Gymnastics is one of those Olympic sports that I literally only pay attention to during this quadrennial celebration of sport, and I probably wouldn't mind if NBC didn't broadcast so much of it in future games. That being said, the brouhaha over He Kaxin and her fellow Chinese gymnasts' ages lead me to ask the IOC and FIG this:
WHY ARE YOU ASKING THE CHINESE!?!?
Let's backtrack a bit. First, before the Olympics, FIG (the international gymnastics governing body) examined the Chinese-issued competition passports of the Chinese gymnastics team, which stated all of their team's athletes were 16, and thus eligible, even amid the swirl of suspicion that those ages may not be true; a Danny Almonte case in reverse.
A few days ago, new media investigative reports brought these age issues back into question. Now, put yourself in the FIG Investigator's shoes. In the case that new evidence arises that puts these same issues in doubt again, should you go check the same source for different documents and stop there, or should you examine other legitimate records?
Obviously, if a fraud is being perpetrated, the perpetrators, if they're worth anything, should backtrack to forge what is necessary in case of investigation; in this case, birth certificates. So why stop there? I'm almost certain that gymnastics has a World Junior Championships event for athletes not age-eligible for this highest level of competition. Wouldn't you have records from that stating the ages of the competitors there? Wouldn't a gymnast in line for an eventual spot on a national team have competed there? Again, I have to pose these as questions because, as I said, I don't follow gymnastics outside of the Olympics, nor do I care to.
It seems to me the logic used in this case is to take the accusation, ask the accused to provide their own evidence in refute, and if they produce valid proof clear their name without any cross-examination. It is that lack of an extra validity check that has me questioning these findings, and odds are if news does break that China cheated in this case, you can surely bet that it won't come with the spotlight on.
12 years ago
