When all is said and done the Chinese Authorities knew full well what to expect should any of their competitors be found to have broken the rules.
Even if the fault is not that of the actual athlete involved, rules are rules
I’m a little behind on this story, as I have been abroad during most of the Olympics, but you have all convinced me of one thing: that in one respect, He is indeed the victim of a Chinese government doing anything at all to win Olympic medals.
Personally, I think depriving an athlete of free will and the choice of whether or not to compete is a serious human rights violation. There is no way that the IOC should allow athletes trained in a system that is one step short of kidnapping and slavery to be compelled into competition, regardless if they are 14 or 41.
I think it is morally questionable whether the Olympics should take place in a country with severe human rights abuses. To allow the Olympics to be infected by a country with the products of human rights abuses is a no-brainer: the IOC should not allow products of such a Stalinist system to compete, period.
I call bullshit on that. Apparently He will be punished if she keeps her trap shut but Yang Yun can admit that she was 14 for the Sydney Olympics on state TV? I’m not buying it, no one made He make that statement.
It’s this silly concept of face that spurs this all on. Winning a bunch of golds at the Olympics means nothing in real terms, but hey, you gain face in front of foreigners and the international community. I hate face; it surrounds me, as it’s an integral part of the culture, and people do the stupidest and most infuriating things to avoid losing face. I’m always happy when those people lose face in the worst way possible, and I sometimes try to make it happen myself (when someone’s being a real ass).
I really hope that the team gets at least somewhat of a black mark, if not a scarlet letter.
Here 's an article on the fate of Chinese athletes after their 15 minutes were up. It focuses on an extreme case, but hits the more general picture as well.
Um…yes they did.
A liar is someone who lies. If she is actually 14, then she is liar. This doesn’t mean we can’t understand and sympathize, but she is a liar all the same.
On the same token, stripping her of a medal isn’t a punishment, this is enforcing a rule. Doesn’t matter why the the rule is in place, in order for a sport to have integrity, its rules need to be enforced. We don’t want judged Hu has the same opportunity as everyone else in the world. She may compete once she turns 16. No more and no less.
Punishment would be banning He from future events once she would otherwise have been eligible. This is where I think motivation matters, and I would likely choose to not punish her. Everyone keeps talking about how it is a lifetime of training wasted, but it isn’t if you can compete once she is actually eligible.
While I disagree with most of what **DtC ** has written in this thread, I have to agree with him here. I am fairly sure the adults of the Chinese Olympic team did order or coerce her into making that statement.
I would like to repeat. I do not blame the kid. I just think the IOC has to strip her of her medals and give it to the legal participants. They should also force China to either miss the next Olympics in gymnastics.
I feel sorry for this child that has been abused and will probably has a shitty life. However, the IOC would be very wrong to not remove the medal and punish China in some way.
Bullshit. A liar is someone who has a choice about it.
Dio - If He is really that good, she can earn her medals in 2012 in London. But for now, she shouldn’t have them. You say that stripping the medals only hurts her, and why hurt an innocent kid? But if stripping the medals prevents the next generation of innocent kids from being used, it will be worth it.
Nastia was a great 15-year old gymnast in 2004. And she didn’t get to compete. In 2005 she was World All-Around Champion. Shawn Johnson is 20, older now than he will (presumably) be in 2012. These girls can compete later, as the rules allow.
StG
In the context of this competition, He was not a victim.
Doesn’t matter.
If an athlete was unknowingly given steroids by his trainer, then they wouldn’t have had a choice. They would still be disqualified.
It’s not her fault personally for breaking the rules, and she put on a good performance for an undersized competitor, but if she is underage, then she did not earn those medals. Younger, smaller competitors have a size advantage that is balanced by an age limit. If she earned those medals, then you may as well say that about a distance runner who cuts across the field instead of running full laps. Why not? Hey, they earned it…
Except it’s not a little girl getting a medal, it’s China trying to steal some national prestige by cheating at the Olympics.
All of them? Every single last one? I’m sorry you’re so jaded that you would say something that ignorant. Yes, some people cheat, but there are mechanisms to catch the cheating. Until they rescind those mechanisms and hold the “Cheat-O-Lympics” then every fair competitor deserves to have the cheaters thrown out on their asses, even if they happen to be teacup-sized 13-year-olds.
A link from another thread says the IOC is not going to do anything. Interestingly, it also has this to say near the bottom:
My bolding
li·ar
–noun a person who tells lies.
Got a source on your definition?
Besides she has a choice. The consequences of being truthful might make lying the better of the two choices, but it is still a choice.
She might technically be a liar, but if she is being coached and ordered to lie, isn’t it a fairly unimportant point?
The bigger question is still “What punishment should be meted out to China?”
I’m sticking by my choice of “Ban them from all future Olympic competition. Forever.”
Sure. I just want to make sure we don’t let personal opinions get in the way of the facts here. Calling her a liar shouldn’t be insulting, just a fact. I prefer to get the facts straight, and then deal with consequences.
I’m not sure if I explained that well.
Why? It does not match any punishment ever given out. From what I can see, the IOC is going to be asses and let this slip, but if they do punish China, it should be nothing worse than missing the 2012 Olympics for Gymnastics.
I understand, you explained it well.
But it WON’T prevent China from doing it again. It will do nothing but punish the child and satisfy self-righteous Americans.
No, she didn’t have a choice, and a liar is a person who chooses to tell lies. Intention has everything to do with it. If I rob a bank and order the tellers to put all the money in a sack for me, I’m still the thief, not the teller. Demonizing the child serves no purpose here. Perhaps it makes you feel good, but you’re wrong.