Hacker exposes alleged Olympics age fraud

A security researcher has unearthed evidence via Google and its Chinese counterpart that supports claims that several Chinese gymnasts are younger than they should be for competing.

The New York Times was probably the first to report about digital evidence that the Chinese athletes are underage.

"Online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, however, seem to contradict the passport information, indicating that He (Kexin) and Jiang (Yuyuan) may be as young as 14--two years below the Olympic limit," stated the Times article, posted about three weeks ago.

Then last week, the Associated Press found evidence of its own--a Xinhua state news agency report listing He's age as 13 just nine months before the Olympics began. The AP saved a copy of the Web page, which it said could not be accessed later in the day.

Stryde uses Google Translate on a document found in the Baidu search engine indicating that Chinese Olympic gymnast He Kexin was born in 1994 and thus below the required age to compete in the Beijing Games. Click the image above for a larger version.

(Credit: Stryde)

This week security researcher "Stryde Hax" detailed his findings about discrepancies in the gymnasts' ages that he found via his own Internet searches. The data he gathered bolsters the claims made by the Times and the AP.

Stryde, who says he is a consultant at security firm Intrepidus Group, wrote on Tuesday about how he searched Chinese Web sites for Excel spreadsheets containing "He Kexin" and "1994," which is her alleged birthday, according to some of the uncovered Internet evidence.

Stryde found only one result, on an official Chinese government sports site, but when the result was clicked on, the page had been removed, and He's name had been removed from the cached results.

Stryde had a similar experience searching on Baidu, China's most popular search engine, except that he found that two spreadsheets with the 1994 birth year for He remained in the cache. He asked readers to mirror the caches and post them online to thwart attempts by the Chinese government to deny the existence of the evidence.

On Wednesday, Stryde had a follow-up entry on his blog, in which he details what happened when he ran his search on Google.cn, Google's Chinese-language search site. There he found the original spreadsheet he found the day before and another one. A few hours later, when he checked, however, the original spreadsheet had been removed. He then found the result in Baidu.

Stryde's conclusions are insightful and chilling: "What is this post really about? I don't really feel that it's about the gymnastics age limit, or even really about whether fraud occurred. At this point, I believe that any reasonable observer already understands that age records have been forged. This story now is really about Internet censorship, the act of removing evidence while at the same time claiming that the evidence is wrong. For the first time, I watched search records shift under my feet like sand, facts draining down a hole in the Internet. Will this stand?"

Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.

[techman21]

You never read this article. It doesn't exist.

-China

[08Rabbit]

hahah, for real!

[the rog]

I can't read your reply because every other letter is missing. Conspracy?

[CmdrRickHunter]

This reminds me greatly of an earlier article I read of an editor fired for printing a picture of Tienamen square. The editor was too young to remeber Tienamen, and since the media blackout on it was so extreme, he wasn't even aware the picture was OF Tienamen.

[anthonysmission]

What the Chinese lied? NO!


[Edited by admin]

[nachurboy]

The Chinese gymnast's real birthdate is 199....kljspdofjlkcxv./jonlk
qpiwerlv.,n amsdfo;jasdnf
lsalsjdf;lj
................................

[MikeDson]

I just can't believe there's a sport where an athlete peaks when she's 14 and goes downhill from there!
-- Michelle Wie

[Lerianis]

Actually, there are many sports like that. I personally saw a little girl who was ASTOUNDING to even her coaches at the age of 10, who by the age of 12..... wasn't very good anymore, and it wasn't for lack of trying.

We shouldn't be limiting these gymnasts or any other athletes arbitrarily by age. If they are good enough at 8 to compete in the Olympics, LET THEM COMPETE.

[HlLLARY CLITON]

Regardless of how old you think the Chinese gymnasts are think about the harm you may be putting them in by pursuing this, do you think they had a choice in regards to lying about their age? let it go

[jag0]

Let it go? Really? Are you that dense?

God forbid another country (especially the US) were to break this rule because the entire world would be crying foul yet when there is TONS of proof (including Chinese TV broadcasts from a year or 2 ago)...people don't care. Just because the Chinese are hosting doesn't mean that they have the right to violate the rules.

[weallcare]

Dearest Hillary, what ever the girls choices were or were not is not the point. The Olympic Commitees need to look at this. These girls will be in London but those who waited until the legal age may not have 4 more years. This may have been their only chance at a metal especially GOLD but they lost them to tie breakers and hyperflexible underage girls. At this point if it is made straight it will not be the fault of the underage gymnast but their government. Oh and let us not forget the officials that took the word of a document created by a government. Yeah those papers must be real...... In track if you touch the line you are out point blank. Why do we defer to the host country in gymnastics?

[The_Master_]

How can this even occur? Their population is the largest on this planet, they should be teeming with "of age" athletes!!!

[Jack K1]

So let me get this straight...

You all are claiming that teenyboppers kicked our Olympic butts?

Now that's embarrassing!

[nb2000nb]

Well maybe if we could put 14 year-olds on the floor ours would do just as good as China's... And besides, they didn't kick our butts, we did very good and the judging was messed up...

[nachurboy]

Kicked our butt? No. Got robbed by lame judges? Yes.

Now the Chinese men gymnasts, they kicked our men's butts. And they appear to be of Olympian age.

[t8]

Most people think that China is wrong on this and meany other issues.
It's pity that one of the biggest countries in the world by population is evil.
Perhaps China and Microsoft could merge to create the biggest evil entity on earth?

[nate.reeves]

chinasoft

[AppleSuxLeo]

Apple is the new EVIL...With Mr Whipple at the helm.

[Dalkorian]

by nate.reeves August 20, 2008 4:38 PM PDT
chinasoft
--------------------------------------------------------
Thanks folks, now I'll have nightmares for a week!

[tigermanryanhazelann]

Sounds like more Chinese produced crap to me........

Lucky for them there's a trade deficit.

[gerrrg]

The IOC seems fairly two-faced about the rules. They will broadly pursue doping, steroids and designer drugs, but their own age restrictions barely register a concern for the safety of children-athletes.

China should save face and come clean.

[jag0]

It's China...they won't...they'll just try to cover it up "for the good of the people."

[13876]

The ages of the athletes in question, based on journalist interviews with family, friends and the athletes themselves over a considerable period of time leading up to the Olympics, have been well-known to any Chinese who follow their sport. Indeed, those who watched the event on Chinese television, as I have, were told their ages were fourteen as recently as a couple of days before the award of the god medals and the apparent realization that this issue could be more than just a potential embarrassment. In this, the International Olympic Committee and the rest of the non-Chinese media savvy world are cast in the role of dupes.

[The_Decider]

Who really cares what their age is or isn't? Does it really matter? Especially in a sport like Gymnastics. A 14 or 15 year old will likely be too old to make the team in 2012. How is that fair if they are good enough to make the team now?

What I find hilarious (but not in a good way) is how people who support water boarding lambaste China for torture.

[jag0]

You're idiot...seriously you are. The rules are there for a reason and god forbid a country like the US were to violate this rule.

Plus you're an even bigger idiot for bringing in the torture issue b/c it has NOTHING to do with this topic.

[jasonbryanmiller]

It is to protect the abuse of children - which is FAR greater a problem than water boarding. I can guarantee there are millions of more victims of child abuse each year than there are of water boarding. Your're comparing a small outbreak to an epidemic. China has a particularly bad record of abusing children - poor treatment of orphans, refusing to acknowledge kids with HIV, forced abortions, horrible child labor practices, etc.

[Vegaman_Dan]

I would suggest you try entering the Boston Marathon by not running the entire marathon, but instead jumping from the sidelines to run the final 50 feet. Will you feel the same way? It's exactly the same situation. If you cheat for whatever reason, you should be disqualified. If you disagree and believe in dishonesty, then try that trick at the Boston Marathon. You might have a few thousand people a tad bit upset with your respect for the rules.

[Lerianis]

I have to agree with The_Decider here. The fact is that a lot of these girls will either be too old or past their prime when the next Olympics come around if they wait until they are of 'age'.

If you want to prevent child abuse (by that I think you mean the overworking of athletes)...... just making up an arbitrary minimum age is NOT going to solve that. Not in the slightest.

Just let the girls, if they are good enough, enter the Olympics at ANY age, even if they are only 6 years of age! If you want to protect them from harsh training regimes (which can hurt a 14 year old girl much more than a younger child, from helping with gymnastics training!)..... have monitors who go around and MONITOR these gymnastics camps.

[The_Decider]

The abuse of children by letting them compete? You people are truly idiots.

