by 12/31/2008 then you're ineligible.

And one of the Chinese girls was listed by Chinese government documents to be 14 years old earlier this year and 13 years old last year. Miraculously she got a new passport this year that changed her birth date from 1/1/94 to 1/1/92. He Kexin, the first picture of a Chinese gymnast in this thread.

 

[Texas_Rocks]

LOL! The latent hypocrisy on this board always cracks me up. If Texas had lost to USC in the title game only to find out that ML was a year outside of his eligible age and that USC was in on it, the same guys that are now claiming "sour grapes" and such would be blowing this board up with much of the same.

 

[Statalyzer]

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[theropods]

The NY Times has shown conclusively that at least 2 and probably 3 of them are 14. There is lots of evidence including numerous newspaper reports, statements from Chinese government officials congratulating the girls for high performance at such young ages in previous meets etc.

FYI, this was all public information BEFORE the Olympics. It isn't sour grapes, they should have been disqualified before the events even happened.

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