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Big Shocker: China cheating in gymnastics


justnzane

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At least the IOC is trying to clean up their public image a little:

 

LINK

 

IOC investigating whether gymnasts old enough to compete

 

BEIJING -- The International Olympic Committee said Friday it had asked gymnastics officials to investigate whether the Chinese women's gymnastics team that won the gold medal had underage athletes, saying "more information has come to light."

 

"We've asked the gymnastics federation to look into it further," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "If there is a question mark and we have a concern, which we do, we ask the governing body of any sport to look into it."

 

Online records and media reports suggest Chinese gymnast He Kexin may be as young as 14.

 

The IOC, which also asked the Chinese gymnastics federation to investigate, would not give details on what new information prompted it to act now, three days after the gymnastics competition ended.

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I'm not betting the farm on the gymnastics federation doing a damn thing, but at least someone is acknowledging that there are, at the very least, questions about the age of the Chinese gymnasts.

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That didn't take long:

 

LINK

The IOC said Friday there is still no proof anyone cheated, though it asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate "what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies," spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. However, all the information the Chinese gymnastics federation presented supports its insistence that its athletes were old enough to compete.

 

"We believe the matter will be put to rest and there's no question ... on the eligibility," Davies said. "The information we have received seems satisfactory in terms of the correct documentation -- including birth certificates."

 

If the federation had found evidence that the gymnasts were underage, it could have affected four of China's medals. In addition to the team gold and He Kexin's gold on uneven bars, Yang Yilin won bronze medals in the all-around and bars.

 

With the games wrapping up Sunday, the IOC wants to quickly end any lingering doubts about underage competitors.

 

So to recap - the governing bodies (IOC/FIG) are going to take the word of a country who may have cheated, using government-issued official documents provided by the alleged cheaters as proof they did not cheat. Sounds like a very thorough investigation.

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From the ESPN.com article on this subject, the thing that pisses me off is the following:

 

"Even China's own Yang Yun, a double bronze medalist in Sydney, said during an interview aired on state broadcaster China Central Television that she was 14 during the 2000 Games."

 

So they're known cheaters, but the passports are issued by the government, so they should be accepted. I wonder how many other doctored passports they've got floating around...

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