Given the goofy nature of the "investigation", I really don't have a choice but to conclude she is underage and the IOC does not give a ****. Wnes' r****ded paul hamm comparison is so funny it deserves some sort of medal - maybe a gold one - for incredible feats of chinese logic gymnastics. Thank goodness there's no age limit for that sport.
Jackass, if you still don't comprehend, let me spell it out for you. The comparison has nothing to do with age issue, it's all about IOC's arbitration. If you had no problem with IOC's decision on Paul Hamm's gold medal then, why should you feel outraged now?
The difference between the Paul Hamm situation and this one is that Paul Hamm did not allegedly cheat. I don't understand why it's being brought up as a comparison at all. It was an error on behalf of the judges--not Paul Hamm himself.
The allegation becomes irrelevant when IOC decides there is nothing fishy with all the age documentations provided by the Chinese when asked. Apparently, these are far more authoritative and convincing than what are floating around on the internets by a few hackers.
I grow weary of these kinds of posts. If the allegations were made against the American girls and evidence surfaced, I would not blindly ignore and disregard it. There is a precedent for this sort of thing in the past. Is it really so hard to believe? We've been told that the age differences can be accounted for in other ways and for an array of reasons, but regardless, it's still very sketchy! Why can't the ages remain consistent? Why, for example, does it go from one month to another for one of the girls (I believe it was October to November) - What purpose does this even serve? And it wasn't something just conjured up by "hackers" - Do you know how cache works? I knew that the investigation would go no where, and ultimately, that nothing would come of it, but they could have at least humored us. I guess, on the other hand, it's less insulting this way. It's almost as if when someone brings up anything on this forum that might shine a bad light on a particular alleged Chinese practice (in this case, that the certain members of the women's Chinese gymanstics team are not of age, and therefore, not abiding by the rules), it's a personal attack against every Chinese poster. That's not the case. If it were any other country, I'd expect the IOC to get to the bottom of it, with absolutely no exceptions for Americans. Cheating is cheating.
First, there is no guarantee that cached web contents are not hacked. There is also no guarantee clerical data entry errors cannot happen to sports agency's athletes database. There is precedence that rumors and lies were made up by western media to smear China -- the most recent example is "Chinese authority to ban blacks in Beijing bars during Olympics." Second, you are making generalization basing on your own biased perception. I for one don't lose sleep if it turns out some Chinese female gymnasts are younger than 16. But I do find it decidedly hilarious how you guys can have so much faith in one of IOC's rulings but act so much self-righteously indignant at another one. Speaking of flip-flopping, double standards, or moral inconsistency, if you will, maybe you can reconcile the two different ways of ranking countries, by the same flagship of American news media, USA Today: 1) by gold medals count in Athens in 2004, http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/medals.aspx 2) by total medal count four years later, http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/medals.aspx
They're not different. Athens was ranked by total medals. It just so happened that we had the most Gold Medals and the most overall medals. EDIT: I see that you're talking about lower in the chart. In either case, I don't think it's at all similar to what is at discussion in this thread. I'm not surprised, however, that you're backing up the PRC by claiming that hackers somehow changed a website's cache.
He wants us to admit China's vast athletic superiority because of their large number of golds won in judged events. Oh, and he wants us to admit that it's alright for China to use underage athletes.
I mean really does it matter though? If China wins the most golds do they get an extra special trophy from the IOC? What about the U.S. if they get the most? It is stupid to argue about. Total medals either by type or number and worrying about them is ignorant.
Ignoring much of your other nonsense, I have to ask you what Olympic events are not judged, halfbreed?
Yeah and when false starts happen is anybody clearly in the lead for the win? No. Everybody has to start over.,
You know exactly what I'm talking about. Events where the final determination of who wins and loses is done by a judge. Events that do not fit this category: - Track and field - Basketball - Football/Soccer - Baseball - Softball - Race Walking - Shooting - Weightlifting (China did well here I believe) - Volleyball - Many others Events that are "judged" - Diving - Gymnastics - Boxing - Martial Arts - Wrestling - Others Now I'm not saying that there are judges cheating for the Chinese athletes. I just have a problem with any "sport" in which the final determination of winner/loser is done by a judge. The Chinese are extremely talented in these events, no doubt. I just have a huge problem with the "judged" events.
The results are not judged though. Your analogy is poor. Nobody is given a 2 second head start or anything like that. There is no real penalty because EVERYBODY has to start over. It is nothing like the gymnastics, diving, etc. judges.
