Huh.

[apocalypsos]

The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into the age of Chinese gymnast He Kexin, The Times of London reports. Faced with almost insurmountable evidence which suggests that He is two years younger than the birth date listed on her Chinese passport, the IOC has launched an inquiry that could result in the stripping of He's gold medals.

I know it's been harped on to death at this point, but it's not like this would be rule-breaking on the level of "her bra strap was showing." It's a simple rule. If the Chinese broke that rule for an added advantage, that's cheating.

I think the thing that bothers me about the whole situation -- well, aside from the obvious -- is that the Karolyis probably made matters worse because most of the time, it sounded as if they were complaining not because they were mad the Chinese may have used underage gymnasts, but because they couldn't do it too. They both sounded whiny rather than justified.

I don't know about anybody else, but I'd be just as annoyed if it were the Americans using underage gymnasts. In fact, I'd probably be doubly pissed because it would mean that the U.S. Olympic team knowingly put the integrity of whatever medals might result into question, and they're representing us on the international field.

Comments

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

And I feel sorry for He. It's a bad situation all around.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I know, right? She seems like a sweet enough kid, but ... you know, a kid.

[tinylegacies.livejournal.com]

It doesn't surprise me AT ALL that they found evidence of that. Because, seriously? Some of those gymnasts looked SUPER young.

But, yes, I would be annoyed no matter what country it was that was cheating.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Honest to God. It's hilarious, but I only just looked up Nastia Liukin's height because she looked so damn tall standing next to the Chinese.

She's EXACTLY my height.

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

So basically we've learned two things about China during the course of the Olympics:

1) They're obsessed with image, to the point that they're willing to do some really skeevy things to look better.

2) They're really bad at hiding their motivations.

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

I care more about investigating the protest application trap the Chinese set up.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's that too. *sigh*

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

Cheating? At the Olympics? Nevar! SURELY YOU JEST!?

The US already puts all the medals it sweeps the floor with in question with the amount of rampant doping it uses on its athletes. By comparison, some kid lying about their age is kind of stupidly insignificant, really.

[moonpupy.livejournal.com]

Soooo, it's okay to lie and dope in the Olympics. . .

Interesting rationalization you got there.

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

Er, not quite, but good effort for trying.

What I'm saying is in a competition based around physical prowress in a world so damagingly obsessed with winning you are going to have cheaters. And whether or not a cheater gets away with it is based on their privilege in said society. First of all, because their privilege means they have access to better methods of cheating, thus the undetected doping in the West thanks to their ease of access to the pharmaceuticals required. China's still pulling itself up the socio-economic rungs so it can't afford such expensive cheating. So it just substitutes 6year olds in it's gymnastics or whatthefuckever.

In conclusion: Everyone sucks, nobody's better than anyone else, some of them just get away with it and the ones that don't only matter to people who have seriously crazy ideas about the reality of modern sports competitions.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

China's still pulling itself up the socio-economic rungs so it can't afford such expensive cheating.

They can't? Seriously? Since when?

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

Since they still don't have the kinds of money and resources at the disposal of their sports facilities in the same way as the US does. Yes, they are currently a massive global force economically. Yes, they like to think they're coming up to the same level as the rest of the West, but no, they still don't quite understand the amount of money and structure put into Western sports institutions, probably because the social investment in it as a national point of pride is differently manifest.

[conuly]

That was my thought exactly.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

You're right. Some athletes inevitably dope up. They test for it, and when people fail they don't get to go. Are they going to catch everybody? Probably not, unfortunately. It isn't right anymore than having underage athletes is. But one broken rule isn't okay because some people get away with another one when neither one of them should be allowed to perform.

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

If I had my way nobody would perform in this bullcrap. The whole performance is a massive fucking broken rule of How Not To Suck As A Global Society.

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

I think you might be kind of missing the point of the Olympics.

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

Which point is that? The valorisation of aggression and antisocial competition? The sheer blatant exposure of the global class structure and the haves and have-nots? The gross nationalistic spectacle which, every four years, no matter where it's held, craps all over the local untouchables in your given area of choice?

Or maybe, to get a little specific, the fashion in which my own country is happy to pump millions of dollars into each individual olympic competitor for little tangible payoff, but god forbid it actually spend that equal amount on looking after all its actual needy citizens or - even more incomprehensible - it's actual cultural production and maintainance? It would be a fucking blessing if the AIC fucking burned to the ground tomorrow.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Back to amateur competitions for all! I would much rather see dedicated amateurs not breaking records. The amount that Australia spends on sports is just obscene.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

The German eventer who won gold is a practicing dentist, I believe. But I think theirs is a country that helps out its equestrian competitors a lot (certainly more than the US or Canada, where it's virtually impossible now to be an amateur of olympic calibre, unless one were extremely wealthy).

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I would be happy to see countries, say, provide practising venues and transport, but I really hate paying full-time wages for athletes at the Australian Institute of Sport, especially as so many team sport players have to have regular jobs anyway and individual athletes get fully funded.

[bunnymcfoo.livejournal.com]

amen, agreed, and this is one of the reasons that I don't watch.

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

I think it's wrong to punish the child, though. I mean, here's a 10-13 year old who's going to get the brunt of the punishment for something her government did (remember, she had government-provided documentation for her age). I think the coaches need to be banned and the government officials need a boot up the ass, though.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. And I don't think they should punish her at all, aside from taking the medals back. I mean, if the information they've found is correct, she's fourteen. And she might not be old enough to compete, but she's old enough to know she's been lying to the media, the IOC, and the fans for months now.

I don't know. The whole situation stinks all around. *sigh*

[mercurydraconix.livejournal.com]

I will say... when you're fourteen, it's really hard to say "no" when other people tell you to do stuff. Especially older, influential people. Yeah, she's old enough to know that Cheating Is Wrong. But ...

Okay. Her government was telling her: Do This. I assume her parents were on board as well, and her coaches, and every goddamn person everywhere. Do It. Lie. Win the gold for your country. Don't you want to be a patriot? To support your beloved homeland? We have to win the gold! Do this. Do this or you're an ungrateful child. A bad citizen. Do you want to let us down? Do you want to shame your coach, your parents, your nation?

It's hard enough for growups to stand up to that kind of pressure. I can't blame a child for succumbing.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. It would have been really easy to pressure the poor kid into going along. What's she going to do, throw a tantrum and say no? She didn't have much of a choice not to do it.

[baileytc.livejournal.com]

What's really puzzling is that the Chinese women's team was so good in the team competition that it had a very substantial shot at taking gold even without the underage gymnasts. Clearly, they have a lot of talent and outstanding coaching. They didn't *need* to cheat. But it's pretty clear that they did. There's no way He is 16, and one of the other girls looked even younger.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Seriously! Take away the three reportedly underage gymnasts and that's still one of the top three teams in the competition. Failing a complete meltdown, they had a distinct chance of winning anyway.

[bleedingsand.livejournal.com]

I think the thing that really gets me as "wrong" about all this is... where are the other countries in the medals? Russia can produce some scary good gymnasts. Where are the Russian gymnasts winning medals? Germans? Canadians? Seriously, people, why the whole China-vs-USA?