Chinese Gymnasts Investigated for Cheating? Blame the USA!
As I’ve said before, it’s convenient to point fingers at America and blame her for the world’s ills from so-called global warming to cultural decay rather than question one’s own way of dealing with these problems. So it’s easy to take the step and call us a bunch of babies for daring to question whether China cheated by altering the ages of its gymnasts. Another day, another “America sucks” rant from overseas.
But there’s more at stake here than just cheating. As my colleague Josh Strawn points out, “communism breeds paranoia and creates an almost pathological need to lie and propagandize.” And William R. Hawkins notes that the Olympics were “being used to bolster the regime’s legitimacy as it shows off its rising power.”
Of course, hosting the Olympic Games is and should be a source of pride for the host country. No one’s questioning that. But China’s attitude says less about good old-fashioned hometown pride and more about “behold our might.” Considering China’s enormous economic and, perhaps more importantly, military growth over the last few decades, if the Chinese feel confident in cheating and creating misconceptions in the Olympics in order to glorify themselves, what else will they do? Let’s not forget, this is a country notorious for rampant human rights violations and threats against Tibet and Taiwan, a reason why so many people were upset at its being chosen to host the 2008 Games in the first place.
This is also a nation that chooses prospective athletes at a very young age, takes them away from their families, and puts them into “camps” to prepare them for eventual Olympic and international glory. Such competition ceases to be healthy when it’s mandated by the state.
No one’s blaming the Chinese gymnasts themselves, by the way. Exactly what choice do they have in all of this?
So spare me the hyperbole about the ugly Americans being whiny poor sports. Those of our athletes who are caught cheating (i.e., Marion Jones, Floyd Landis) are summarily punished and rightfully so.
If the IOC has even a shred of credibility left, it will conduct a serious investigation, not some sham that simply serves to appease those raising the hue and cry. And, if found in violation, stripping the athletes of their gold medals is not enough. May I suggest banning the Chinese gymnasts from competing in the next Olympics? How else would the Chinese get the message?
Those comments sound like they came from a bunch of twelve year olds. Also notice how they are all from Canadian or British posters, whose countries happen to be lagging far behind the U.S in medal counts.. And they claim it’s the Americans who are sore losers? Sounds like typical Euro jealousy to me (and yes, for all intents and purposes Canada is European)
It’s Pavlovian. The people are incapable of critical analysis.
The Brits have a long tradition of complaining about Americans, and of course everything is our fault. Let us not forget that during WWII when we came to save their sorry butts, their chant about us became “Overpaid, Oversexed, Over Here”.
Most people like to blame everything on whoever is leading at the time. High oil prices? Blame America. War in Iraq? Blame America. Terrorist strike on 9/11? Blame America. On and on it goes, ad nauseam. The ones leading the pack are naturally the biggest targets and the followers like to place “kick me” signs on our backs while they snicker, thinking we don’t notice their childish shenanigans. We do notice, and we eventually return the favor.
Of course, if the Brits or Canucks could field a decent team and they were defeated by cheaters, they would be screaming for justice. This controversy does not affect their athletes, so why do they even care? They only care because it is a convenient excuse to bash America. Anyone who takes the side of a communist regime with regards to cheating and lying should have their collective heads examined.
Those jealous Europeans would do well to mind their manners. Russia is getting mighty uppity in their backyards and they will be calling us for help again in the future. If they continue to hurl sour grapes at us, we just won’t care about what happens to them. Freedom of speech works both ways. They are free to insult us at every opportunity but we are equally free to tell them to get lost.
Why have Rules? The Emperor Nero
Delaying only long enough to take care of a few loose ends such as murdering his mother, castrating his former favorite slave boy and crucifying a few fans who didn’t applaud loudly enough at his last poetry recital, packed his lyre and all his cosmetics and set out for Greece to attend and compete in the 67 AD Olympic Games. Here he not only won the chariot race despite falling out of his chariot, but he introduced several new events of a musical nature. The judges prudently declared him the winner of them all.
