IOC and cheating ChiComs revisited
Last week, I took the crouching IOC to task for looking the other way at the cheating Chicoms’ female gymnasts of questionable age. The panel has taken a baby step toward investigating the scandal. The Times of London reports:
The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete.
An IOC official told The Times that because of “discrepancies” that have come to light about the age of He Kexin, the host nation’s darling who won gold in both team and individual events, an official inquiry has been launched that could result in the gymnast being stripped of her medals.
The investigation was triggered as a US computer expert claimed today to have uncovered Chinese government documents that he says prove she is only 14 - making her ineligible to compete in the Olympics - rather than 16, as officials in Beijing insist is her age.
Mike Walker, a computer security expert, told The Times how he tracked down two documents that he says had been removed from a Chinese government website. The documents, he said, stated that He’s birth date was January 1 1994 - making her 14 - and not January 1 1992, which is printed in her passport…
…Giselle Davies, an IOC spokesperson, said tonight that because of troubling new developments, the committee had instructed the International Gymnastics Federation, the sport’s governing body, to investigate.
Hackers are stripping away the ChiComs’ whitewash:
Hackers have unearthed more compelling evidence that China’s dual-gold medal winning gymnast He Kexin is underaged and should have been barred from competing at the Olympics.
A US-based internet security consultant and part-time hacker calling himself “Stryde Hax” has trawled through the search results on Google, Google China and the Chinese search engine Baidu, unearthing numerous examples of cached official Excel spreadsheets showing He Kexin listed as being born on January 1, 1994…
…Stryde Hax claims to work for the US-based Intrepidus Group, a provider of information security consulting services. His findings have been meticulously laid out in his blog with links and screenshots to prove and preserve his findings.
“Much of the coverage regarding Kexin’s age has only mentioned ‘allegation’ of fraud, and the IOC has ignored the matter completely. I believe that these primary documents, issued by the Chinese state, directly available from China by clicking on the links above rise to a level of evidence higher than ‘allegations’,” he writes.
“How official are these documents? Pretty dang official - they were issued by the General Administration of Sport of China.”
Here’s the Stryde Hax blog.
***
Related: The ChiComs vs. the press.
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Hacking the Great Firewall of China
I blame DIEBOLD for those flaky gymnastics scores!
Oh this is going to make China lose Face, something they really hate.
Excellent!
It’s Cheney’s fault (I thought GW deserved a break).
Good job Stryde Hax.
Very Good Alaskangrizzly! Very good indeed. Funny stuff.
It won’t matter.
They’ll deny, deny, deny. Lie, lie, lie.
I can’t take credit for that, I didn’t make it up. But thanks anyhow. Hackers have taken China’s extreme censorship and firewalls as a personal challenge in hacking skill for a long time now.
This can only turn out bad for the gymnast. Looking at the picture of the gymnasts I would have guessed not one of them was over 8 years old anyway.
Or they’ll punish the gymnast.
Sandy Berger was seen leaving the Chinese olimpic committee office at 3:00 am. LOL
Good to be back but i miss my granddaughter already. We had great time on the harley and plan on it again next year.
China is a cheat. They have lost face. Does this mean they must comitt Hari Cari ?? LOL
I saw an article this morning. The guy stated that Google’s cache was cleaned and fould the info in a Chinese search engine cache. You know Google’s not gonna do the Chicoms wrong.
Since when was John Edwards a consultant for the Chinese Guvmint?
It’s so hard to keep up with all the lies!
Oh, well, she is 16 in CHINESE years..
quite different from real years..
I guess maybe if they were Japanese soldiers from WWII. WTF?
On the bright side, I understand that TV viewing of gymnastics has been up among the pedophile demographic.
Oh, you mean the liberal demographic because of the 14 year olds. I get it!
Funny…
Next we need to explore doping allegations, I don’t know of any country that can produce that many gold metal winning female weightlifters. Have you seen the count??
I have a question.
If this pans out and, in fact, the passport(s) of the Chinese gymnast(s) were doctored in order to provide false evidence of their age, doesn’t this mean that the Chinese state must have been complicit in the fraud? (obviously, yes).
