Why no investigation by the IOC or IGF into China's under-age Olympic gymnasts?

I've been thinking about the Usain Bolt thing. Look at it another way. You are the Gold medallist and the WR holder. Your sponsor says that every time you break a WR, we'll give you a $1m. Every time you get a gold, we'll give you $1m too. What's the point of obliterating it? You'll never be able to beat it. Now, shave a few hundredths off (even if you can knock a couple of tenths off) and you still get a payout. Repeat half a dozen times. Result: Milk the sponsors. In case you think I'm spouting rubbish, this is how Speedo are sponsoring Michael Phelps.

Just FYI regarding the 15-year-old swimmer, you are allowed to compete at the Olympics as a 15-year-old as long as you are turning 16 this year (before January 1, 2009).

This just sounds like yet another example of a poor American complaining cos their team just wasn't as good as the Chinese - you really do make me laugh! How do you KNOW they are only 14 years old? Have you been to China and examined their school records? A little bit doubtful, as they all go to a government run, private sports school, and there is no way anyone would get hold of that information if them being underage is true. Or are you basing this on what you think just by looking at them, and conveniently forgetting that Asians (and especially a lot of Chinese people) are a lot smaller and younger looking than most Westerners. I live in China, and teach children of this age, and can tell you that these competitors do not look so young as you are saying to me!

Um... Bryan... We know because they registered in other competitions and calculating age based on years past has been done for millenia. (Think Birthdays?) They do look young, but more compelling are the ages that they registered themselves as in other sporting events outside of the Olympics. Read, then flame.

I agree that the age limit for gymnasts is a bit silly considering they can compete with the same level of difficulty in other national and international events. However, it is blantant cheating and if all countries disregarded the age requirement, the teams would be made of different gymnasts. The Olympic trials would have been different for each country and those girls who are peaking at 14 would be thrilled. China's coaches should be banned from the sport. I feel sorry for the little Chinese gymnasts being used like pawns.

I just don't get it. Where is the rage on the part of the Americans? How is remotely acceptable that proof has been found of the ages of the competing Chinese female gymnasts? It is robbery. I'm still hoping that something can be done to right this agregious wrong. Where is the infamous honor of the Chinese? How can they hold their heads up high? I just don't get it.

Paybacks are a bitch because when we know that at the next Olympics that are in the US and they have been saying at other places before the Olympics that they are 14 and 13 we will not be validating their passports. When you cheat it will always come back to bite you in the butt, just ask Marion-Jones and so many others who have been stripped of their medals.

Byran, apparently it is much easier for you to assume it is the "powerful Americans and sour grapes syndrome", which is what non-Americans automatically assume any time Americans complain instead of accepting the fact that it is rather obvious the Chinese cheated again. Unless, of course, you have a good explanation for how people can people have 2 legitimate birthdays 2 years apart. I would be outraged if our government did this and if you were not so biased and anti-American you would be too.

As to the age of the chinese "women"...when is the last time you've seen a 16 year old still loosing her baby teeth? You can't argue with that fact...

This age controversy was only stirred up by some US media because of jealousy and ignorance. The so-called "evidence" questioning their age was just some screen shots of a few faulty government web sites. It's so convenient to denounce Chinese government media at one time, then treated it as more authoritative at another. Those posted age information was just the mistakes made by some lazy or careless Chinese reporters. More Chinese web sites reported correct age information, which were conveniently ignored by the US media. An old time-stamped video circulated on Chinese web sites clearly showed that those girls were recruited when China was awarded Olympics and it mentioned they would be 16 years old in 2008. BTW, many Chinese girls do look very young comparing to Westerners, and some even appear younger than most other Chinese girls. If you don't know that, you have not seen enough. There are Chinese girls in their 20s look like 12-year-old to even Chinese.

I would just like to say I agree with there should not be a required age for gymnastics. Even with that though rules are rules regardless of what country you are from. I do believe the Chinese deserved gold based on performance but if they are underage they broke the rules. Rules are put in place to make the sport fair for everyone. It's not about the USA being upset or the USA being anti-China. It's about pure simple rules. For all those people who love to flame America grow up and do the research before you cut an entire country down.

To those of you saying "rules are rules" yes rules are great and prevent many unjust acts. But has history not taught us that rules are meant to be broken? There might not even be a United States of America if we did not break Britain's rules/laws. There are rules and laws around the world limiting peoples freedoms, does that make them just? In my opinion rules should be broken if they are unjust or silly like a stupid age limit on a gymnastics competition. Imagine how much more talent we could have seen if there was no age restriction. China outperformed the other countries and are deserving of those gold medals.

