Hardly a day goes by without reference in some quarter or another to the problem of “under age” performers at the Beijing Olympics.

Hardly an hour goes by during the BBC’s saturation-bordering-on-boredom coverage of the Games without some little elfin-like Chinese child, grinning from ear to ear, producing an act of athleticism almost beyond belief.

This should come as no surprise because China decided, once they were awarded the 2008 Olympics, that absolutely nothing – and this goes for programming children barely out of nursery – was going to stop them making a success of it.

If you did need convincing you only had to watch the opening ceremony at the magnificent Bird’s Nest Stadium to appreciate the true level of their intent. Nothing was going to stand in the way of Communist-controlled China in the East bloodying the nose of the arrogant American capitalists in the West - even if it did mean altering a few birth certificates and passports to do it.

I won’t go into the complex rules governing the participation and qualification of athletes at the Olympic Games because they vary from one sport to another. Suffice to say that there are growing concerns around the world about the future mental and physical effects of such strident regimes on children as young as 13 and 14.

Several notable investigations have proved that China has “cooked the books” so that their children were old enough to compete in the Olympics.

But why should they need to? Why do we have to be faced with this problem every four years? Why don’t the IOC take a leaf out of the books of every known sporting association in the world and introduce a Junior Olympic Games?

Think about it. We have the Junior World Cup, the Junior World Athletic Championships, the Junior European Championships in football and athletics, in fact a junior world championship in just about every sport under the sun – except the Olympic Games.

Also, think about the massive impact that would have on the development of young talent; what a goal to set for youngsters who might be tempted to “drop out” because they don’t feel they are making any progress; what a target – World Junior OLYMPIC champion.

We have the Paralympics running in tandem with the Olympic Games every four years and it is wonderful to see the determination, courage and pure exhaustive efforts of athletes less physically fortunate than most. Boy, do they grab their moment of glory!

So why don’t the IOC take all this damaging, back-biting, underhand nonsense about under-age competitors out of the debate altogether? Don’t tell me I’m the only one who can see the overwhelming value in a Junior Olympic Games.