[Newsbot]

Title: IOC will investigate ages of China\'s gymnastic team
Category: Sports
Posted By: Hyack
Date: 2008-08-22 00:04:15

[Tracker]

Underage=Advantage in gymnastics. In gymnastics, size matters.

[ridenrain]

The IOC investigating itself is like the UN or the Liberals investigating themselves. They might as well save the time and effort and rubber stamp it right now.
"nothing to see, move along"

[ridenrain]

".. and David Dingwald smiles to himself.. "

[Brenda]

I think they should investigate the women (?!?!) divers too... There are some pretty young Chinese girls there.

It is funny (sarcasm intented) to see, that we hardly heard of the Chinese gymnasts before, and all of a sudden, they win medal after medal...
Makes me wonder... did they take the kids out of their homes and put them in a training camp at the moment it was clear Bejing was going to host the 2008 Olympics?

[hurley_108]

Brenda Brenda:

I think they should investigate the women (?!?!) divers too... There are some pretty young Chinese girls there.

I haven't done much reading about this subject, but I think the Gymnastics are a special case. The Gymnastics federation has the 16 years old rule, not the IOC, but the Gymnastics federation rules are in effect at the Olympics. So a 14 year old may be able to dive but not do gymnasics at the olympics.

$1:

It is funny (sarcasm intented) to see, that we hardly heard of the Chinese gymnasts before, and all of a sudden, they win medal after medal...
Makes me wonder... did they take the kids out of their homes and put them in a training camp at the moment it was clear Bejing was going to host the 2008 Olympics?

I wouldn't doubt it.

[Hyack]

Competition rules of certain international federations cite age limits as follows:

- Bobsled (minimum of 14 years old)
- Boxing (17-32)
- Diving (minimum of 14)
- Equestrian (16 or older)
- Figure skating (15 by July 1 of previous year)
- Gymnastics (must be 16 years old in Olympic year)
- Judo (15 or older), luge (16 or older)
- Soccer (under 23)
- Team handball (over 18)
- Weightlifting (17 or older)
- Wrestling (must be at least 17 on day of Opening Ceremonies).

[bootlegga]

Brenda Brenda:

I think they should investigate the women (?!?!) divers too... There are some pretty young Chinese girls there.

It is funny (sarcasm intented) to see, that we hardly heard of the Chinese gymnasts before, and all of a sudden, they win medal after medal...
Makes me wonder... did they take the kids out of their homes and put them in a training camp at the moment it was clear Bejing was going to host the 2008 Olympics?

The Chinese are perenially a diving power. Most of their divers are ranked highly in international rankings and competitions. That they swept the diving medals is no surprise really. Still, that 62 pound girl diving in the 10m competition looked like she was 7 or 8...

The Chinese use a model similar to the old Soviet system. Potential star athletes are identified at a very young age (as young as 4) and then they are shipped off to training academies to live and train full time. When they reach adulthood, athletes are paid by the Chinese government (again like the Soviets used to do by putting them in the army). Their sole focus is to get to the Olympics and win. When they get a gold medal, the government pays them something like $50,000 US. Like Hyack said in another thread, it's almost like a factory.

Of course, China also has a population advantage. Where Canada has 30 million people, they probably have 30 million athletes...

[robmik43]

One-half cent from every item we bought at Dollarama
the past three years, was set aside to look after the
needs of IOC "nudge-wink" officials who would investigate
any possible rule-breaking by the host nation.
Really adds up.
No problems will be found.
Nudge.
Wink.

[Hyack]

$1:

Like Hyack said in another thread, it's almost like a factory

Damn, I did say almost didn't I...BULL ...it is a freakin' factory:

$1:

One by one, the little girls walk to the wooden blocks and extend their legs into the splits, one callused foot balancing on each block, their straining bodies hovering just above the ground. Coach Yang Yaojun, his sweatpants hiked high over his belly, ambles over to the girls, smiles and hands the nearest one a stopwatch. The girls, who are six and seven years old, do not smile back. Teetering on the blocks, they wait as Yang straddles each leg in turn, resting his 70-kg frame on their outstretched limbs. No matter how tough the girls are, no matter how much resolve they have mustered, the tears come within seconds. They do not cry out, though. They just well up soundlessly and stare at the seconds ticking down on the stopwatch. After half a minute, Yang stands up and lifts the girls off the blocks. They stagger with the first step, their oversized thigh muscles visibly twitching. By the second or third step, the tremors and the tears are gone. When a child does this six days a week all year long, save a short holiday at Lunar New Year, there are only so many tears she can shed.

This assembly line of pain at the Weilun Sports School in China's southern Guangdong province asks an extraordinary amount from its 1,000 full-time students. Here, in the cavernous gymnastics classroom, the girls are drilled again and again as if they were in competition, with judges monitoring their frozen smiles. They must not show weakness, no matter how grueling the exercise. "Big smile, little friend," yells Yang as the girls go through 50 reps of leg kicks with weights tied to their calves. Yang's wife, also a coach, observes: "Maybe to foreigners, this looks cruel. But it's because we start kids very young and train them hard that we have become so successful in gymnastics." Says her husband, who has been coaching since 1983: "The Chinese race knows how to endure hardship. Our job is to push these kids to their limits, so they can perform gloriously for our nation." Behind him on the wall, below oversized Olympic and Chinese flags, giant red lettering summarizes the motto of the Weilun school, proud breeding ground of eight athletes at this month's Athens Olympics: "Patriotism, Unity, Struggle and Devotion."

The Price of Gold

[martin14]

more cheating ??

wow, whoda thunk thats possible ??

im so shocked

[Brenda]

Yuk

I used to be a gymnast, and I started at age 4. Trained 20 hours a week, I have cried lots, we did our jumps on a bare cement floor, because we lacked the jumping floor they have nowadays. I've fallen off the beam many a time, hurt my knees on the bars, and fell flat on my ass (or worse)...

It IS tough, it is painful (as is every top sport), but this is ridiculous. I am glad I wasn't as trained as these girls, (or as... overworked?) and that for me, it was fun. No Olympics for me, lots of games though, and a lot of fun.

China, SHAME ON YOU!

[Brenda]

Oh, btw, Boot, I wasn't talking about the diving when I said that it surprised me they won medal after medal. That was gymnastics. They've always been good at diving

[ridenrain]

Hyack Hyack:

Competition rules of certain international federations cite age limits as follows:

- Bobsled (minimum of 14 years old)
- Boxing (17-32)
- Diving (minimum of 14)
- Equestrian (16 or older)
- Figure skating (15 by July 1 of previous year)
- Gymnastics (must be 16 years old in Olympic year)
- Judo (15 or older), luge (16 or older)
- Soccer (under 23)
- Team handball (over 18)
- Weightlifting (17 or older)
- Wrestling (must be at least 17 on day of Opening Ceremonies).

Is that in horse years?

[stokes]

For equestrian I think they should have a maximum age too, the guy who won the gold was 40 and the majority of other competitors were around 50 or older.