if thats true, then 13 year old chinese is better than 16 year old American, and they are complaining? boo hoo.
if thats true, then 13 year old chinese is better than 16 year old American, and they are complaining? boo hoo.
That's bull. What's the point of having rules if individuals and federations are not following them? Worked hard or not, if you're not qualified, you're not qualified. And please people, the Americans are not the only one questioning the age of the Chinese, many other countries are also doubting.
There's no need to worry about the medals being stripped. From a legal standpoint, the age of a person is determined by passport and by government records, all of which will support the government line. Even if proof was found that the records were altered, the government can claim that they were only altered because the original records were incorrect, and that they were merely 'fixing' them. So for those of you who are rooting for that, or for those of you who are worried about that, no need to think about it. It won't happen. There is, quite literally, zero way that anyone can definitively prove that any competitor in any country is underage, even if the amount of suspicious circumstantial evidence is completely overwhelming.
Which, incidentally, is why people who claim that there shouldn't be news reports or posts about such suspicions "unless there is solid, 100% proof" really are biased and, dare I say, full of 'it'.
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If forensic studies can determine a decayed body on its age range, I'm sure the same can be done to these dolls jumping and running around. Those original documents, if were altered, is probably the best defense for the Americans, and other countries.
Next Olympics, it's time to lift the age restriction. I don't see a purpose for the age restriction if people are going to question whether they are old enough.
News reports/posts about suspisions on age and news reports claiming that the girls are 100% or "for sure" < 16 years of age are completely different things.
Isn't the IOC taking measures for next round? I thought they were going to issue those age certificates or badges....but I'm not exactly sure how they will work because the most original info on age still comes from their country of origin (which people claim in this round are responsible for the supposed forgeries). The only way is either to take off the age limit or do forensic-type checks on all girls they find looking "suspiciously underage".
To my understanding, even forensics can only provide, as you said, a 'range' at best, due to a great degree of variance in many aspects; one can always argue that the girls simply fell outside of the range. Moreover, who is qualified to order that the girls be produced and undergo a forensic examination? The IOC? I don't believe there's anything written in the rules regarding that. It can make a special request, I suppose, but unless it's absolutely willing to get into a horrifically ugly battle with China over it, it's not going to happen.
As far as the age verification goes, the IOC currently operates solely on the basis of the passport and government statements; it's the equivalent of an 'honor system', basically. And a major part of an 'honor system' is that it relies on moral suasion, rather than coercion, to achieve compliance...and the corresponding part is that when moral suasion fails, then the system fails as well. Regardless of whether or not the girls are underage, there's pretty much zero chance the girls will be stripped. That's why I'm not really concerned about that at all.
I think the age restriction only applies for gymnastics to begin with, right? I agree, I see no reason why it can't be removed.Next Olympics, it's time to lift the age restriction. I don't see a purpose for the age restriction if people are going to question whether they are old enough.
Last edited by Ren Wo Xing; 08-17-08 at 05:15 PM.
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STOP using DHMO! It kills innocent lives!
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There was a documentary about picking out gymnasts that CCTV ran. They talked about how they knew the age limit was 16, which was why they started to pick the gymnasts for the 08 games since 2003.
Anyway, I know people are going to be like "Omg, it's made by CCTV, it must be fake!" ANYWAY, for those who are interested, look around 9 minutes, you can see Jiang Yu Yuan when she's about 12 years old (well she said that in the video and this was in 2003).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk8ZwHd2GA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSbn0...eature=related (actually this one is better at beginning)
On a side note, there's an interesting video about their personalities and interviews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koc5VovZb50
Yang Yi lin seems to be a much more shy person....I love how the media makes her out to be this person who got "mind controlled" by the CCP, and you have people online now raving about how sorry they feel for her. She seems okay to me, just a bit timid. Jiang Yu Yuan on the other hand, seems much more outgoing.
Last edited by 999roses; 08-20-08 at 08:55 PM.