Comments on: age evidence for gymnast Jiang Yuyuan

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:05:54 +0000

Actually, there is even less reason for the girls to lie in this video. The minimum age limit wasn’t set to 16 until 1997!!! Today, I hear the FIG is expanding their investigation into the ages of the 2000 Chinese Olympic gymnasts. Probably because they didn’t find any conclusive evidence with the 2008 gymnasts.

By: Isis

Isis — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:44:28 +0000

“lee, donâ€™t count on something like this ever making the mainstream media in the U.S. It puts the case for the Chinese in far too positive of a light and you and I both know how the media here likes to distort everything to make our side look like it speaks the holy truth.”

Yeah. It’s so much more fun to paint the Chinese as immoral cheaters.

Anyway, I personally think that He Kexin’s case is quite similar to Jiang’s: someone changed (lowered) the girl’s age for the purposes of a local competition. And there just happens not to be any 2003 footage of her that would prove her age.

Regardless. If China did falsify any athletes’ ages, then good for China. And for anyone out there who strongly disagrees with the age rule but thinks that ‘cheating is cheating’, consider this: if the age rule ever goes away, it’ll be _precisely_ because of this type of cheating (real or perceived). The FIG rules will be whatever the FIG heads decide; the federations get little say in the matter. And the FIG heads won’t change the rule unless the enforcement of the said rule (or more to the point: lack thereof) makes them look sufficiently ridiculous. Now, I agree with Rick that the age rule is unlikely to go away while Grandi is in charge. However, Grandi won’t be in charge forever. And when the FIG gets a new boss, then that boss might just decide that looking ridiculous is not his/her cup of tea and eliminate the darn rule.

By: pommy

pommy — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:02:49 +0000

lee, don’t count on something like this ever making the mainstream media in the U.S. It puts the case for the Chinese in far too positive of a light and you and I both know how the media here likes to distort everything to make our side look like it speaks the holy truth.

By: Isis

Isis — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:05:52 +0000

“The current FIG boss Grandi has proposed raising the age to 18.”

Who was it that came up with the brilliant idea of impeaching Grandi? The man is just…

By: coach Rick

coach Rick — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:54:00 +0000

The current FIG boss Grandi has proposed raising the age to 18.

… Imagine how many falsified gymnasts we would have then.

So until we get a new FIG President, there is no chance.

By: Lucid Lunatic

Lucid Lunatic — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:50:42 +0000

Good find on the video, if it was old, I certainly hadn’t seen it. It’s a real pity that some of them may have been under-age though. Do you think the difficulty in addressing this type of falsification accurately might lead to a change in the age-minimum rules?

By: shergymrag

shergymrag — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:42:59 +0000

“Rick, hereâ€™s a Google US search that shows Jiang entered the gymnastics incubation program in her home town, Liozhou, in 1994:

http://tinyurl.com/48k6vc

If Jiang was born in 1993, then she must have entered training when she was ONE YEAR OLD.”

The video is better at making the case that she was old enough because we know It was done long before the age scandal made the news. Yeah, they could’ve told her to say she was 12 when she wasn’t but I’m okay with assuming they didn’t. Especially since she could’ve still said she was as young as 10. Provided that she turned 11 that year she would’ve been old enough in 2008. The Google search results? How long have they been on the net? Before or after they wanted her to be 16. If they were faking her age, news reports from 2008 would definitely show the age they want her to be. Especially from Aug and Sep 2008.

By: coach Rick

coach Rick — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:30:15 +0000

Ha, Thanks Charles.

I think she really does meet the FIG age requirement.

By: Charles Liu

Charles Liu — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:38:55 +0000

Rick, here’s a Google US search that shows Jiang entered the gymnastics incubation program in her home town, Liozhou, in 1994:

http://tinyurl.com/48k6vc

If Jiang was born in 1993, then she must have entered training when she was ONE YEAR OLD.

By: Gym Brasil

Gym Brasil — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:15:45 +0000

>Via Gymnastics Coaching Portuguese – Fonte: Gymnastics Coaching