If that is the case, on what basis do we trust anything coming out of the Chinese government regarding these Olympics? Obviously they lied about improving human rights, providing freedom of internet and press coverage, providing Olympic athletes access to the religious services of their choice yadda yadda yadda…
Some may say that the above lies are “just politics” and don’t reflect on the purity of sport that is represented by the Olympic movement, as manifested by the unsullied IOC.
Fine…but now isn’t it fair to ask, if the State apparatus could be moved to provide false passport documentation (a document which has important legal implications under international law) then maybe that same apparatus might be also moved to ensure that organized blood doping/steroid and other chemical enhancers could have been used by Chinese athletes without detection by anti-doping agencies? Doesn’t it raise questions about the complicity of the Chinese government in other possible cheating, and about the legitimacy of the results of Chinese athletes?
Just asking.
I asked my HAL 9000 super-computer:
“Which is more warped, hysterical, and congenitally obsessive, the ChiComs or Keith Olberdoom?”
Sparks flew, and it immediately melted into a massive puddle of useless silicon.
I just saw a snipet on the ESPN ticker that Equestrian was busted for doping, need to see it go by again, not sure who yet, or if it was horse or rider…
my guess is horse but who knows the way they are doing things over there they may have tested the stable boy.
ok, says four teams suspended, 1 from norways bronze medal winner, may have medal stripped. it’s kind of vague right now…..
“Horse Doping”
Ha! Maybe they were just seasoning them.
Good thing they weren’t using Ben Gay - or it would be a whole different scandal.
Commies have always had a sordid relationship with the Olympics when it comes to “women” athletes.
I remember many years ago National Lampoon did a spoof on Playboy Magazine titled, “Girls of the Communist Bloc.” The East German “girl” was a mannish-looking sort who confronted the photographer this way:
As for real-life examples of commie “Better Living Through Chemistry” athletes, my favorites were the Chinese “female” athletes who showed up at Sydney with enough facial hair that they could’ve made a passable run at growing beards.
Now, they’re just playing fun-n-games with age verifications. That’s “progress” I suppose.
“More Doping”
geeze.
Gee, fireworks, singing kids, athlete’s ages, …
I wonder what HASN’T been faked.
Will the Chinese be giving the medals back??????
Well, I’m pretty sure you can add NBC to that list also.
This
or even
This
I’m glad to see the issue being investigated. I do not expect the Chinese to say “Oh My Goodness, what have we done?!” At least, it is being looked into.
I don’t understand the age limit of 16. Nadia was only 14 in ‘76. Some of the US girls in ‘96 were 15. So why was the age limit instituted?
Usually sports with age limits try to keep older kids from competing in younger divisions, like little league baseball. It seems odd to have a sport where you keep younger people out who are better than the older competitors. If Olympic gymnastics is supposed to represent the state of the art, why keep out some of the best performers?
What makes me mad is that the IOC knew that these girls were underage the whole time and they wait until they events are over to “look into it”. The American gymnasts can’t get their moment now and the Chinese girls are not the ones at fault here and they will be humiliated in their country. They gave up (not willingly) the last year of their lives with no breaks at all and the IOC lets them compete and now, they have decided it is worth a look. This is incompetency at best.
The HORSES are randomly tested ASA they come out of the ring or off the courses…
The Olympics-as a whole- do not hold any excitement for me after so many incidents of drug and ______ abuse over the years.
I do admire the attitude of Phelps - and congratulate him on his record setting swims and his GOLDS!!!!!
PS the US 3-day (HORSES and RIDERS!!! )team won the gold…..!!!!!
If they do end of stripping the medals, there’s no glory for the American team in receiving them. How sordid.
Just a guess, but maybe some countries with 18 year old gymnasts but no 14 year old gymnasts like Nadia thought it was a good idea. I say drop the rule.
The age requirement for Montreal was 14 (Nadia), it was raised to 15 in the 80’s and finally 16.
This was explained as younger girls are still growing and developing, so to ensure proper physical and mental growth and keep the athelete from harm…
..ing the chances of countries with lesser athletes.
Can we please clarify something:
These guys are not hackers. They just know how to use search engines.
But this is great news! If Kexin is 16, I am Mickey Mouse.