Tony Su, perhaps you should use more reliable, western sources of information (New York Times, Birthdays, etc.) . It was not just the web shots that the ages were based off of. The girls, and a boy, were previously registered in world championships as being a young age and if you calculate that age to today, they would be too young to compete. Oh and also, birthdays may also give a hint of how old a person is. If the Chinese government is willing to provide a Legal birth certificate of each athlete in question, this entire controversy would be resolved. But I am sure you know all too well that the Chinese have not been exactly "authentic" in the information they provide to their people, and the world apparantly.

To the quoter after Brittany - Who is to decide what a silly rule is? I think its silly that in Ping Pong there is an "expedite" rule which states that if a set is not done within 10 minutes then the umpire stops the game and the first person to return 13 hits gets the point.Why not just play it out? Rules are rules. And if there is anything you should have learned about the American Revolution it is that the Americans did NOT want to fight Britain; in fact they were proud to be English. It was only after countless acts of violence, tyranny, and violations to human freedoms that the Americans got fed up. But more to the point, if everyone else plays by the rules why shouldn't they?

This just sounds like yet another example of a poor American complaining cos their team just wasn't as good as the Chinese - you really do make me laugh! How do you KNOW they are only 14 years old? Have you been to China and examined their school records? A little bit doubtful, as they all go to a government run, private sports school, and there is no way anyone would get hold of that information if them being underage is true. Or are you basing this on what you think just by looking at them, and conveniently forgetting that Asians (and especially a lot of Chinese people) are a lot smaller and younger looking than most Westerners. I live in China, and teach children of this age, and can tell you that these competitors do not look so young as you are saying to me!

Then should we punish someone if they decide that the rule against using performance enhancing drugs is silly?

hey brian, GROW UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those underage chinese girls need to lose those medals. Only a brainwashed chinese nationalist would believe they are the "manufactured" age of 16. Shame on china!

The world now sees that China is cheating. Shame on you China! Of course it must be difficult to find gymnasts with the 'one child' rule, as the Chinese female gymnastics coach stated, but the previous competition records of the athletes are all over the Internet and they do indeed show them underage for these Olympics. They should be disqualified. It's not an "American" complaint, it's a world complaint! Be fair to all nations, and China has not been. Not in gymnastics and many other events that are 'judged' by others in the Olympics. There is a glaring contrast regarding the outcome of events that are self controlled (swimming, discus, volleyball, etc) as opposed to events that are judged (gymnastics, shooting, boxing, etc). Not only does this embarrass China, the IOC should be hiding under a rock right now! The reputation of the games are forever scarred. The Greek ancestors would be appalled at the butchery of their fun and fair tradition.

The Chinese it appears have begun this underage gymnast scam and it is a real pity. 99.9% of people over age 21 have all said there is no way either one of the two females in question are even close to 16. One still has teeth missing where her adult teeth haven't even grown in yet. It was visible last week but it now appears they've made some cosmetic changes. This must be investigated and if found to be true (which it undoubtedly is) the Chinese should be stripped of all medals, not just gymnastics ones, and banned from the rest of the games even if they are in Beijing. This is a true travesty.

I don't think you have any idea what you are talking about. One of the gymnasts is still losing her baby teeth, although they have corrected it cosmetically after so many noticed it. This is so obvious, look at their faces and their bodies. They even look pre-pubescent. It is just too obvious, way too obvious. I don't think this has anything to do with whining, more with ethics and fairness.

Rules are meant to be broken, get a life, ha!! The Olympics have the rules set in stone, they are rules, that's why they have them. If they didn't have them it wouldn't matter, but the fact is, everyone must obey them until they are changed. China needs to be banned and stripped of all medals simply because they think they can do whatever they want and push and shove their way into any event, any way China wants to and pay no attention at all ato the rules ewvery other Country must follow. What you are saying is that every Country but China has to obey the rules, that's real fair.

it's despicable the lengths people/nations will go to to cheat in order to win. there's certainly A LOT of biased judging and unfairness going on in women's gymnastic this olympics. and i'm talking about the biased scores given to the chinese team members over competitors from other nations when it's clear how hugely they faltered on some of the events. just wait 4 years from now when the olympics aren't in their home turf anymore, they won't be able to cheat.