In response to:
Edward, China’s team was “flat out better” because it was younger. China would not have won as many medals as it has if we–and other nations–were allowed to field younger competitors.
Gordon, first – Thank you for writing an artical that has recieved such a wide varity of responses. Second – I am not blind,it is more than clear that some of these Chinese gymnists are under the required age to compete. I do not question this, nor do i think it would be beyond the Chinese goverment to provide false age documentation for these girls.
That being said, I wonder… did these “girls” just pop out of thin air on August 8th, 2008 and say ” here I am , I want to be on the gymnastic team ” ??? I don’t think so! Everyone in the world of gymnastics knew that these were the girls that China was going to use in Advance. Why wasn’t anything said before the compition began. I think everyone took a wait and see what happens approach. Now that the Chinese team actually won the team event everyone has a problem with the “age” issue.
You are right Gordon, I am sure the smaller , younger , suppler , Fearless Chinese team had an unfair advantage over everyone else, but this should have been dealt with before the compition began and not after,taking away from the awesome performance that i was previlaged enough to watch. I have to be careful now, apparently being a fan of Chinas team can get a person labelled a Pedophile…What a Sad World!