During his performances nobody was allowed to leave, although a few people got round that by feigning death and being carried out. These games were not usually all held in the same year, but in 67 AD they made an exception for Nero because his offer was just too good to refuse.
He returned to Rome, a tired but happy Emperor, with 1800 prizes. Nero’s talent was so wonderful they made another exception and presented him with jewels and precious objects. Medals were not introduced till 1904 or Nero would have made Michael Phelps look pretty silly with his meager 8.
Somebody been hitting the sauce? WTH?
crossover: Why have Rules? The Emperor Nero
I still blame the yanks for all the ills of the world.
I didnt watch the Olympics for the very reasons people complained of them being there but i can honestly say that nobody likes you yanks!
Funny thing is, im not even European or Canadian for that matter, majority of the world doesnt like you…not only the bad boys in the middle east.
The Chinese cheated. It’s pretty obvious. It’s not the fault of the US that the Chinese are a bunch of cheats. Just like it’s not the fault of the US when the Soviet bloc used some awfully manly looking “women” in events at the Olympics. People have a choice to cheat and when they make it, it is certainly not some external forces fault, it’s their own. And remember: any time an American was caught cheating, back goes the medals.
Oh, Nelson, maybe you need a life if you blame Americans for everything. Because that’s pretty frigging pathetic. (and I’m Canadian)
The Brits are in a bit of a knot over this very thing, too. Their Gymnast placed fourth in one of the events the allegedly underage Chinese got gold. If she were to be stripped, they would be bumped up to bronze. In fact, the first newspaper story I read concerning this came from the Times of London, via Timesonline. There was nothing probing from any US news outlet before that.
By the way, thank God the Olympics are done. I thought they would never end.
Moultrie: Why have Rules?
So that idiots like Nero and the Chinese cant turn the Olympics into their own-
Never mind.
You would probably need an interpreter to figure it out.
The Chinese were truly the best. It’s true some of them look quite young. This could be genetics (my 30 yr old friend looks like she could still be in high school, damn her!) or cheating. They say younger gymnasts are more resilient to injury and don’t have to deal with the changes puberty brings as to their center of balance. But rules are rules and if there’s evidence (newspaper article claiming one gymnast was 13 last year) not just speculation, an investigation is necessary to maintain the credibility of the Olympic games. The IOC has bent over backwards for China in these games. It cannot do it anymore.
I work with a Chinese company and I know for a fact they will lie and decieve to get their way.
This is a part of their culture and as long as they are under communisum it will remain that way.
It has become international sport to seek out someone to blame for failures others created by their actions or failures to act. Over the past few decades, blaming America has become sport only because the left here has done so from within, trying to establish as fact that “only” white men, created the evils of the world. Never mind the other evils, they were of no consequence.
It has come to pass that success is attacked by those whose levels of success are less significant. When systems fail, its always easier to find the one working at fault, rather than examine why theirs failed.
The challenges to the Chinese gymnasts age, came from many quarters, not just America. The questions were being asked even before the competition by almost every international news agency reporting from the Olympics. It was NOT America alone asking the IOC to investigate, and it was not JUST the gymnastics participants where this issue was raised.
Those who say, let them keep their metals, are the same folk who want us to ignore those sneaking into America or overstaying their legal pass. Seems many today think, “oh well its just a small law.” They fail to realize that once one is broken, it almost always leads to numerous additional & more severe laws being broken. Illegal aliens need work. They sneak in, then they obtain forged or stolen identity documents. They drive w/o licenses, and even when they have them, they drive w/o insurance. That means the insurance of the guy they hit pays for all the damages done.
Fourteen year olds are considerably more flexible than 16 year olds. That is why there is a rule. It cannot be fair if those with a specific advantage can participate. Plus, there are questions about the medical effects of gymnastic training on the bodies of young girls who get into it at very early ages.
To figure out who is genuine in this, ask the questions this way.
What should be done to an American gymnast who may be discovered to be an under age participant?
