There have been a lot of people calling for an investigation into the age of several Chinese gymnasts. Many of these people didn't seem to care about how old they were until they started to beat U.S. gymnasts and win gold medals.
My take is this: an important part of sports is that the rules be respected. The international body that makes rules for gymnasts has determined that they need to be at least 16 to compete in the Olympics. And the IOC has determined that a passport is an acceptable document for an athlete to use as proof of age. In the case of the Chinese gymnasts, it is possible that these two rules might be in conflict. There is evidence that the girls are actually younger than 16. But they have valid passports that say otherwise. And since they are
valid passports they are acceptable to prove age, even if they contain incorrect information.
What would I do? Two things.
1) Change the rules going forward to state that documents like passports will be accepted
but if valid proof surfaces that the documents contain incorrect information the athlete may be subject to removal from the games.
2) Do a thorough investigation into the ages of the Chinese gymnasts. If they are found to be over 16, great. If not, they lose their medals and are banned from participating in future Olympics. Any other result would be contrary to the spirit of sportsmanship that the Olympics are about.
Of course the proof would have to be conclusive...otherwise, the investigation would have to side with the Chinese gymnasts.
On another note, did you see the stories about the
Cuban and
Swedish athletes that were thrown out of the Olympics? Just had to shake my head.
