Gymnastics Investigation

If they did lie then that changes everything! Maybe it's just me cuz I could never lie about something as big as that but if they purposely did it it's their own fault. But maybe they should look at changing the rules if she won gold and isn't even 16.

Apparently though, it's more about the way they train the kids, but that should be sorted out anyway. But yeah, the laws are in for gymnastics so that too young people don't get pushed too far. But it's obviously too late now.

Hmm - I guess, if they have an age limit which applied to everyone else, then it's never going to be fair for other athletes who wanted to compete, but couldn't, and didn't, because they were too young.

And, I'm assuming the age limits are there for a good reason - if it looks possible to win medals by breaking rules, then that would just encourage the problem. Even so, I very much doubt it was the competitors fault - there'd have to be a lot of people involved to allow it to happen.

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I think the medals should be taken away.

The girls knew there was an age limit, and chose to compete even knowing that they were lying about their age.

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin are very talented gymnasts. Nastia Liukin was only 14 at the last summer Olympics, and she was not allowed to compete. She may have won a gold medal, she may have won 10 gold medals. But the point is, she was not allowed to compete then because she was not old enough.

I also think the medals should be taken away to punish not only the girls, but the Chinese government who falsified these girls ages. Allegedly, according to the reports I heard, the Chinese government issued false passports so the girls could show proof of age. The Olympics are supposed to be about sportsmanship and fair competition, not cheating and lying to win the most medals. Especially because they were the host country, this should have been their chance to show their best attributes to the world. If they chose to sink to cheating just to win a few medals, they don't deserve to have them. I'm sorry if the girls' feelings will be hurt, but they did not win those medals fairly.

It almost definately wouldn't have been the girls' fault. The way it works in China is that it's all for the state - over here, if someone wins a gold medal THEY won it, whereas in China, the person isn't the important part. So if they did something wrong, she would have been made to do it.

Does anyone know how they are gonna work this out?

yeah you guys are right i guess you would have to eat alot what was i thinking i feel silly now

My issue with it, is that you have to keep in mind that these girls are from a communist country, its likely that these girls were not given the option to say yes or no. Its a matter of national pride, as such in a country where its all about national pride, would you say no, or for that matter have the option to say no? I sincerely doubt that it was the girls choice to lie, and it was likely a matter of state.

hahahah queenfairypants, athletes are all about the hanky panky, even at a lower national level. You train soo hard, most don't have boyfriends or girlfriends, and the ones that do are often dating other people in the same sport. You don't really get the same physical lives as the average person..... Even I have to admit to serial dating other people in my sport....we used to do a senior and junior aphrodite award...it generally goes to the person who had the most memorable makeout, or made out with the most people. Its a sports thing.

I don't think it matters if the girls could have done anything about it or not. To me, this is not about punishing the athletes, but punishing the country of China. Every other country followed the rules, and only sent gymnasts that met ALL the requirements, including age. China should not get to stand on top of that medal stand and accept a medal if they did not follow the rules.

In the 60's-80's, the German government manufactured steroids for their Olympic athletes to use in competition. As rules got stricter about using substances in training, the government continued to develop new types of steroids so that their athletes could use them and not be detected. You can read more about it here:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9D0CE1DA1731F930A35751C1A967958260

Those athletes have now been stripped of their medals. I think that is the only right thing to do. I'm sorry if it hurts the athletes feelings, but there is a bigger picture. If people who don't follow the rules are allowed to win gold medals this year, then what's gong to stop another country from breaking the rules in 2012?

The bottom line is- CHEATING IS WRONG, and nobody should be given a gold medal for cheating, even if their government made them do it. Maybe if the Chinese government gets enough of it's unfairly awarded medals taken away, it will start following the same rules that the rest of the world has to follow.

Jess - well that does make sense...is too late to be an athlete dya think? ;) and the communism yeh, it's odd you completely forget how other countries work, I was told in Cuba they can't be completely pro! They're just not allowed and have to do another job too so maybe it's the same in China. You just don't think about it everyday and it makes me feel a bit sick actually.

This will sound soooooooo biased but I can't see anyone in the London Olympics 2012 cheating, at least not from the GB team, but yeh I'm just being biased...go us!

Somehow I think in China the opposite would be true Queeny, they would have to do training ALL the time and nothing else.

Yeah in China they tend to start training them from about three, they're trained every day and then when they to ten, they decide which can go on and which can't, then the training gets even harder. It's extreme

aaaah, oo i feel silly lol

To be honest, cheating is at EVERY olympics, EVERY sporting event, amateur or otherwise. Its sad but true, and no matter how many people you mark as cheating, they always find newer better ways of cheating. Look at Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, and that wasn't just on an individual level.

And Queenfairypants it is never too late to be an athlete

I can barely run to our local shop, 2 mins away!!!! lol no I can really, I used to always want to do swimming, I'm too self concious for it now, might take up kick boxing when i have the money for the classes though