The answer is obvious, but how some answer may reveal their extreme partisan & unreasonable positions!
If its all America’s fault, then why aren’t we ruling the entire world? The world was a going brothel long before we Yanks showed up & the world was making its own messes with no help from us. So, attack anyone you want, but remember to hold back a significant amount of blame for yourselves!
The Olympic Games were an anachronism from the beginning and cynicism replaced idealism before the first torch was lit. They have never been about peaceful competition but have always been a way to prove national superiority by co-opting individual athletic performance. They have long since ceased being about athletics at all. Now they are just about marketing and making money for the neo-fascists who run them. It is time to let the games die.
“I still blame the yanks for all the ills of the world.”
Of course you do…along with all the other ignorant people who believe everything they hear. Just a quick question…Do you subscribe to CNN or NBC?
SGT Patterson
US Army
I long ago stopped really paying attention to “pre-pubescent girls gymnastics” The sport has been degraded to the point that they don’t have women performing but trained pixie.
The whole rule that you ahve to be 16+ is actually recent and came because the Gymnastics federation was trying to hide just how few “women” were really competing. Because of the requirements, the international level performances are usually done by little girls.
As for those posting that the US is complaining. The cheating was more than a bit blatant, and the IOC as well at the GIF are both acting like the three monkeys and covering their heads. It probably would ahve worked in 2000 and before because the internet wasn’t as powerful a tool, but now their Sergeant Shultz routine is just embarassing them, and sports in general, and that’s part of why some people are so upset. They are seeing gymnastics finally fall under a scrutiny that could get it either removed, or a real age limit (18-20 minimum) put in and either one would vastly change the landscape for the sport.
This entire scenario shows a couple of things quite clearly. The Chinese are not afraid to lie nor cheat. And yes, the ages really do matter, since the rule-abiding countries do not front-load the training on toddlers the way the Chinese do (would be interesting to see the stats on health issues afflicting female Chinese gymasts past the age of, say 25). Also: the IOC is corrupt beyond comprehension. I’d love to see a real investigation into why the IOC did some gymnastics of its own to avoid holding China to fair standards.
HA HA HA to China
nelson,
It doesn’t matter who likes us, we have the dumbocrats to tell us everything that is wrong with America everyday leading your charge. Funny thing, we don’t think they are capable of thinking for themselves or telling the truth either.
Piss off.
Maybe those Chinese gymnasts played with too many lead toys and took too much Chinese Heparin?
The main point all of you American hater’s seem to be missing is that the rule is you have to be a certain age to compete. Personally, I think it is stupid, but rules are rules. Steroids are not allowed and the athletes are tested continually. Also, when they are caught they return their medals. If the rule is you have to be 16 then that is what all the contestants should be held to. With that being said I think the American coaches did their team a injustice by openly complaining and so overtly. In the heat of competition you have to keep your team focused. If your team sees you losing it, then in the back of their mind they have an excuse to fail. Shame on the coaches. Every sporting event has ebbs and flows. You have to overcome things in competition. It’s the American way.
Sincerely,
T. Colatruglio
Just like the drug taking baseball players led to asterisk’ed statistics so, too these Chinese girls have tainted the games.
But, as noted in the article, they are as much victims as the girls on the other teams.
They were ripped from their families and forced to ”play,”with bars and horses and beams.
No Chinese person amounts to anything, just the state.
And these girls were just the tip of the spear.
Anti American sentiments are easily aroused in any internet forums abroad. Much of the time, you can laugh at it for its sheer absurdity.
If Great Britain won the silver medal in gymnsatics and WE questioned their skepticism on the Chinese gymnasts’ age – well, you can imagine several ready made responses.
I actually prefer America’s method of medal tally. A country with 4 of each medal outperformed one with 7 golds but nothing else IMO. I’m also a fan of the ‘medals per capita. fan’ It helps put smaller nations with modest participants under the spotlight. If a Mongolian won a first medal for his country in 100 years the Olympics should recognize it.
Even the liberal bastion NPR recently ran a series of features on the Chinese state-run exploitation, and subsequent abandonment to a fate of disabled poverty, of thousands of child athletes. It was a horrifying story, and by all rights should disqualify China from amy international sports competition.
As for the comment above that the ethos of communism inspired this epidemic of cheating… true, but I am afraid that the impetus of communism to show itself superior in everything at the expense of as many of its subjects as required found exceedingly fertile ground in the soil of China.
How ever old someone is, they won their medal by their performance not by old they are. Bela Karolyi coached Nadia Comaneci who was 14 when she won her 1st Olympic Gold in 1976. How come the Americans didn’t complain then.
They didn’t complain because 14 was acceptable in 1976.
I had a discussion with a friend from China about this the other day and he said “When one accuses China of cheating it insults us.” I replied with “Is it not insulting to the rest to the world to cheat to win?”
“No” he replied, “it is the Chinese way.”
That’s it in a nutshell.
And Nelson, the feeling is mutual and everyone at my local We Hate Nelson Group says bugger off, mate.
Maybe the real problem is that you have a “sport” where a 20 year old is over the hill. I’m sure that’s America’s fault as well.
my fellow canadians embaress me
awwwwww it looks like the americans are complaining again. Everyone knows that usa is full of steroid taking cheats. No surprise that they’re stupid hypocrites.
Silver and bronze means you’re the 1st and 2nd losers!
americans can’t even use the proper medal tally. Nobody cares about the 1st and 2nd losers. now go back to eating your cheeseburgers before you face up to your Chinese masters.
Its a human tendency for losers to complain.
Are americans jealour that they lost their first position to china???
what a joke..all the US media listing USA as first in the medal table based on total medals when rest of the worlds list china as first.
We need to appreciate the way the chinese put up such a grand show.
Nelson – You can kiss my Yankee rear!!! And don’t come crying to us the next time you have some natural disaster or military takeover of whatever pile of garbage country you come from. Until you’re willing to step up, shut your hole.
Mabel – It’s not a matter of their appearance, it’s a matter that several documents have been found from past newspaper articles and the Chinese government that prove the ages of several of these gymnasts to be younger then the minimum requirement. Please do not use the argument that just because they look like they’re thirteen to be what anyone is saying. No-one would be making that shallow of a point.
“Those comments sound like they came from a bunch of twelve year olds.”
Most anti-American ranting, especially from Europeans, does. It’s the most inane, pointless, pathetic nonsense. But you know, they’re so much more intelligent and sophisticated than us, so maybe we’re just missing something.
When athletes from other countries cheat, it is on an individual or team level and when caught these individuals are punished accordingly. When China cheats, it is state sanctioned policy. There is a difference, and it doesn’t make China look good.
China doesn’t treat its athletes like people, it treats them (and they effective are) state property.
The Chinese government (note I did not say Chinese people) have no respect for human decency, law and order, or individual rights. It is the nature of collectivist societies unfortunately.
Their government is an embarrasment to the world.
Nelson is also proof that ignorance knows no national bounds.
rocketeer: NOT helping someone when a natural or even a man made disaster strikes is something Americans simply cannot do. It doesn’t matter how much crap they may have slung our way in the past; when typhoons, floods, earthquakes, or any other of the traditional Biblical plagues strike America as a nation and Americans as individuals will be right there contributing all they can to help save lives and rebuild.
That’s not to say there won’t be quite a few shadenfreud induced quiet giggles back at home and behind certain great leader’s back but the help will flow anyway.
That’s the American way.
otpu
Cheating at sports are as old as sports, but so is getting caught. The Chinese have been caught. I really don’t care what anti-American crap is being thrown around Europe because it has nothing to do with the issue at hand.
Whether you hate or love America has nothing to do with the fact that there is a definite issue with the Chinese gymnasts being underage up until just before the Olympics, when magically all the ones on their team that had been listed for several years under their real age suddenly were given new birthdays that made them old enough to compete in the Olympics.
