It's almost two months after the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, and yet I still browse through recent forums where people are raging against it. Some of the issues that were brought up included how the Chinese team created fake identity for their gymnasts and that they are underage. I really don't understand why these accusations are widely discussed. Viewers should let this issue be taken care of by the International Olympics Committee and stop making these claims before they know them for sure. The people at the forums sounded as if they knew the truth. Maybe no one will ever know whether the Chinese government has done such a thing. I am not biased towards the Chinese team (I had barely watched the Olympics when they were broadcast), but I want to make it clear that it is not unusual for them to look like they are 10 year old because Chinese girls look so much younger than they actually are. The IOC would obviously take action if anything went wrong. The original goal of the Olympics was not to see which countries can garner more medals than the others, so there's no point of arguing whether Country A deserves to win a gold medal, silver medal, or bronze medal. Making these claims is not going to change the reality that they won some medals.
Views of the China Olympics
By kl993 - Posted on October 3rd, 2008
I think the suspicion comes from the insular way the Chinese government handles things and the way they can "disappear" things. The ages of the gymnasts (or one in particular, I think) were reported in prior competitions. The AP found the news results from these competitions, and the reports showed that the girl in question was, in fact, underage. But then the articles disappeared.
The IOC can't do anything about it, because the government provided them with the appropriate documents. Whether the documents are truthful or not is irrelevant, because they are official government documents. So you're right...we have to just let it go.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman