Hand Over the Gold, China

Today, in news you’ll never believe: That 11 year-old looking Chinese gymnast girl is actually 13. I still find it hard to imagine that she’s even that old, but either way, that’s below the 16 year-old Olympic age limit. From the AP:↵↵⇥Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin [pictured] was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.↵⇥↵⇥In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of “10 big new stars” who made a splash at China’s Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.↵⇥

↵↵It’s pretty obvious that He, and probably half the Chinese team, are under 16, but the trick is proving it. This becomes slightly problematic when you have a communist government willing to alter legal documents in order to win medals at all costs. But, if China does ever decide to end this little charade and admit that the girl(s) are underage, then I suppose the gold would be handed over to the Americans, who won silver in the team event. That seems likely to happen. You know, right after they become a Democratic state with free press and such.↵