You can say what you will, but funny how altering documents is a lot harder to do in the electronic age with the internet out there to trip you up.
Folks – not all Europeans dislike America – those of us that are educated and informed kinda like you guys!
T. Colatruglio, I must disagree with you. I think the US coaches were right. The athletes work so hard, and sacrifice so much. They should know that their coaches, acting in good faith, are looking after their best interests.
It is depressing that most of these seemingly deranged commenters seem to be Canadians and Brits. I mean, they have been brought up in an educational environment that puts a high value on the concept of “fair play”, the ideal of a level playing ground, a core principle of any sport and compeition, yet they seem all too eager to discard this fine ethical attitude, discipline, honesty and transparency in order to indulge their spasmodic hatred of all things Americans.
“The notion of Fair Play is a universally understood concept, which underpins all of sport. Without fairness, sport is devoid of any meaning or purpose. Worse still, it can be a detrimental experience for its participants.
But Fair Play is also a philosophy – one of respect for others, and respect for the institution of sport. It leads to an agreement, between all of those involved in sport, on the values and lessons that we want sport to teach our children, and ourselves.”
http://www.cces.ca/forms/index.cfm?dsp=template&act=view3&template_id=122&lang=e
First off, when Nadia won her medals there was an uproar. But since the rules didn’t forbid her to compete, her victories stand. Rules now state you must be 16. However here is how this will play out. Unless someone from China produces the real birth certificate, at risk of death no doubt, the IOC will rely upon the “official” papers. Whether they are phony birth certificates or passports, it won’t matter. In the end the IOC will declare all those who are under suspicion to be at least 16 and nothing will change. Having the Olympics in Beijing was a mistake in the first place. I for one have not watched one single second. Naturally I have read about and heard about the various outcomes and scandals, but I have refused to lend credence to these particular games. Granted, this choice won’t change a damn thing, but I can live with myself. Of course it didn’t hurt that it was carried on NBC.
It seems to me that the anti-US hostility that was expressed is an understandable response. The US is not popular with the rest of the world right now. Of course the rest of the world is not too popular in the USA.
As to cheating, I’m amazed that some of the people here seem to think this is due to communism. Sure communist countries have been known for cheating. East German women were an Olympic joke all through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. But if it was communism then you would have to assume that The USA was communist too. You guys have had your share of cheating scandals. You have to admit that in the USA cheating is as American as the spitball.
In fact, when you look at countries like Ireland, Britain, Romania (both before and after communism) you can see that cheating can happen anywhere in the world except for Canada a country where we never, ever cheat in international competitions.
I have never heard of a sprinter named Ben Johnson.
Anyone else think most of the sports in the Olympics stink anyways? Like I really wanna see some 60 lb twelve-year-old chinese kid swing around on a bar????? Think I’d just rather eat a double cheeseburger and drive my SUV around for no good reason. Screw the environment. I think it’s fun to hack down trees with a machete.
A note to my American brethren: The muppets who posted anti American abuse on the Times website are a tiny percentage of the population here & their views are most emphatically NOT representative of those held by the majority.
As for the questionable age of the Chinese athletes: Does anyone really think the Chinese authorities haven’t made damn sure all their tracks are covered?
In their viewpoint, beating the “round eyes” by whatever means they could get away with is perfectly acceptable if it “saves face.”
Fake fireworks
Miming singers
Underage athletes
Goes with the fake goods they manufacture & pour into Western economies.
China’s whole approach to hosting the games was like a big Nueremburg-style Rally, complete with their Army in the opening ceremonies dressed up as performers. Communists can always be expected to lie and cheat. We saw it all the time with the USSR/Eastern BLock countries during the Cold War. Nothing has changed about Communists since then. The apologists for the Commies today are just as disgusting as back then too.
Northern Light,
Are you dumb? There is a VAST differnce between individual athletes who cheat on their own and a Government’s official policy to force their athletes to cheat, whther it’s lying about their age or using steroids. Moral equivalnce it ain’t.
I personally like this one.
