This is not breaking news. In fact, it’s a story that’s been doing the rounds for some time, with the exception of the Chinese media, whose silence is often a good barometer for ‘we’ve got something to hide’. We can safely dismiss the ‘sour grapes’ theories of apologists in this case as doubts were first voiced well before the Games began. I think it deserves to stay in the spotlight a while longer.
The apparent deception in this case concerns the age of two (or more) of China’s female gymnasts in Beijing. Chinese authorities have decided to censor online discussion of the matter, omit the issue from media coverage altogether, delete or revise incriminating evidence, and rage with defensive indignation if the issue is raised at press conferences. Sound familiar? It also sounds like they’ve been rumbled and have reverted to type by wrapping themselves up in denial. The story has been gaining traction for several months now, ever since online records and reports relating to pre-Olympic domestic competitions clearly indicated that both He Kexin and Yang Yilin were barely old enough to be out of diapers.
Initial queries about the online records were labeled as western meddling and rebuffed by waving shiny new passports that ‘proved’ the darling cherubs really were 16. Unfortunately, and exasperatingly, for Chinese authorities (and their IOC buddies), western media – not to mention athletes cheated out of medals - are not so easily put off. Nor should they be.
At this stage, the gymnasts and their guardians knew what the questions were going to be at the post-gold press conference. And they were ready with perfectly choreographed answers that actually answered nothing at all. What the responses did reveal was that the girls had been turned into liars on behalf of their masters. Needless to say, western journalists didn’t take this lying down and have kept the story simmering nicely on the back burner waiting for the next opening. They didn’t have to wait long. Hat tip to Imagethief for that link to some pretty compelling evidence.
He and Yang are, of course, blameless in this episode. They are merely doing what they are told - tools of the State whose tiny lives have been micro-managed within a punishing training regimen since the day their gymnastic potential was first identified. The culprits are the adults masquerading as their caregivers and the authorities to whom they must answer.
Years of unquestioning obedience and acceptance of whatever the government does and says have made for complacency. Thus, China’s crude answer to the age problem seems to have been to deduct a couple of years from the gymnast’s birth dates, issue new passports, and re-educate the girls about the year they arrived on the planet. The really stupid part of this strategy is that they expected to sweep gold, accept the plaudits, and have any suggestion of wrongdoing eliminated at the stroke of a pen. Then again, this strategy has been perfected on a domestic testing ground, and it seems increasingly that the Games have been orchestrated with the primary goal of satisfying the home audience. Therefore, offending western moral sensibilities doesn’t come close to bothering team China, and whose IOC lapdogs are too weak to act on a clear breach of Olympic rules.
A more recent defence of the flexible fledglings’ ages has been to state that it’s common practice in China to falsify records to show that an individual is younger than they truly are, and, so some would have us believe, that this is clearly what happened when the girls were registered for previous competitions (the evidence found online). Well, that’s alright then. To be fair, I’ve encountered this phenomenon in China several times; they really do falsify documents to show themselves to be younger – when it’s to their social, educational, professional, or financial advantage. A recent sporting example of how falsifying documents to appear younger can be advantageous comes in the form of NBA star Yi Jianlian. In the case of our diminutive darlings there was no conceivable gain to registering as two years younger for the domestic competitions that preceded the Games. If you read the linked-to articles you’ll be aware that He Kexin was registered for those competitions with a birthdate of 1 January 1994.
If anyone needs a guide as to the chances that these gymnasts were competing within IOC age regulations, let me offer a helpful comparison: it’s about the same chance that I would have of beating Usain Bolt in a sprint. Hope that makes things clear.
There are a couple of points that warrant closer attention here. First, the falsification of passports and revision (or removal) of online documents and media content can only have been achieved with the full assistance of the State and high-level authorisation. No wonder BOCOG and Chinese officials want this one to go away. Second, the pathetically toothless IOC‘s reluctance to get involved in this issue (and many others) reinforces my belief that Beijing have got Jacques Rogge well and truly in their pocket. The CCP certainly knows a thing or two about corrupting coercing those that it needs in order to get its own way. In Rogge they found their man. Under his presidency, and in particular with his kowtowing to Beijing, the integrity of both the IOC and the Games has been further undermined.
China isn’t the first nation to engage in state-sponsored cheating, and they won’t be the last. But when not one domestic voice is prepared to call them on the matter (whether through fear or nationalistic fervour), it’s a red flag to foreign journalists and bloggers to set the record straight. I can’t tell you that the age rules for Olympic gymnasts are sensible, but I can tell you that those rules were breached by the Chinese female team and that it was done with the full knowledge of their relevant governing body.
