So it seems the IOC is going to do an investigation and possibly strip He's medals.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/bei...urn=oly,102564

What sucks is it isn't this girl's fault. It is the government's fault for forging her age. Even if it is proved she's underage, she's a hell of a gymnast and did help get her team gold.

I think this is the key part: "Assuming the IOC is committed to a real investigation and not some dog and pony show"

This is an article from July about the Chinese gymnasts' ages.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sp...=1&oref=slogin
"Zhang Hongliang, an official with the Chinese gymnastics federation, said Friday that perhaps Chinese reporters and provincial sports authorities made mistakes in listing He’s and Jiang’s birth dates differently from the dates given on their passports."

So if the IOC isn't doing a real investigation (i.e. they're only going through the charade of an investigation to try to quiet criticism of the IOC), I could see China claiming that the spreadsheets on the Chinese government website also had typos...even though it's clearly obvious to everyone around the world what the truth is. And with the Chinese government control of media and documents, who is going to be able to prove for sure that the government website didn't have typos? Unless, there is a whistle-blower from inside...but we all know that that's going to be highly unlikely.

I say both feelings are accurate.

Agreed.

This headline from yesterday made me particularly sick:

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...834474,00.html

Basically: two Chinese women in their late 70s had their homes condemned to build parts of the Olympic complex. They were given substandard housing to make up for it, but promised better housing later. They never got it.

So they decided to file an application to publicly protest their treatment during the Olympics. China had promised it would allow its citizens to protest (in an organized fashion, in designated places, after having applied) during the Olympics.

The two women were denied because their protest application was "inappropriate" and now they are being sentenced to a year in labor camps.

Disgusting. DISGUSTING.

^^^That seriously makes me want to throw up. And by participating and oohing and aahing over all the razzle dazzle and not "seeing" things like this or taking a stand against it, like it or not, the entire world's stage is guilty by association.

Both. How ever I just do not see much, if anything, ever coming out of this.
IF there is a True investigation, it will not be done prior to the closing on Saturday. Thus metal counts stand in full publicity.
And changes in results afterward just will never have any kind of impact. And that is if the investigation does causes any kind of change.
And just who in their right mind is going to sign off on a investigation that will cause the lost of face to not only several layers and levels of public and private sectors but an entire country? A country where losing face is a matter of honor and death.
Thus I just do not see anything ever happening in public.

Actually, you'll notice in the article that the IOC is NOT performing an investigation...they're asking the FIG to conduct the investigation. Then they can say, we're not the bad guys (and taking kick-backs from the Chinese)...it's the FIG who did it. :rolleyes:

It's probably going to be a total bullshit investigation and likely nothing will happen, but it's better than nothing I guess.

I'm really not loving the NBC guy at the track and field events, the one who is asking the post-race questions. It's a bit too sensationalistic and a bit too disrepectful of the athletes for my taste. Not just the bit just now with Jeremy Wariner, but the whole past week. He's been my least favorite part of the whole games.

(I should say I am assuming it's been the same guy all week - I don't know for sure, I just know that the NBC guy at the track is the only one of all the post-event reporters that has rubbed me the wrong way. So if there have been multiple people, then all the track people are the ones that bug me.)

^^ No kidding. I was actually stunned at something he said to Tyson Gaye: (on dropping the baton) "Would you say this represents your whole year?" :eek:

Would you like to make a wager whether those medals are actually stripped?

I don't mean a "friendly" wager either - I'll send cash to escrow, I think Kevin would be a fine candidate.

The age of the girls in China will be impossible to prove/disprove. The government can fabricate any documents that they want and it's far easier to say other things were wrong but the 'official' documents are correct. It's he says/she says. Those medals won't be stripped.

Wow...they didn't even pretend to care...the "investigation" is already over:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/bei...yhoo&type=lgns

Looks like China feels that the only reason their "women" are having their ages questioned if because of the close rivalry with the US. What happen to good sportsmanship in the games?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olym...cs/7575929.stm

DaffyKD

IMHO i don't think that the rivalry has anything to do with the gymnasts age being questioned.. (For a country that can falsify documents and make webpages containing incriminating information disappear China has to come up with a better excuse than that) there's no doubt that those Chinese gymnasts are amazing but at the same time if I were on the U.S. women's team if i were to get beat I would prefer for it to happen legally (with all the participants being the right age)as opposed to by a nation that would do anything to win gold..
and for the "investigation" to already be over is pretty ridiculous... i don't know what's worse the world knowing that those Chinese women didn't truly deserve the medal or the fact that the Chinese are still trying to maintain a lie that has already caught up to them