How ever old someone is, they won their medal by their performance not by old they are. Bela Karolyi coached Nadia Comaneci who was 14 when she won her 1st Olympic Gold in 1976. How come the Americans didn’t complain then. It’s a case of the Americans be bad losers again. They lost. Accept it !!!
Chris Lee, Surrey, UK
Correct me if I am wrong but Nadia WAS ROMANIAN! and the rule was put into effect in 1996. But hey maybe god didnt pass out brains as well as toothbrushes in the UK.
OK, have as many pokes at the USA as you want. You Brits are the sore losers. And it starts all the way back to when we kicked your Red Coats Butts back across the Atlantic Ocean. The World’s mightiest empire dispatched by a bunch of colonists. The girl was underage, and everyone knows it. And our girl stuck her landing!!!!!!!
Jason Cole from the Republic of Texas
I’ve lived in China for 15 years. They will lie and cheat any time they think they will get away with it. People who don’t cheat are ridiculed for being naive. They are taught this from childhood. They don’t think it’s bad or wrong, not they way most of the rest of us do. Kind of like Chicago democrats.
Dear Sgt. Ted,
I know that America has always cheered the rugged individualist who cheats on his own (with the help of coaches, doctors and chemistry labs) rather than the foreign nanny state concept of state-sponsored cheating.
Here’s the bottom line…I’d rather be free with a bronze, than be under Chinese Communist rule with a Gold…
Nice broad brush there, Northern “Light”.
Read up lately on Freudian projection?
otpu – Yeah, i know it’s the American way, and I wouldn’t have it any other way either. We are the greatest country on the planet at this point in history, and the rest of the world knows it and is jealous of it. I’m just tired of the America bashing that is the vogue thing around the world.
Well said Hildy. And ….An honest silver trumps a cheated for gold every time.
Who really gives a crap what the Euro-Trash or the Canadian Clubs think or say. The Chinese broke the rules. They cheated in order to win. I’m not sure if I’m ready to take Chinese athletes cheating to an invasion of Formosa but with China you can never be too sure. What I do know for sure is that when there is a natural disaster, a flood, typhoon, earthquake, tsunami, or a war that displaces thousands, who does the world call upon for help…I’m waiting….the United States of America, of course, you idiots. If my country is such a horrible place as the Euro-Trash want you to believe why are thousands and thousands of people trying to get here?…Hmmmmmm?….cat got yer tongue?? Sheesh I just don’t believe how dumb you Euro-Trash are.
The real shame is what OTHER, underage athletes from other countries might me thinking about the medals they might have won if they had been allowed to compete. How many 13 and 14 year old gymnast could have won medals this year whereas they may not be able to when they are 17 or 18 in 2012?
If the Chinese are not punished (assuming they are guilty of age fraud), what pressure might that lead for other countries to start changing the age of young gymnast today in order to make potential gymnast “legal” in 2012?
Those people allegedly from the UK and Canada can barely write in English and the one person who actually put a decent sentence together didn’t even know that the current age rule came into effect in 1997. I did my PhD in the UK and the entire time I was there did not encounter a single person that stupid.
Hmmm. I have to say it is very “chinese” to be deceptive to get what you want. It’s personally made me very uncomfortable, but it’s part of the culture. Friend in China, told her boss she was in the US visiting relatives so she could take a leave of absence, what she was really doing…hiding during her last two trimesters so she could have a 2nd baby. She had me send her a bunch of American goods for “gifts” to 1)prove she was in the US 2)Bribe her boss to let her keep her job.
I’ve even had to mail back “gifts” for me Dear In Laws so they could give “gifts” to their superiors to get a raise. Though they didn’t get the raise.
What does this have to do with cheating. Well, greasing the wheels to success is cultural. You can send out a bribe, but you still may not get what you want. But you have to try. Sometimes it works well, sometimes you just lose out. This is the chinese way. You just never call it deceptive.
“Innocent till proven guilty”
Yes, it’s a great principle. Too bad, so few Americans actually believe in it.