Olympics results thread

[Sebastian]

OK - switching over to women's volleyball. OMG - USA vs Venezuela. I want to personally thank the designer who put together the Venezuelan team's gear - those ladies gots some spread!!

[warpedbored]

What about the controversy over the Chinese women's gymnastics team? Although their passports say they are sixteen some previous records say two of the girls may actually be as young as fourteen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/o....html?ref=world

[Guest WenDylan]

What about the controversy over the Chinese women's gymnastics team? Although their passports say they are sixteen some previous records say two of the girls may actually be as young as fourteen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/o....html?ref=world

What can we do? Maybe a little radiocarbon dating?

[Guest WenDylan]

¡°We heard these rumors, and we immediately wrote to the Chinese gymnastics federation¡± about He, said Andr¨¦ Gueisbuhler, the secretary general of the international federation. ¡°They immediately sent a copy of the passport, showing the age, and everything is O.K. That¡¯s all we can check.¡±

 

So really, we could do the same thing, because the government issues the passports, and the athletes perform for the country. Very unchecked, or I should say easy to defeat system if you ask me.

[warpedbored]

Difficult if not impossible to prove. To be fair the Chinese gymnasts are good enough they wouldn't need to cheat on age. Chinese women almost always look much younger than their American counterparts. I know some Chinese women in their mid to late twenties who look sixteen. I suspect that some Americans who don't like losing are looking for a scapegoat.

[Guest WenDylan]

Difficult if not impossible to prove. To be fair the Chinese gymnasts are good enough they wouldn't need to cheat on age. Chinese women almost always look much younger than their American counterparts. I know some Chinese women in their mid to late twenties who look sixteen. I suspect that some Americans who don't like losing are looking for a scapegoat.

I agree... that's why I really didn't think twice about it. The broadcasters brought it up instantly upon the start, but who's to argue? The real question is... is life fair? Nah... so let's game in the spirit of peace!

 

I suppose the article just made me think a little more though. The Korean story where they were banned from the games, it would be a shame if China was banned from one of their own Beijing Olympics competition, but said well again was, who is going to challenge it? You might suffer worse as a result.

[IllinoisDave]

Difficult if not impossible to prove. To be fair the Chinese gymnasts are good enough they wouldn't need to cheat on age. Chinese women almost always look much younger than their American counterparts. I know some Chinese women in their mid to late twenties who look sixteen. I suspect that some Americans who don't like losing are looking for a scapegoat.

I don't think that's quite fair Carl. Either everyone plays by the rules or not. One girls age was documented in CHINESE gov't websites as one age for 3 years then miraculously changed last year. That's not some kind of conspiracy by western press to damage China's image or sore losing Americans looking for a scapegoat.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/b...ymnastics_N.htm

 

"This is where China's math and the rest of the world's math diverge. Yang Yilin, a medal contender in the all-around, was born Aug. 26, 1993, according to the official 2004, 2005 and 2006 national registration lists previously posted on the General Administration of Sport of China website, the Associated Press has reported. That means Yang is still 14, with her 15th birthday approaching.

 

But, interestingly enough, on the 2007 registration list, her birthday became Aug. 26, 1992."

 

I think Bela Karoli suggested the other night on NBC that they should just do away with the age rules altogether. That would solve this problem until some 9 yr old breaks her leg because it hasn't developed enough to take the pounding gymnastics requires.

[IllinoisDave]

Not for the sqeamish. Remember Joe Theismann?

 

Notice how deftly the volunteers move in to block the view. The Chinese thought of everything.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/13/j...d_n_118695.html

[warpedbored]

Perhaps you are right David. My point was that the Chinese team is so damn good they shouldn't need to resort to cheating. That is precisely why I am skeptical that the CCP is lying about their ages.

[Guest WenDylan]

Perhaps you are right David. My point was that the Chinese team is so damn good they shouldn't need to resort to cheating. That is precisely why I am skeptical that the CCP is lying about their ages.

I thought they were all supposed to be 16. Why does it say she is 15 here? Am I missing something?

 

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/NinjaMD/15.jpg

[Randy W]

Perhaps you are right David. My point was that the Chinese team is so damn good they shouldn't need to resort to cheating. That is precisely why I am skeptical that the CCP is lying about their ages.

I thought they were all supposed to be 16. Why does it say she is 15 here? Am I missing something?

 

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/NinjaMD/15.jpg

 

15 is legal, as long as she still has a birthday coming (must be 16 in this calendar year)

[IllinoisDave]

Perhaps you are right David. My point was that the Chinese team is so damn good they shouldn't need to resort to cheating. That is precisely why I am skeptical that the CCP is lying about their ages.

I agree Carl. They're definately good enough to beat any other team woman to woman (or girl to girl) . I'm just wondering if there isn't some sort of competetive advantage to being so small and young looking. I mean look at the relative body types between the Chinese and US teams for example. Could the judges be influenced by the smaller more agile looking Chinese gals compared to slightly bulkier Americans? I don't know. I'll have to do some research to see if there's a reason beyond safely that the IOC cites for the age restriction.

 

Aside from that, if this group of gymnasts are superior to the gals over 16 on the team, I guess that would be an incentive for the CCP to alter their passports.

[warpedbored]

The younger less developed girls are more agile due to less body mass and weight distribution. They do have an unfair advantage to girls over 16

[Sebastian]

Womens Fencing.

Watching China vs Ukraine. Ukraine got the gold .. WOW.

 

Ms. Tan (China) was a screamer !! Yikes !

 

Was a great bout to watch. !

[Guest WenDylan]

The younger less developed girls are more agile due to less body mass and weight distribution. They do have an unfair advantage to girls over 16

And as NBC reported, younger girls are more reckless of their health to perform such death defying gymnastic routines. Good ole' NBC style reporting...