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April 28th, 2010 | ethics, Gymnastics, Olympics
… China have been stripped of their women’s gymnastics team bronze medal from the Sydney 2000 Olympics after one of the athletes falsified her age, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday. …
A 14yr-old from a totalitarian country cannot forge her own passport. In Sydney it’s unlikely she even knew about any age rule.
If we throw anyone under the bus, it should be the coaches and officials from that team. And the officials of the Chinese General Administration of Sport.
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25 comments ↓
This was the absolute right decision to do. Dong was almost certainly not part of her falsification, as odd as that sounds. China’s gymnastics federation should be properly punished. It’s unfortunate that the rest of Dong’s teammates also have to suffer.
well i’ll be d—-d…………
Rick, I’ll have that plate of crow broiled and marinated please………
;->
You are such a liberal wimp, Rick. She should be treated just like a steroid cheat in track. LOWER THE HAMMER! BOOM!
I couldn’t agree more, Rick! If the IOC wants to apply the rules, they’d better do it consistently. Dong Fanxiao was not the first falsified underage gymnast and I’m afraid she won’t be the last. Why her? And why now? Who’s next? Danliela Silivas? Gina Gogean? Alexandra Marinescu?
Do the USA women receive the bronze medal money from USAG now??
I agree Rick! She probably had little control and her teammates certainly didnt either. I think a medal should be awarded to the U.S. but im not so sure that the athletes should be stripped when this seems to be the conscious decision of the coaches and team officials.
The IOC did the right thing and the Americans deserve the medal, but I also feel sympathy for Dong Fangxiao. Regardless of whether she has the medal or not, she will always know that she did something remarkable at a very young age. I’m wondering – is the age rule to make sure children are not exploited before they are physically mature enough to handle the preparation for Olympic competition?
The athletes have to be stripped because they are representatives of the country. Allowing them to keep their medals despite the country cheating would only send the world that the IOC condones the behavior.
If the Olympics were just about athletes and not the countries they represent (as in anyone from anywhere could come and compete even if the country they live in does not want to send them), then the rest of the team would be able to keep their medals.
It’s just like Marion Jones getting caught with PHDs – unfortunately her relay team had to lose their medals as well, even though they ran cleanly. When you compete as a team, you have to win, and lose, as a team. And I disagree with you – I bet she absolutely did know that there was an age rule. But I’ve never met a 14 year old who would turn down a chance at the Olympics in favor of not breaking the rules. Esp when that means defying your coach. It’s too bad.
Great question, interested?
This is a terrific PR opportunity for USAG. I would do the maximum for the team.
I sense the “old” fixed regimes of IOC and FIG are in limbo now.
There’s some movement towards fairness, openness, justice. … Just enough to tease, I expect.
More surprising to me is how much press is being circulated by FIG, some of it critical. The office staff, at least, is willing to communicate.
If they are old enought to compete, they are old enough to be responsible. You can’t call them full up competitors and then not hammer them, Rick.
@PolyisTCOandbanned Then you have to be coherent and take the medals of the bunch of well known gymnasts that had their ages falsified. It’s not the athlete’s fault: it’s the officials’; gymnasts usually just do what they are told because it’s the only way for them.
Sorry, I meant “take *off*”
I don’t understand why so many people assume that Dong Fangxiao didn’t know about the age rules. Would you assume that the U.S. girls in Sydney – or the ones who were too young to try out for Sydney – were completely oblivious to the age rules? It’s been very common knowledge since 1996 that gymnasts need to be 16 in the year of the Olympics in order to compete, and I don’t see any reason to believe Dong or any of her teammates would be unaware of this. I think that assumption is quite naive and has gotten way overblown in order to make Dong appear like a victim of her own federation. I’m not saying that it would be easy for a 14-year-old with her talent to stand up and refuse to be considered for the Olympic team, but let’s not alter reality here…I’d be willing to be both Dong AND her parents were well aware she was underage. She and her coaching federation CHEATED, and now they are being punished to make a statement to the rest of the world that China is not exempt from the same rules that every other team is subject to.
1. She is now at least 24.
2. She actually lives in New Zealand, now.
3. There’s been enough publicity about the case that she should have worked with investigators.
4. She worked during the Beijing Olympics. You think she would have researched some of the rules for gymnastics and asked questions about her 2000 eligibility.
If she had worked with investigators, I imagine they would have let her keep the medal, awarded a co-medal for the American team, and then heavily fined the Chinese sports authorities. But she didn’t.
[...] Coaching: Punish China, not gymnast Dong Fangxiao and Olympic Bronze Medal for American [...]
No victory like a pyrrhic victory (10 years late, no less). Nothing will erase the fact that the 2000 US Oympic team sucked.
Interesting. I Do think it’s possible that the gymnast didn’t know the rules. These gymnasts live in sport schools with very little access to the outside world, let alone internet. What little internet they see is ENTIRELY controlled by the government. When it comes to “standing up to their coaches” I think the additude stated above is VERY naive. The pressure on these girls is much more than that of the western athlete. They know that their winning or losing will hugely effect the welfare of their family. Whether or not to compete when told to by the sports governing bodies is not the same choice as it is for us. Competing and winning can move your family into an entire different world.
Do a little research into the life of the average chinese farmer or factory worker. They give their children to the sports school in an effort to improve the quality of their lives in the future and for future generations.
Even if she did know, she wasn’t entirely able to say no. It’s hard to stand up morally when doing so may send your family back to a poverty situation….
Just my 2 bits.
Took the words out of my mouth, Tracy.
Okay, by the rules she shouldn’t have been there – but the fact that she was younger, in human terms means that her achievements mean even more. She loses her medal but will always remember that she had the skill to beat out her older rivals. Also, as a China watcher, I echo completely what Tracy says – an accurate and insightful analysis of where this girl would have been at!
A little dramatic Tracy, but I do understand your points. Their system is much different than ours and motivations to compete can be very different as well – agreed. And as I stated, I certainly don’t doubt how difficult (or nearly impossible) it would be to say no to your coaches in a situation like that…just have a hard time believing those girls and their families are somehow completely prevented from knowing the rules of the sport. If they were 6 years old competing in some low-profile event, I might believe differently, but for world class-athletes training for the Olympics…sorry, I don’t buy it.
When the government is control of the information you receive, I can see how you could not be aware of age rules of something that happens every four years.
So if you’re poor, I guess it’s ok to steal? (by analogy)
[...] people thought that Dong shouldn’t be punished and argued that probably she didn’t even know that her passport had been falsified or that she [...]
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