The Chinese female gymnasts are too young.
By Steve West
@zebra2222 (5268)
United States
August 15, 2008 12:02am CST
There is a lot of controversy over the fact that some of the Chinese female gymnasts are too young to be competing in the Olympics. The minimum age to compete is 16. From documentation that I have read, at least 3 gymnasts may be between 14 and 15. If this the case, the Gold Medal should be awarded to the Americans. Cheating on the age of athletes is not what the Olympics is about.
1 person likes this
6 responses
@sweetierook (311)
• United States
15 Aug 08
While I think it is AWSOME that these younger girls beat the older ones.. Wow! that is great! Rules are rules. Right? Mabye the age requirement could be lowered! Oviously there are some very talented younger girls in the world. Especially China! Right? But the bottom line is that there is a 16 year old requirement. Even thought they were better, they did not meet the requirement. Just like all of the other strict Olympic Rules... they must adhere.
Congradulations to those little girls for being so talented! come back next year when you are old enough.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
15 Aug 08
Hi sweetierook - I don't think anything has actually been proven that some of the girls may not be old enough or not. I am not sure though. I agree too that rules are rules and should not be broken... no matter what. Everyone needs to be treated fairly and follow the rules as outlined by the Olympic committee, or however oversees those things. But, you are right, they are all amazing athletes and so very talented in gymnastics! They all deserve metals, I think. :)
@sweetierook (311)
• United States
15 Aug 08
They do not say "oh, I know you were on steroids, but you did so great you can keep the gold metal" It is clearly cheating to lie about your age. If it was not cheating they coud just say she is just 14 but we want to enter her becasue she is so great. They know full well what is going on. I am sure that the little girls are only doing what they are told. I honestly feel that these young girls are the most innocent in the situation (if they are really not old enough) That is why I feel strongly that they should be allowed to come back when they are old enough. Realistically they could ban them for cheating, I would think.
@sanjana_aslam (4187)
• Malaysia
16 Aug 08
I would also like to congratulate this young girls ... but i want to hold and hug them , i guess they must have missed all their childhood as they are busy training
@sanjana_aslam (4187)
• Malaysia
15 Aug 08
For me, when i saw this one gymnast, she was to small i felt so pity for her .. she did some mistake .. and her face was so scared .. and their team is not like the US team where win or loose the coach will go and hold them and hug them.. she was standing alone waiting for the points to come up .. I wished that i was there to hold her and tell her it was ok ... this is only game ..
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
15 Aug 08
I agree with you sanjana_aslam. I think that some countries put way too much pressure on their athletes during the Olympics. Some of the athletes have been so amazing in their performances. But, then again, I sometimes wonder how hard they are pushed during practices. I think that maybe some athletes in certain countries are possibly forced to practice their routines over & over & over again... or else! What do you think? I might be wrong, but sometimes I do wonder about it. I also agree with you about what you said about some athletes not being supported when they make a mistake. I feel sorry for them too. Like you said, that poor little girl standing there all alone waiting for her scores to come up... no one giving her comfort. I do not agree with everything the USA stands for (even though I live there), but at least the US teams support each other during good times & bad. If they make a mistake their teammates and coaches still tell them they did a good job and hug them. What do you think?
@sanjana_aslam (4187)
• Malaysia
16 Aug 08
Do you think they had fair childhood like most of us ... What will happen to them ones the games are over .. will they be dumped back into the families .. i cant immagine my days passing through like that .. the best of support that i saw was President Bush and family supporting Phelps when he won the first gold .. such a encouragement. we even saw Phelps mother ... But have the camera ever shown this chinese athletes family ... I would want to run and hug my mother once they announced i had gold medal.. This chinese girls don even show any emotion .. they are very robotic when they smile for show
@revellanotvanella (4033)
• United States
15 Aug 08
I agree with what your saying but I don't know how successful they will be at finding any evidence since China seems to be mastermind at covering up facts and information and its a shame this has to come up and hopefully it leaves the other competitors with no bitter feelings.
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
15 Aug 08
I have watched some of the female gymnastics during the Olympics this year too (unfortunately, I missed it last night). I thought a few of the Chinese female gymnasts looked very young too. It is so hard to tell though, but a couple sure did not look sixteen years of age to me. Supposedly the Chinese government says that their passports prove that they are all at least 16 years of age. I guess it would be extremely difficult for anyone, including the Olympic committee, to prove otherwise. It would be an extreme shame though if some of those young girls are not really old enough to complete in the Olympic games. I would hate to believe, but it wouldn't surprise me, that the Chinese government actually forged documents so that underage girls could compete in the 2008 Olympics when they should not have been able to.
@sweetierook (311)
• United States
15 Aug 08
It would be a discrace, in my opinion, if the governmet would lie about that. Not only should they be disqualified, but there should be a penalty. They host the Olympics and then act in this way? They should be embarrassed!
@shrashira (438)
• United States
15 Aug 08
Many of them were under the required age. A couple of the broadcasters stated that. They tried to justify it by saying that many are underage as technically you had to be turning 16 this fiscal year to qualify.
