^These Japanese and Korean 'women' don't look 16 to me either. The one with the first name Minobe can't be older than 10.
Are you sure you replied the right post? Let's list a few facts here, if you want to, please dispute the FACTS with FACTS, NOT just use a blog or one old Chinese news report. FACT NO. 1: IOC officially approved the qualification of those Chinese girls. FIG officially stated that they don't have any problem with the ages of the Chinese team. The president of US Gymnastics claimed he did NOT see any problem with it. But you the most powerful BBS poster dismissed all the accounts of official bodies and claimed they were all cheating or being compliances. FACT NO. 2: Lukin won gold medal at 14, Shawn won 2007 World Championship at 15, and numerous Romanians won medals at age of 14, UNDER the watch of Karolyi. Now, he came on TV claimed that they did cheat in East Europe all the time, can I interpret that as a confession that he did CHEAT back in Romania? But he went on to claim that since they cheated in East Europe so China must be cheating? FACT NO. 3: You claimed Americans under 16 only competed in junior events; however, Shawn won 2007 World Championship, the second highest level of SENIOR event just behind Olympics, at the age of 15. FACT NO. 4: Karolyi thought it's FAIR to have 14/15 year-old girls competing in World Championships, if his team or the teams he supports are winning. But all of the sudden, he came out to claim foul AFTER US girls finished qualifications at the SECOND place. Furthermore, he started to ATTACK the judging system, and claimed it has some much room for cheating. He never had a problem with it, when Romania won, or when US won, but when Chinese are leading, THERE IS HUGE ROOM FOR CHEATING. FACT NO. 5: Bob Costas ran a story with Karolyi's "I believe", despite all the international, US, and Chinese official voices. In the same article from NYTimes, the Italian coach's "I believe that US team was using doping" were ignored by Costas, Karolyi, you, and any other posters here. While you dismissing all the Chinese sources, official or unofficial, in other China related threads, but used one Chinese news article as your "strong evidence" here. You could either dismiss this Chinese source as usual, or go ahead to expose all those posters who dismissed Chinese sources in other China threads as liars. Thank God, the majority are NOT trusting the likes of "I believe 9/11 was an insider job", unconditionally.
All Karolyi was saying is they should get rid of the age rule. They only instituted it recently. Back then it was ok to be 14 and compete. He just saying the Chinese are cheating under the current rules which it looks like they are.
Pretty much agree with everything you wrote. I think it's very possible that the Chinese are cheating sending underage gymnasts (past history of Chinese and non-Chinese athlete's ages being fudged) but unless IOC or some official body comes out and declares that the current team is indeed cheating others shouldn't be accusing them based on looks which is what Karolyi and some posters in this thread are doing. With the huge population it isn't a stretch that China managed to find really short and thin girls who have yet to hit puberty at 15. The photos of the Japanese team members posted here 'look' as young, are they being accused of cheating too? If documentation of these members being under the age limit exists, shouldn't it be easy for the IOC to verify their ages? Karolyi or others doubting the age of the Chinese team would have a much stronger case if they had hard evidence (such as an athlete registered at a different age in a previous tournament or something). Do they use brith certificates in China? (honest question, I don't know if they use them or just use a computer database) Making athletes present brith certificates if they have them is a reasonable request, but probably won't help the situation as they can be faked too.
^ to clarify I don't consider internet sources quoting other internet sources hard evidence. If there was hard evidence I believe people like Karolyi would've sent it to IOC and we wouldn't be having this "she looks" problem.
I am also still waiting for someone to comment on the look of these Japanese and Korean 'women' (2008 Olympics athletes). JO Hyunjoo, South Korea 2008 Olympics Women gymnastic team. UEMURA Miki, Japan 2008 Olympics Women gymnastic team. MINOBE Ya, Japan 2008 Olympics Women gymnastic team. TSURUMI Koko, Japan 2008 Olympics Women gymnastic team. [/QUOTE]
Speaking of underaged chinese girls... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080812/ts_afp/oly2008chinaceremonysongfake_080812123027 This olympics is plagued with ugly little falsehoods.
What does it have to do with gymnastics? The point that guys have been making in this thread is that they don't mind using younger athletes and most also agree it doesn't give them a competitive edge. But they think everyone should follow the rule if there is one, which I agree. That said, is there a rule that the perform who performed the singing in front of the crowd in the opening ceremony has to be the same as the perform who sang? Not to burst your bubbles, chance is that most of the marital arts performers in the opening ceremony are not really martial artists and were just given a cram course before the Olympics to have just enough skill to perform their part.
Uh.. well, nothing. Which is why I said "speaking of underage chinese girls" and not "speaking of gymnastics". READING RAINBOW!
You missed the target. You deleted the second part of my post which is really it's main theme. My post is mainly directed at your "ugly little falsehoods" assertion.
The rules state that a 15 year old can compete in the world championships if there is an Olympics event the following year. Nadia and the other Euros that won at the age of 14 did so before the current age limits were in place. You keep bringing these issues up as if it's proof that somebody cheated. You list facts that PROVE NOTHING.
I did not miss it. I ignored it. I think it's reasonable to assume a singer on a stage is actually singing. But I don't really care. I feel bad for the little girl deemed "not attractive enough" though. There is a pciture of her on yahoo, for anyone curious. Seems plenty cute to me.
Sure my facts proved nothing, but your OPINION proved everything. Another fact for you: Karolyi said on record that they CHEATED in East Europe ALL THE TIME. That "THEY" should include himself as well. It's NOT "as if" as you claimed, but FACTS. You guys kept ignoring the fact again, that Karolyi claimed on TV, ON THE RECORD, the judging system leaves huge room for cheating, RIGHT AFTER US team finished 2nd in qualifications. However, he never had problem with the system when Romanians or Americans were winning. Please feel free to "prove" to yourself with your own opinions.
I don't mean to get on your case. I just think your "ugly little falsehoods" description is kind of demeaning and extreme when they just tried to put up a good show for everyone and didn't violate any rules. Looks like every little thing that China does can be exposed as a scandal.
Dude. Are you trying to come off as a paranoid chinese wacko-nationalist? I never mentioned china or vilified them. I said "these olympics"... I was referring to things like the faked fireworks by NBC just as much as china's shennanigans.