AlohaGuy,
Thank you for completing the rest of the sentence for me.
When (and if) this all shakes out, it’ll be a real crappy way to be awarded a gold medal.
Who wants to bet that the IOC accepts the Chinese passports as proof? This is the 2nd time the IOC has investigated this same little girl!
Right wired, you don’t want to be Mickey, he was just arrested.
common sense would tell you the age change was to benefit the growth of the young athletes, as it should be.
I.O.C is a division of the U.N…true to form both inept and incompetent.
I don’t know anything about the Chinese, but I am interested in the horses who were suspended for doping. I remember back in the day horses had more responsibility and more self respect. Apparently the pressure to perform has become too much for them. Not to mention, the media, tv and movies all play up the more slender, athletic horses as the ones for a young colt or filly to model themselves after, which is just not realistic.
While the Chinese are obviously cheating, I just regret the demise of the once proud horse, oh well.
I’d go along with you except no one worries that they practice. If it was for their health, maybe they’d ban the 6 - 10 hour a day practice sessions. The Chinese start at age 3, Shawn Johnson at age 6…course they’re both 4′ 9″, so maybe…
I blame Budweiser. They all want to be Clydesdales, so their trainers offer them stearoats…
the commies got caught Chi-ting again? this is news? (meh, wish it were…)
Whatever. If the Chinese can use 14 year olds, so should everyone else. Right?
Agreed…I question the intensity of training a yr or 2 before the Olympics and what effect it has on those young bodies…specifically the Chinese at 13 and 14 training 50 plus hours a week. Shawn Johnson’s coach trains her 1/2 what the norm is for those athletes…25 hours a week.
Vindication for everybody who saw those tots and thought “no way.” They looked like little girls who got into mom’s makeup drawer.
Enjoy it while it lasts, because I suspect this is only a token investigation. The IOC can no longer appear to be sitting idley by, but they don’t want to shame China. Beijing 2008 is the IOC’s baby.
The other competitors can be proud of their upgraded medals. Just as doping provides an unfair advantage, so too does youth in women’s gymnastics.
I’d like to mention the accomplishment of one Stephanie Brown-Trafton, you’ll find her on the 5th page of your local sports news for winning the 1st U.S. Women’s Discus gold in 88 years.
Hats off to the woman…congratulations.
The rule was instituted to protect the girls from being exploited at extremely young ages to win medals… which is easy to understand if you know anything about how the current host country
discoversabducts and “trains” its gymnists.Younger girls are more flexible because they have not yet finished maturing. Thus in gymnastics, they have the edge against older competitors. However heavy competition during early years can damage the still growing bones and result in permanent injuries.
I found it interesting that one of their own gymnists slipped up in an interview with reporters when she revealed that she hadn’t seen her family in over a year. When asked if her parents were there, she said she didn’t know… and that she wanted to go home, but wasn’t allowed to. When the reporter asked if she would see them on a holiday, she said she wasn’t given holidays off. She hadn’t had a single day off in the last year of training.
I forget, are we still supposed to be against forced servitude and slavery in this day and age? Or is that an outdated concept?
The minimum age for female gymnasts was increased from 14 to 15 in 1981, and up to 16 in 1997, to protect the physical and mental health of young athletes
From an article from Times online
The only thing they did wrong was win. Had they lost, nobody would care.
There are no such age restrictions on other sports. The diver who just won was 15, there was another 14 year old too. Get rid of the age rule and let the best athlete win.
I’d hate to think that the olympic champion isn’t as good as someone younger than they were. If I were Olympic champion, I wouldn’t want to win because someone better was too young.
If a 10 year old could win the 100 m dash, they’d be the fastest person on the planet. The age rule is dumb. It wouldn’t matter if they hadn’t won.
LOL
Kexin got her fake passport at the same factory which made Osama’s long lost birth certificate.
Sweet developments!
I’m so pissed off at the circus that the IOC is currently that I refuse to watch this Olympics.
First rule to the (potential) China watchers is that you do not trust anything the CCP says.
Great…FINALLY…now maybe they will also start looking into the corrupt judges and how they were able to issue Gold Medals for gymnasts who fell off of apparatus, divers who totally blew their routines and others who so blatantly screwed up their events, yet were awarded far higher scores than they deserved, causing even he TV broadcast announcers to comment on how wrong and way off the points and judging was.
