Starting to look like enough evidence is being produced to force the IOC to investigate He Kexin’s age. The way the article reads it seems likely she very may well lose her medals.
On the one hand I feel badly for her. She has worked her whole life for this and clearly she is exceptionally talented. Also it is likely the Chinese government pushed her into this if it is true she is too young.
On the other the rules are the rules and it is unfair to the other girls there. Further He went along with the charade.
It’s not like she had any options. The Chinese government said “Do it!” so she did it. But she should definitely be stripped of her medals, and some sort of sanction placed against China for the next Olympics. Their blatant cheating needs to be exposed to the view of the world, and they need to be closely watched at all times in all future competitions.
I’m not happy for her, but I’m all warm and fuzzy that the Chinese have shot themselves in the foot, PR-wise. So much for the “New China” they wanted the world to see. Meet the New China, same as the Old China.
If she’s not eligible to compete, she can’t keep her medals. I don’t think she’s personally responsible, but that’s the rules and fair play.
I don’t think she is of age, and I think the Chinese athletic authorities and government had her fake it. There’s no way she got it into her head a few months ago to lie to the government about her age when the government issued her passport and she’d been registering for gymnastics competitions for years. This required significiant cooperation from the Chinese government, and it’s the Chinese government or athletic authority that should pay the price here.
I’m surprised the IOC is looking into this, however. I felt they were determined not to do anything that would make China look bad.
There were supposedly three underage girls on the gymnastics team, and I wouldn’t be surprised if all three of them really are too young. But I think He is getting the most attention because she was the most hyped and most accomplished - and also the youngest, I think.
I can’t get down with taking medals away from a little girl who earned them. I don’t care if she was under the age limit. Who gives a shit? I can think of a lot more important things to be outraged about than some little girl getting a medal. I just assume everybody’s on steroids, so they’re all cheating anyway. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. It’s certainly the least of China’s crimes.
There aren’t enough rolley-eyes in the world for this. Whatever small measure of respect I may have had for you…well, I doubt you care anyway. I do agree that this is the least of China’s crimes, even on this subject. Taking 3-4 year old children from their homes and forcing them to become athletes for the glory of the nation…THAT is a much more serious crime.
I won’t be either happy or sad if she is stripped of her medals. Just like I wouldn’t be happy or sad if ANY athlete was caught cheating and stripped of THEIR medals. I do think it’s rather a thumb in the eye of China, who I think is eminently worthy of scorn and derision for both cheating outrageously and, more importantly, what they put their athletes through just to win some shinny bits of medal for the glory of the nation. Wish I could take the folks responsible out into the desert, cover them in honey and bury them neck deep in ant hills and invite in a few vultures as company…
Sure it is, but the remedy is not to punish and shame the victims even more. The mature, adult, compassionate thing to do is let her keep what she earned. It’s not like she cheated. She won fair and square.
No she didn’t…she broke the rules. Just like if someone doped their blood or took performance enhancing drugs. Why HAVE rules if you can just break them without consequence.
And it’s really a good rule. It’s supposed to protect young children from both the emotional and physical stresses of such a competition.
No she didn’t, she had an unfair advantage - being younger, and therefore smaller and lither than her competition, is effectively cheating (which is why they did it). They abided by the rules and waited until they are 16, she should too.
I think maybe the “stripping of medals” policy should be changed in cases such as this where the country is at fault rather than the athlete. As the rules stand, yes, she should be stripped of her medals. However, I think it’s a gesture for the benefit of the other athletes rather than any sort of meaningful punishment. China should be punished, rather than the girl. Sure, a few people in China will be pissed that there’s one less gold medal on the table, and then forget about it next week. He Kexin will think about it the rest of her life. I highly doubt the government will give a shit at all.
I however have no suggestions for how to punish China.