China Lies; World Reels in Shock and Awe
If you’ve been following the Olympics, you’ve probably noticed that the Chinese gymnasts look awfully…young. And even if you haven’t been following them, you’ve no doubt heard some of the speculation that’s been flying around…speculation that some of these girls might be younger than they claim.
So what, many say? Sure, you are supposed to be 16 to compete, but why? Is this important?
Why, yes. It is. Kids, in case you haven’t noticed, are made of rubber. You know how characters in Disney cartoons bounce around and fall on things and remain completely unharmed? Kids are like that. Gymnastics are easier the younger you are, unless you’re an infant with no motor skills. That’s why you don’t see fifty-year-olds on the bar; it wouldn’t be fair to them to keep up with sixteen-year-olds. But it’s equally unfair for sixteen-year-olds to compete with fourteen-year-olds. By sixteen, in girls at least, most of the adult development is complete, and they’re on a level playing field with other gymnasts. At fourteen development is all over the map; some girls may have already gone through most of their pubescent stages, while others haven’t even started.
Of course, gymnasts usually look young. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the rigorous training gymnasts go through to reach the Olympics leaves them stunted. Outwardly, at least. Inwardly, they’ve still got all the setbacks of being 16 rather than 14. Their smaller sizes make them better gymnasts, but at least they haven’t got the rubber joints of a child.
This is why it matters how old the Olympic gymnasts are. And right now, nobody is 100% sure.
Gold metal gymnast He Kexin has fallen under particular scrutiny. As you can see in the picture above, she looks young. Very young. Even beyond her girlish face, her body seems underdeveloped for someone in her mid-teens, which might just be her bad luck - plenty of women hit child-bearing age without attaining the wide pelvis necessary for “child-bearing hips,” and He Kexin being an Olympic athelete has put her under some tough scrutiny.
But, according to a self-described “computer expert,” He Kexin was not born in 1992, as her passport claims. She was born in 1994.
Those two years make all the difference. The amateur detective started with Google and then dug ever deeper, finally discovering some damning documents.
So then he tried the cache of Chinese search engine Baidu. There, he found that Baidu lists two spreadsheets in Ms He’s name, both giving her date of birth as January 1, 1994 – making her 14 years and 220 days old and too young to compete at these Olympics.
The lists were compiled by the General Administration of Sport of China.
The International Olympic Committee has launched an investigation, but who knows what will come of it? With only one man’s word against the Chinese government, it’s likely that they’ll let this slip. It has the potential to blow the lid off of a web of deceptions by the Chinese, who’ve been trying hard to maintain a wholesome image for these games.
Tags: web, entertainment, hobbies
Save This or Tell Your Friends!
Popularity: 2% [?]
The last I knew, the doubly interesting part was that an earlier interview with the Chinese gymnasts actually put their ages at fourteen. The Chinese government then said that the MAGAZINE was in error, and even had Official Documents to prove it. Which, of course, only adds to the suspicion as it’s the Chinese government that ISSUES the Official Documents in the first place.