But i won’t hold my breath.
Welp it looks like this was merely an attempt to wet our tongues for justice and nothing more. Apparently there is “no evidence” and the IOC hopes this will be put to rest now.
..in other news, the IOC has also ruled on the Columbia noose evidence. No, I repeat, no alleged underage Chinese gymnasts hung a noose on any Columbia Professor’s door. Tonight’s soundtrack is “You Cheated, You Lied” by the Shangri-Las.
Just goes to show you that Ronald Reagan was right, when it comes to communists: “Trust, but verify.”
The reason this rule of 16+ only was instituted was specifically for preventing repressive regimes like China from exploiting children. Oh, well.
I don’t think stripping the Chinese youth of their medals will in itself do any good. They gave good performances, so let them keep their gold. They’ve been exploited, but the girls themselves earned it.
Having said that… the price of gold is high these days. I think the price for these golds should be the following: the IOC should ban the Chinese women’s gymnastics team (and individuals) from competing in the 2012 Olympics. They should then refer their files to the governing body of international gymnastics competition, whatever that is, for further action for competitions between now and 2012.
Well, I suppose this will be portrayed as just another example of evil, white republicans picking on poor children of color.
Freakin’ ChiComs. There is evidence. They aren’t willing to a) hand it over b) confirm it.
It’s pathetic to see this is how low the Chinese have to stoop to beat the Americans.
My sentiments exactly. China is caught cheating, but it’ll be the gymnast’s fault because she did something wrong. That’s how it is in a totalitarian state. It’s never the state’s fault. Ever.
There is a news story on Yahoo; the IOC says they have found no proof of ChiCom wrongdoing! What planet do these people like Jacques Rogge live on?
So now we can all see the direction this is going to be heading…not that it was that difficult. They are now going to be screaming “racism” and “Ethno-centricity” See, it is all because we Americans think “they all look aloke”, thereby deflecting it away from the truth. After all, we wouldn’t want to appear racist, now, would we? Just by pointing out that these three look 12, inclusing the babyteeth shows that we, as a society, are nothing but racist bastards, and refuse to accept their ethnic differences.
And who do you think will pick up the “Racist Flag” and lead the charge for that claim? Why I expect any number of Liberal Activists to take off and run with this claim at any moment now that the Chinese coach has planted the seed openly.
IMHO, two big points:
1. We should *not* make this only about the little girl and whether or not she should keep her medal. We absolutely need to *shame* the Chinese over this, tell the government that they have caused shame to be brought upon the Chinese people.
Attack the core of the legitimacy of the PRC government to represent the Chinese people around the world.
Is shame dead as a concept? When it comes to the Chinese at least, I don’t think so.
2. We should not demand from the IOC that the little Chinese girl be stripped of her medal, or another one awarded, etc. That won’t get it done.
We do need to demand from the IOC that EITHER (1) the little girl be stripped of her medal; OR (2) the IOC remove age limits altogether from the gymnastics competition, and all other sports, on the *accepted premise* (not subject to dithering or equivocation by IOC members!) that, after the Beijing incident, no sovereign government can be relied upon to issue valid documentation of age, and such removal of age limits must remain in place until the *IOC* is able to determine someone’s actual biological age (through some new technology, should it ever be invented, etc. etc. etc.).
(cont’d)
Press the IOC on this, and press them and press them and press them, and do not give up.
The two options are key; without a 2nd option, and with the humiliation of the Chinese gymnast as the only way out, the IOC is more likely to balk and plead powerlessness with the almighty Chinese gov’t, and once again beg the world to live with a open double-standard (that everyone acknowledges under their breath but doesn’t state offically).
This way, by insisting that *one* of the two actions be taken, removes that excuse and forces the IOC either to comply with one of them, or else to state openly that there is a double-standard between democracies and lying Potemkin regimes, that the IOC acknowledges it, and will in fact be enforcing that double-standard from now on.
I am glad that it is being investigated. The first night I watched I questioned the age. I do feel sorry for the gymnast as it seems that they will be blamed/punished.