Posts Tagged ‘female’Are Some of China's Gen Y Female Gymnasts Too Young to Compete?August 14th, 2008Hi All, Okay, so I know my last 2 posts have been about the Olympics, but they do relate to generations, so they qualify to be on my blog. And I’m a big fan of the Olympics, so I have to write about them! I’m sure you watched the women’s gymnastics finals and thought (like I did) that several of the Chinese team members looked WAY younger than the age limit of 16. 2 of them looked like they were little girls under 13. Well, the global media has certainly raised this question lately, too; not just the US press. And, a story about the “upcoming Chinese stars to watch” was written back on November 3rd by a Chinese journalist (for a Chinese news site) stating that one of their premier female gymnasts, He Kexin, was 13. He Kexin was one of the stars of China’s gold medal team this week, beating the US team (although our gals didn’t do so hot, regardless of how old/young China’s girls are). Anyway, back to the story…mysteriously the November 3rd article disappeared today from the Chinese news website once the allegations started to heat-up and the global press started to research the “age” issue. Hmmmmm… But on Yahoo! Sports today reporter John Leicester, an Associated Press Writer, found the story and saved a copy of it!!! Here is an excerpt from his article: In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of “10 big new stars†who made a splash at China’s Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. In the final, “this little girl†pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, www.hb.xinhuanet.com The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication. Click here to access the whole article! Dan Wetzel, a reporter for Yahoo! Sports, also wrote a very compelling article about this issue and how it’s too big of a deal for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) NOT to do an investigation. He raises a good point; Olympic fans around the world are now clouded with suspicion, so an investigation would either: 1.) Settle the issue that He was too young to compete, OR 2.) Prove she is NOT too young and can enjoy winning the gold medal without people questioning its validity for the rest of her life. An answer either way is necessary. But to trust the Chinese government, who are saying the Chinese reporter who wrote the article back in November was mistaken, is a big mistake. Just because the girls presented passports to the IOC showing their birth dates doesn’t mean ANYTHING. Getting a fake passport is pretty easy; especially if you have the Chinese government assisting with the process (or any government). Heck, I could probably get a fake one pretty fast without the government helping! You can click here to read Dan’s interesting article. If this is true, who knows what will happen. Certainly their team’s gold medal should be stripped away and she should not be allowed to compete in any further competitions until she is of age. And the Chinese government would have some explaining to do…like that would happen. China has certainly been getting caught for some trickery these games…first the “fake fireworks” allegations, then having the “cuter” girl lip-synch at the opening ceremonies because the girl with the great voice was deemed “not as attractive” and was required to sing backstage (sickening), and now this age controversy. All this “stuff” really starts to put a dark cloud over the games. But luckily our athletes are doing great and can be proud of their accomplishments…however, China should be embarrassed for many reasons. Lisa |
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