Gymnasts work at least 8 hours at day from around age 6 to get to this level. It is a full time job. How does that reduce child abuse in the slightest?

Dan, competing at 14 or 15 is not the same thing as not running the entire marathon. That you think so is more proof that you are a complete and utter idiot.

[Dalkorian]

Personally, I don't care what their ages are. I care that China is cheating, lying about it, laughing at the world for falling for it while simultaneously pulling the usual commie junk - censor everything and keep lying. It's pathetic and if any other nation was caught doing this they would be disqualified. It's one of the reasons I decided to boycott this travesty long before it started - China has pulled every dirty trick in the book to try to make themselves look good. It's sickening.

[Calisurfer]

Well this technically has already happened, and it will stand. It's a different country, and they censopr everything. This isn't new... not for China. As long as I can still get my free ringtones the world isn't so bad

[JunkSiu]

China government never lies, and they never deny that.

v.v

[dude7895]

China went back on every agreement for the Olympics, why did anyone think it would be a good idea to have them in china?

[Dalkorian]

$$$ and lots of it.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Chinese Government and the Olympics.

Apple and the whole iPhone/MobileMe mess.

Microsoft and Vista

Looks like they have good company with denial.

[dream_fly]

Let?s see...an internet cache is a more valid proof of a person's age than the passport...Wow, I can easily change my age.

Now how come nobody suspects there is another undetectable drug running literally rampant in Running and Swimming? How else to explain these previously known athletes? superman performance?

[Lerianis]

Hard work. I attended one of Michael Phelps training days (my friend snuck me in to watch), and he was WORKED TO THE BONE along with everyone else. He 'put a lot of money in the bank', as they say, and as he said..... he went though just about every single penny this year.

I'm wondering if the next record he breaks is the most golds EVER in swimming.

[nachurboy]

Hmm. Who created those passports? Oh let's see. The Chinese government? And which government is being accused of forging the gymnast's age? Hmm. The Chinese government? So let's trust their documents as proof of their legal age, when other non-government and government sources say otherwise. I think I trust the Internet cache over "Everything in China is wonderful!" Chinese government.

[rjw_mpwr]

why don't people just give this topic a rest? so, let me get this. because the chinese govt official web site says the athelets are 14. so, all of sudden, you believe what the chinese govt says? so, when on 6/4/1989, the chinese govt said they did not kill any chinese students. how come no one believed?

the official paper is the passport page. that is the only proof. so, everyone just shut up. americans lost. so, take the loss gracefully. don't be a sour grape.
jw

[nachurboy]

Now why would they put information that proves they're underage up, if it exposes them to their lies, and then you argue we shouldn't believe them? Your logic is lacking.

[Dalkorian]

by rjw_mpwr August 20, 2008 6:15 PM PDT
so, let me get this. because the chinese govt official web site says the athelets are 14. so, all of sudden, you believe what the chinese govt says?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comprehension fail. It's the same government that produced the false passports claiming they're all 16. Whichever is true, they've been proven to be lying right there. QED.
Since there are more sources (well, there were before the commie censors started working) claiming they were 13 or 14 just last year and it's just not possible to age 2 or 3 years in 12 months, there's further proof they're lying. Chew on this one for a moment, since we've already proven conclusively the Chinese government is lying, which makes more sense. Are they lying to make the girls older and legal to compete, or are they lying to make them younger and not legal to compete.

The only real losers here are the poor people of China, who have to live under this filth of a government.

[Smoth 007]

Rules are rules. Don't give me this sour grapes nonsense. Makes the Olympics look like a total joke.

[venuesdotorg]

How does an age restriction benefit these kids? The sooner they peak, the sooner their painful training stops. Let them compete early so they can move on and have some sort of childhood.

[gerrrg]

So what you're saying is, there should be no age limit...

why not 9 and 10 year olds? If they start training at 5, they will have had at least 4 years of training. They should compete at 9, so that they can get the training out of the way and move on to have some sort of childhood, right?

[The_Decider]

gerrrg,

This kids start at 6 and are not anywhere near ready to compete at age 9 or 10.

You do realize that when they should be in kindergarten playing on monkey bars these kids are putting in 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week for a 100,000-1 shot at even making the olympics in 10 years, don't you?

Show me an Olympic gymnast that is ready with 4 years of training.