China: He Kexin and “babygate”

Imagethief picks up the debate on the age issue of He Kexin, the golden girl of Chinese gymnastics, and notices a cold-war double standard in some of the mainstream media report with a story plot of Ours=plucky, heroic achievers. Theirs=manufactured robots/slaves/dopers.

38 comments

  • Terry

    He Kexin is no more that 12 years old. Her hip and muscular structure are those of a very young girl. China should immediately give back the gold medals and remove the entire cheating Chinese gymnastics teams. Of course, the Chinese Gymnastics coach will have make a full apology to the world. He may have been under intense political pressure to win gold. I feel sorry for him.

  • caroline

    True true america did good :! bt its jst sad tht they lost. poor smerica BUT china won fair and square. asian girls tend to look younger then they actually are. i’ve had girls of 21 in my class and they looked about 15 / 16. its natural and they grow old slower. there is no proof of them being underage its all just judging them by their looks. The IOC nd FIG had evidence which were photos of He Kexin and her teammates in year 1992 wwhen she was born. there are brth certificates and schooling certoficates. they are al within age limit and americans like us should learn to be better losers even tho that sounds harsh but it is true. we’re trying to take away their victory and become sore losers but we should all let it go. theres no way china’s gymnasts are underage. theres evidence to therfore . just forget about it. They deserve the gold medals . they won fair and square.

  • Peter

    He Kexin certainly looks under 16 but then why didn’t the people look into this earlier!Oh wait, she has the gold, let’s take it from her!Whatever the result of the investigation is people should question why it wasn’t looked into earlier if its such an issue.I’m not entirely convinced all the gymnasts are the right age,I even heard a commentator say a Russian gymnast is 15 years of age!But she didn’t win a medal so no probes there! HMPH!

    Even if China loses it’s medals for the women
    a)The men dominated more than enough to say China takes the gymnastics overall!
    b)China still comes out on top on the medal tables!
    c)China’s been a brilliant host!
    d)For once in my life the US doesn’t dominate the games!

  • angela

    It’s a little hard to believe that the Chinese girls are of legal age when one of them is still losing teeth. That usually stops around the age of 10-12. As for the 15-year-old Romanian girl, she probably turns 16 in this calendar year. Therefore, she is eligible to compete. Yes, China has the gold but at what cost to fair play. I don’t think it’s a matter of America getting the gold, but the fairness of the games. By the way, did anyone notice how the judges padded the scores of the Chinese ladies in gymnastics??? Other gymnasts would take a small hop on a landing, and the scores would drop several tenths of a point. The Chinese ladies would fall to their knees and their score would maybe drop a couple of hundredths of a point. How is that possible??? Can it be that they favored the home team???

  • Knights

    “The Chinese ladies would fall to their knees and their score would maybe drop a couple of hundredths of a point. How is that possible??? Can it be that they favored the home team???”

    It’s the degree of difficulty that counts. On the uneven bars, He Kexin did something that no one did in gynastics. It’s called invention of a new style, where Nastia just did the usual routine. I rather see someone does a difficult and unique skill and maybe wobble a bit on the landing than someone who does a boring routine skill and land perfectly. He deserved the gold. The commentator admitted that the release skill He did on uneven bars was incredible! By the way, the judges are NOT Chinese, so how can they be biased. If they were biased, they would have given more points to Americans since they are western democratic countries. There must be something that we laymen don’t understand when we only expect a perfect landing, but to the judges it’s much more than that.

  • Ben

    Get real, folks. Might is right. Get mighty and maybe then you’d be right also.

  • angela

    Isn’t the perfect landing what was emphasized by those commendators that you listened to during these games??? I heard more about landings than I did about original and innovative skills. It would be nice if gymnastics had definitive scoring like swimming, but it doesn’t. It is very subjective. I’ve watched my own children be scored by judges who really missed what they were seeing. I guess that’s part of the game. We can’t do anything about it. GO LONDON 2012!!!!!

  • knights

    Well, you have been fooled by the American commentators. We heard about creepy news network controversy right? So I am not surprised. Thank God I watched live in the audience. My sis watched from TV, and she said they mentioned about the unique skills and the perfect landings.

    Instead of complaining about 2008 olympics, just go visit China. It was breathtakingly mesmerizing. I feel like I am coming back from heaven. Ah China my beloved motherland!

  • Oliver

    The issue isn’t WHO wins, but whether the win was fairly earned. The U.S., Russia, Romania, and many others could have put in a bunch of 14 year olds, but didn’t.

    According to an AP story, “younger gymnasts are considered to have an advantage because they are more flexible and are likely to have an easier time doing the tough skills the sport requires. They also aren’t as likely to have a history of injuries or fear of failure.”

    I am not saying the rule is a good one, only that the rules must be applied to everyone. If not, then let’s do away with all the doping and performance enhancement rules and let everyone do want they want.

    Remember, there are gymnasts who have spent a lifetime to compete here (and may never get another chance). Think of the fourth place winners who played by the rules and could have won a medal.

  • Sue from Sarasota, FL

    First of all to caroline-learn how to type and spell. It is very annoying when you post something for all to read and it makes you look like someone who does not care how others see you!
    Second of all- several of the Chinese girls look very young. There should be an investigation. Is it true that in China they take your conception date as the birth date as opposed to your actual birth date? Something to think about.
    Third of all-the judges should not be judging their own country. If China was on the mat to perform then another country judge should step in. Simple as that. This way there is no favoritism.
    If there is cheating going on by China, (or any other country) then they should be stripped of their medals for that sport and banned from any Olympics for four years.
    I for one have no desire to go to China. I like my life and I’m happy to be in a country where you can speak your mind and have free will to do things as you wish!
    GO USA!!!!!!!

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