IOC orders investigation into He Kexin's age

[WriteDown]

Source: Yahoo Sports

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.

This news comes on the heels of another Times report that details the findings of a New York computer security expert who found official Chinese documents that list He's age as 14 years and 220 days. Mike Walker used a Chinese search engine's cache feature to find He's actual date of birth on spreadsheets from a Chinese government website. The spreadsheets were taken down off the site recently and He's name had been removed.

Assuming the IOC is committed to a real investigation and not some dog and pony show, the revelation that the Chinese government covered up the ages of gymnasts could end up being the defining moment of these Games for the host country. Officials wanted the Olympics to be a coming out party for a new China. But while the Games have been a huge success, there is a legitimate possibility that China's legacy from Beijing '08 will be that of a massive government cover-up, not the magical Opening Ceremony or the transformation of Beijing or anything else positive.....

Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/IOC-orders-investigation-into-He-Kexin-s-age?urn=oly,102564

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Finally!!!

[Marie2]

1. I am sorry for He

but standards need to be kept. Forcing these young girls into that level of Olympic competition at that age is abusive.

I don't blame her for it, but I hope the truth comes out.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Well that was stupid. If they lose face dramatically because of cached information on the net,

somebody's head is going to roll over there.

[Hawkeye-X]

3. He should be banned from any future Olympics for life.

Just because the Chinese government lied about her age doesn't mean she gets off scot free. She knowingly participated underage, and should be banned from participating in any sports.

[KatyaR]

4. I doubt that she had any say in the matter,

most especially if she's only 14. This is China, after all . . . .

[OwnedByFerrets]

5. You may know better than I, but its doubtful she had a

choice in the matter. Remember, this is the regime that kills people for organ doners and locks up old women for the crime of ASKING for permission to petition.

[ladywnch]

8. I'm sure she didn't have any say. there was another post about

China earlier today talking about two 70+ year old women who had applied for permits to protest at the Olympics were being sent to 'reeducation training' ie: work camps. They just applied for a PERMIT to protest. One walks with the help of a cain the other is blind in one eye. And you think a 14 year old child would fair better? or her family????? uh huh....

[JeanGrey]

10. She had no choice. This is China, not America.

[wtmusic]

16. It's possible she was lied to about her own age. nt

[clspector]

6. IOC are such toothless

chickenshits. It was obvious that at least three of the gymnasts the Chinese team fielded were underage. After claiming they could only go by the passports issued, now they're backtracking because there are so many places where her actual age was posted in the Internet. And because a lot of bloggers wouldn't, rightly, let it go.

Personally, I know that there are people who want to lower the age again, but if I want to see girls gymnastics, I'll go to a local meet. I find the control and grace of the older girls much more enjoyable than watching homunculi tumble. Tumbling is okay, but it gets boring after while if there isn't anything else going on.

[childslibrarian]

7. They need to leave this alone.

The time to do this was when she was announced to being on the team (or when they selected china as a site--they could have predicted it).
It's too late. It humiliates China and makes it look like sour grapes on our part.

[JeanGrey]

11. I disagree. It doesn't look like "sour grapes" at all.

These girls are underage and should be protected. And China deserves the humiliation, sorry.

[WriteDown]

18. You are exactly right....

This is what this Olympics is going to be remembered for.

[dbackjon]

13. So IOC should give back all the medals to steriod users?

And China NEEDS to be humiliated.

[mbperrin]

9. Color me stupid, but I still cannot understand the

advantage to using younger, less-trained athletes.

Can someone explain it to me, please? I can see where using 16 year olds in an event for 14 year olds yields an advantage, but not vice-versa.

Thanks in advance.

[dbackjon]

14. Flexibility, better balance (less weight on hips and chest)

[Alexander]

12. Good. China hates nothing more than losing face. Which is what will happen.

Hopefully the Olympics won't be in China for another few decades after this.

By then the Chinese government will have all the time in the world to cut down on pollution and restore basic human rights.

[childslibrarian]

15. Humiliation is an effective way to get a country on your side...

Look how well it worked in the middle East.

[Igel]

19. There's no winning with honor.

You ignore the violation, the "honored" feel, and often are, more important. They've been rewarded for their lies and wrongness. They feel that there was no penalty, just reward, so you get more of that behavior. The wronged don't matter in one's pursuit of self-interest. Not always a bad attitude, as long as the rules are fair. And they're judged fair.

You don't ignore the violation, the "honored" feel, because of cultural biases and standards, that they've been wronged. The penalty, they feel, is unjust, and not just a penalty for rule violation, but a personal offence that must be cleansed from the record, recompensed. The actual facts do not matter: "honor" is often more important than the way we look at truth.

A better formulation is that "truth" is relative in all cultures, with circumstances in which the truth value of an utterance are neutralized, and others in which openness isn't asssumed. Since there's no expectation of truth-telling in situations where honor is crucially at stake, there's no deceit involved. Rather like having a girlfriend ask you, on a date, if you like her new outfit. You lie; she knows you're not necessarily honest, she wants support, that you're concerned about her. Your answer is licitly interpreted with that meaning. (Same for a boss asking how a report's coming: "Fine, sir," even if you haven't started it--the boss probably only cares that it be done on time, and takes your false answer as true in that sense.)

Same here: Some "patriots" will insist that China is telling the truth, not necessarily because it is, but because to accuse her of lying is an insult; leave it alone, and many would probably say her age as given wasn't entirely consistent with reality.

There is often no winning in this because the process is supposed to be honor-neutral and fact-based--you don't care, in principle, if it's Andorra or China at issue, a minor competitor or the host country. The best that you can do is hope to get through the other side's cultural blinders and say that it's not personal, but there are different standards here, and the current standards are not theirs, nor were they set up with China, specifically, in mind.

[The Sushi Bandit]

17. Here is the link to my story that ran on Current TV this morning

http://current.com/items/89222275_hackers_unearth_more_underage_gymnast_allegations

you can read the article and then see the video by clicking "Play this Story"



The rules were put into place to avoid exploiting younger gymnasts, who have more flexible bodies.