Chinese gymnastic team...

[roosterjuicer]

So im watching the gymnastics right now and the chinese girls look like they are about 12...the oldest looking one miiiight be 16 if she's lucky. but there are two really really really young looking girls, there is no way they are 16 which is the minimum age for olympic gymnastics.

They say that their ages were verified by checked their passports...of course the Chinese government is responsible for the info on the passports so its in their interest to lie. interesting stuff.

Chinese gymnastics team facing eligibility questions -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sp...=1&oref=slogin

[Wouter Melissen]

Are they winning ?

[fisetdavid26]

I'm not really surprised. And they are not 16.

[The_Canuck]

Theres a 14 year old on the Brit team isn't there? I don't think 16 is the min age.

[clutch-monkey]

yeah, i mean i've been competing since i was 7.

[pimento]

yeah, i mean i've been competing since i was 7.

On the chinese girls' gymnastics team? Hmm..

[IBrake4Rainbows]

He gets em young

but yeah, female gymnastic does not have an age limit - i think you need only be a teenager.

[brabon]

there is an age requirement...you must turn 16 the year of the competition...but both the ioc and the gymnastics federation allows for passports to be proof of age...the chinese have been lying about the ages of their gymnasts since at least 2000, but no one has formally challenged them...just bitched and moaned about it...and there is a definite advantage to having smaller girls compete on things like the balance beam...so yes, the chinese are cheating....surprise

[Spastik_Roach]

What worries me is the video's of extreme training by the Chinese. Going for massive runs while its still dark in the morning with really young kids and just training them way too intensely. Shocking...

[Q TOY]

Particularly with girls in gymnastics, if you train them really hard it can delay puberty setting in. Keeping them looking younger. So they are probably older than you think, not necercerily 16 though

[Matra et Alpine]

S_R, gymnasts the world over commit to those sort of regimes.
My daughter packed it in because of that

Sheez, my rugby training when I was 16 involved runs, tackling and having medicine balls dropped on my gut 3 times a week !!!

Sheez, man, to be a top athlete needs commitment.

[SIMPLETON]

does the OP do nothing but sit around watching the olympics all day

[SlickHolden]

Don't they retire @ 14.. Man, What a bad sport for long term that is, Compete a few years, Then tossed into the old age scrap heap.

[orshow]

in my opinion, there should be no age restriction on any of the olympic sports. If, say, a 14 year old was able to do things better and/or faster than a participant who was ten years older, it's not really fair on the youngster, also proving that the olympics, with it's age restrictions, don't show us the best that each country has to offer.

[roosterjuicer]

I think people should be able to compete at any age also, but thats not the rules and its unfair that the chinese arent following them.

Whats impressive is that the even though the chinese are not of legal age and have been basically forced into some pretty hardcore training from the age of 3, our girls who i think start at 8-10 years old and still have to go to school and stuff and dont have as hardcore trianing can manage to give the chinese a run for their money.