The other competitors too worked their whole life for this. And if they reached the finals in the Olympics, they’re certainly exceptionally talented too.
Actually, I rarely watch sports, but when I happen to do so, I very frequently feel bad for the team/athletes who lost. That’s the most common feeling I have. I can’t help thinking that they have all worked so hard to get there, and how shitty they must be feeling (and quite often you can see how bad they feel, grown men crying and such). The joy of the winner often appears almost indecent to me.
I guess if I were on the gymnastics’ jury, I would hand out gold medals to everybody.
In this country, if you go against authority from a position of weakness, such as would be the case with any of these athletes, you are often endangering yourself and your family. Someone in local government who’s pissed off at your decisions can make you and your family’s lives extremely difficult, and there’s pretty much nothing you can do about it. And if the central government is in on it, you better toe the line, boys.
Can’t really muster up any outrage for someone lying with a proverbial gun to their head.
my bolding
More than just injuries and stress even from your unofficial cite. However, I cannot find an official cite either, so yours is the best I have seen so far.
Then she should complain to the Chinese coaches and cry on their shoulders. It’s not about punishing a little girl, it’s about enforcing the rules of a sport. And these rules have been put in place precisely to protect little girls from the damages caused by intensive training. This one and the numerous others who never came close to competing in the Olympics but were nevertheless trained merciless and without regard for their well-being because the Chinese government thought it could get away with it.
If you’re that worried about the kids’ well-being, you should insist that she ought to be stripped of her medal.
The coaches are the ones who are forcing her to lie. What kind of response is that? You’re actually suggesting that the way for her to stand up to the coersion of a totalitarian government is to complain to them and cry? Are you high?
That makes no sense whatsoever. She’s not the perpetrator.
Assuming that China did actually lie about her age, it is definitely cheating, not just according to the rules but also in spirit. Being able to compete at 14 confers a competitive advantage. She hasn’t had time as much time for nagging injuries (or big injuries) to accrue and slow her down. Similarly, she can be trained harder at a younger age than her competitors.
Also, given the ages of most gymnasts, it seems likely that, to a point, younger is better (though I have to declare a certain level of agnosticism on this point). As has been pointed out above, China is gaming the system by being able to draw from a wider pool of talent than the rest of the world – the gymnast in question didn’t have to contend with the best 14 and 15 year olds from other countries, but other countries’ gymnasts did have to contend with the best 14 and 15 year old Chinese gymnasts.
Now, what should be done about it is a separate matter. If you just want to make a harm-reduction argument and say that the negatives of stripping her of the medal outweigh the positives, I don’t think that’s completely unreasonable (I don’t think I agree, but still). However to say that she “didn’t cheat” and “won fair and square” is simply incorrect.
You have not yet explained why their advantage is “unfair.” The rule exists to protect kids like this, not because they would be doing anything unfair to older gymnasts.
Right. It makes no sense that you think letting her keep the medal (thereby rewarding the cheaters) will somehow prevent future exploitation.
From here on out, China will happily stand by and receive gold medals while the rest of the field is punished for following the rules. I can’t wait for 2012!!!
I remember the negative publicity, though. If you can find something better have at it. I just think that some people have a completely distorted understanding of why the rule exists.
Because other 13-year-olds are not allowed to compete.
Try to keep up.
(and if you are seriously arguing that a 13yo who hasn’t reached her growth potential doesn’t have an advantage over a 16yo in a sport that requires someone to land on her ankles from a significant height, then we can call it quits now. You have no right to say that has nothing to do with why the rule exists.)
I never said it would prevent future exploittaion. I just think that punishing victims aggravates the crime. Taking her medals will hurt her, and possibly her family, but it won’t hurt China and it won’t stop themm from doing it again. They’ll just be more careful about covering their tracks next time.
If you’ll read my posts, you’ll see that I said China should be excluded in 2012. I’m saying punish the government, not the kid.
Of course it makes no sense since, when you quoted me, you conveniently omitted the part of my post that made my last sentence meaningful.
So, I rephrase : If you’re so concerned with kids well-being, you should insist that too young competitors should be stripped of their medals because not doing so provides an incentive to the harmful intensive training of children.
Despite your insistence, this has essentially nothing to do with “punishing a little girl”. It has everything to do with enforcing a rule. A rule which has been put in place to protect little girls.
Do individual Chinese athletes get to keep their medals, or does the state claim that they were competing for the glory of China and therefore lay claim to the medals?
You’re the one who’s losing track here. Your contention was that 14 year olds have an advantage over OLDER gymnasts and that’s why they shouldn’t be allowed to compete. You have not yet offered a reason why a 13 year old has an unfair advantage over a 16 year old. The fact that China gave itself an advantage (maybe) over other countries by breaking the rule is just circular. The rule does not exist because of any unfair advantage. It exists to protect the health of the kids.
It seems from one of the cites in this thread that the rule exists to protect developing bodies from potentially devastating injuries. If you allow a 13 year-old to get the gold medal and keep it, you’re essentially sending a message to both Chinese and foreign gymnastics teams that it’s OK to use underaged athletes, and they will. This means that more young bodies will be exposed to these dangers, and that DOES hurt people.
She should have her medal stripped, if only to discourage Olympic teams from pulling more of this shit. And who knows how many young Chinese gymnasts’ bodies were broken to produce this magnificent team that we’ve seen in Beijing?