If you watched the team all-around women's gymnastics competition, you had to notice the Chinese gymnasts. It was not how good they performed that caught you attention, however. It was how young the gymnasts looked. The minimum age to compete in gymnastics in the Olympics is 16.
Clearly those girls are not 16. They look like they couldn't reach the pedal of a car or see above the steering wheel. They couldn't ride most rides in any amusement park. Their is a report that one of the questioned Chinese gymnasts just lost a tooth. 16-year olds don't still lose teeth.
It may seem that younger age may be a disadvantage for the Chinese gymnastics team. But you have to remember that the government takes this children away from their parents at age 3 and trains them like slaves to become an Olympians. So they already are as experienced as the American athletes by 13 or 14. Also, the smaller you are the more flexible you are in most cases. So the small size also give the Chinese an unfair advantage.
Some credible online documents listed three Chinese gymnasts between the ages of thirteen to fifteen. Too young to compete in the Beijing Olympics. In fact, a May 23 piece in the Chinese Daily newspaper listed one of the gymnasts (He Kexin) as 14-years old.
If the Olympians are found to be under aged, a big shadow would be cast upon these Olympic games. The host country didn't even have enough decency to follow the rules in doing something so simple. But it's all about winning and apparently respectability doesn't matter anymore, at least in China. Cheating to win is the same as winning in China.
This isn't the only controversy in these Beijing games, but it is definitely the most serious.
Note: Micheal Phelps swims for GOLD tonight at 10:10 pm ET
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