Chinese Gymnasts Underage? Maybe Not.

Are the 2008 Chinese Olympic gymnasts underage? Maybe not.

This gymnastics video is an excerpt from the documentary film "Dream Weavers 2008" (Zhu Meng 2008). It was the opening film of the 11th Shanghai Film Festival that ran from June 14-22, 2008. (Yes, the same film festival that actress Sharon Stone was banned from attending!) The documentary, which took director Gu Jun seven years to make, captures events leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and how various lives were affected by this major international event in China.

[00:00] The video begins with a scene where Grandmother Guo Guilan is having one last New Year's eve dinner at home with her family. Her ancestral house, a place where her family has lived for three generations, will soon be demolished due to construction of Olympic Park. Very sad, but the scene was included only to establish the date, which is clearly shown in the first 4 seconds to be February 1, 2003. (Note: The documentary presented events in strict chronological order. Although not shown in this video, the next date that appears in the documentary is during the National Stadium design competition on the 3rd of March. One can therefore conclude with certainty that what appears in this video occurred sometime between February 1 and March 3, 2003.)

[00:34] The scene switches to the training gymnasium of the National Olympic Team.

[00:49] Narrator states that the girls are "eligible for international competitions at age sixteen."

[00:51] The person jumping onto the uneven bars is clearly future Chinese Olympic Gymnastic Team member, Deng Linlin

[00:58] Narrator states that "the National Gymnastic Association began the 2008 Olympic selection process as early as 2003."

[01:09] The Chairman of the National Gymnastic Association, Gao Jian, states that the purpose of the training event is to "select women gymnasts of the appropriate age for the 2008 Olympics."

[01:21] Four of the gymnasts state their names: Jiang Yuyuan, Nai Ruoyu, Shi Juan, Li Hanghai. Of the four, only Jiang Yuyuan eventually competed in the Olympics.

[01:26] The interviewer actually asks the girls for their ages!!! Their answers are: Nai Ruoyu "10", Jiang Yuyuan "12", Shi Juan "13", and "11" for Li Hanghai. The girls have absolutely no reason to lie at this point. None of them are on the National Team yet and the age controversy is still many years away.

There you have it! If Jiang Yuyuan was 12 in 2003, that would make her 17 in 2008 (possibly even 18!). In addition, one can also come to a reasonable conclusion that each of the other girls who stated her age will be old enough to compete in 2008. (Yes, even Nai Ruoyu at age 10. She does not need to turn 16 before the Olympics to qualify. The official FIG rules only require that a gymnast turn 16 in the same year as the competition.) Why are the ages of the other girls important when they didn't even appear in the Olympics? Well, it serves to confirm the Gymnastic Chairman's statement about the purpose of the event - to "select women gymnasts of the appropriate age for the 2008 Olympics." As a result, not only is Jiang Yuyuan vindicated, but one can also logically clear Deng Linlin, even if we don't know her exact age, just by the fact that she was present at the event.

At this point, some of the more "well-informed" might point out that Jiang Yuyuan's age still does not match her passport or other "official" documents found online. (First, she is too young, now she is too old. She just can't seem to win!) To them, I would suggest that they understand that the Beijing 2008 Olympics could have just as easily been called the Beijing 4705 Olympics. Aren't people forgetting that the Chinese traditional calendar is still being used alongside the internationally accepted Gregorian calendar? (Remember Grandma Guo and her New Year's dinner?...in February???) In addition, there exists in a number of Asian countries something called "xusui," a concept that the Western media seem to have absolutely no clue about.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_age_reckoning )

Might not conversions between these two factors account for some of the discrepancies reported in the media, not only for the women gymnasts, but other Chinese athletes as well?

It would seem that Bela Karolyi (and anyone else who took his opinions to be fact) was wrong about the ages of at least 2 out of the 3 accused gymnasts. This video proves nothing in the case of He Kexin because she doesn't appear in it. This is unfortunate because it is she that is target of the brunt of the accusations. However, in light of what we now know, is it not within the realm of possibility that we might be mistaken about her as well? Until more conclusive evidence turns up, let's all try to keep an open mind.

(UPDATE: The FIG concluded on Oct. 1, 2008 that China did not enter any underage gymnasts at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.)

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Chinese
• gymnasts
• gymnastics
• age
• controversy
• 2008
• Olympic
• Beijing
• China
• Jiang
• Yuyuan
• Deng
• Linlin
• He
• Kexin

[bikerOGX]

@jarileigh

"So when you see that creepy 27 year old guy walking in the mall wearing a Hollister Co. t-shirt, try not to laugh too hard. He's just having a Hollister Life Crisis."

[bikerOGX]

@jarileigh 3 words: Hollister Life Crisis

"A type of mid-life crisis where persons over the age of 18, but usually in their mid-20s to early-30s, start to freak out that they are aging and not getting any younger, so they compensate by wearing Hollister Co. clothing. Bear in mind that Hollister Co., by the company's own definition, sells apparel targeted to the 14 to 18 year old age demographic."

[bikerOGX]

@celebfan09 Did you understand the part where it says "or turning 16 within the calendar year"????? I mean, if you're going to criticize others for not following the rules, maybe you should f**king understand the rules first, dumbass.

[AndromedaAiken]

@celebfan09 You're welcome!

[celebfan09]

@bikerOGX Why don't YOU read the rulebook... it clearly says "currently, as per the 1997 regulation, gymnasts must be at least 16 years of age, or turning 16 within the calendar year, to compete in senior-level events.."

[celebfan09]

@AndromedaAiken Oh yeah. Duh. Thanks for correcting me in such a polite way, unlike bikerOGX!

[AndromedaAiken]

@celebfan09 Her birthday may not have been reached yet.

[julie1995able]

Jiang Yuyuan !!

[ThePinkGigi10]

It Chinese!!

[StoneScreamer000]

Reminds me of home :) good old days

[bikerOGX]

@celebfan09 WTF are you talking about? There were lots of 15 year old gymnasts legally competing in the 2008 Olympics. Stop being ignorant and read the rulebook.

[CrazyPandaify]

There are 11, 12, 13 and 10 year olds at victors, no one is young enough to do gymnastics, I'm 9 and I do it, level 5.