Comments on: Hacker exposes alleged Olympics age fraud

Security researcher digs into Google and Baidu to find evidence of Chinese gymnasts' ages and finds evidence disappearing as he works, like sand shifting under his feet.

[magicmaster]

People, everything Chinese government had said are fabrications until proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it was backed up by evidences.

[dream_fly]

Mmm...who said IRAQ had Weapons of Mass Destruction? That lie killed so many innocent people and brave soldiers. Who requires more proof it?s words?

Beaten up by a younger kid isn't something to be proud of and yet many people are trying hard to prove that. Now that's a definition of a loser.

[nachurboy]

The judging was biased by the overly high score to the Chinese children and the undeserved deductions to the American girls (the Chinese kid that didn't land off the beam got as high a score as everyone who stuck their landing!).

Also, if you believe they're of legal age, then theoretically, they lost to a contemporary. If the Chinese had to resort to underage girls to compete (ie. cheat), then I'd say that's even more of a loser position than losing to an opponent.

[Smoth 007]

Thats the best "Apples and Oranges" example I've heard in a long time. Simply ridiculous.

[Benf]

Everyone cheats, there are those that get caught and those that dont, This in no supprise. it will become a non issue in time and the deceptions of all countries will continue.

[jcpole]

He who controls the past controls the future...
He who controls the present controls the past...

Yup.

[Dr_Zinj]

The Chinese Government is just as two-faced, fork-tongued, and welching on agreements when it comes to information to its citizens and the rest of the world as the United States has been to the native american tribes.

And yes, when flexibility and lesser mass are critical success factors for athletic performance, younger beats older, up to a point.

[Smoth 007]

Oh please.... talk about going off topic.

[The_Decider]

For all the morons that think that letting a 14 year old compete is 'abuse'. That is not the reason for the age limit: it is injuries:

http://gymnastics.teamusa.org/news/article/3296

They also used to only have to be 14.

For some reason people don't understand that these girls start working 8-10 hours a day from age 5 or 6 just to get to this level. The age is also determined by turning a set age by the end of the year. A girl can be 15 and compete if she was born at 11:59:59 on December 31 but not if she was born a second later. The odds of a 19 year old making the olympics is lower than that of a 15 year old. If you can't see the unfairness and hypocrisy, then you are likely crying about age because "we" didn't win the team competition.

I know I have seen 14 and 15 year olds compete in the US championships before. Even at levels below elite status these girls compete and are held to the same standards.

[dhopesmith]

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
George Orwell

[Batotahell]

The fact that any government falsified official records is nothing new. The fact that they did it for something that is supposed to be an "honorable" competition of athletic prowess is still not surprising. What is truly scary is the attitude of so many of the posts that "what's done is done", or "stop you're whining, you lost". Should we have just let Marion Jones keep her steroids-won medals because what's done is done? Or maybe because people would whine since they weren't allowed the use of those steroids? Rules have been set in place. They should be followed. End of story. Without rules everything devolves into anarchy and we are less than wild animals, who have their own unbreakable rule: survival of the fittest.

[madgma]

Thank you, I just wanted you to know that I agree with you 100% on this. Rules are there for a reason and that is not just to break them.

[TV James]

@t8: Wow... cannot believe it took an entire 8 posts before someone started bashing Microsoft. What's a matter? Having 3G issues?

@dream_fly - it's the suit; contorts the body and changes their shape in the water for less resistance. Check the Fast Company magazine archives.

[dream_fly]

Phelps did not wear the suit all the time.

[renGek]

I'm the last person to defend china but its not like the u.s. don't do stuff like that. The difference is that the u.s. will change rules and laws to make it "legal" which is not all that different than saying yeah she's 16. When tennis player jennifer capriati was 13, the usta allowed her to become a pro by changing the rules to say as long as she turns 14 that year its ok. She subsequently couldn't handle the pressure and the rule was changed again.

Second, why is everyone sooooo positive that these gymnast are not 16. People thought I was 15 when I was in college. They think I'm 28 now and I'm about to hit 40. Nobody ever believes me when I tell them I'm over 35.

[dannynono]

Changing the rules and breaking them are not the same, other than the fact that they both help to achieve a desired outcome (in this case under age participation). When the USTA rule was changed allowing Jennifer Capriati to play - other potential 13 y.o. kids were also then allowed to play. The playing field was changed, but it was still level.

As for the age issue, given that the girls have a history of competition (which tracks their ages) there is (or was) an age discrepancy to follow. This isn't a case of flattery, but of altered documentation.

[kenzgurl]

Hey I was just curious. You have to be at least 16 of age the year of the olympic to compete... right? Check out Thomas Daley of GREAT BRITAIN, his DOB is May 21 1994... Doesn't that make him 14? how come he's competing in the men's 10m Platform?? Am I having trouble with math!?

[MaxAgent86]

???????

[flared0ne]

One major problem with all of this is that the Olympics committee is going to lose ALL credibility. If there is a known, documentable occurance of fraud which violates very specific age requirements -- and this is not pursued rigorously in an attempt to remove all doubt regarding the (il)legitimacy of China's claim to their SEVERAL gold medals in this competition -- then any cachet that the Olympics may have as a pre-eminent example of pure competition will be forever tarnished.

And any future hoohaw regarding drug testing, or age requirements, or residency restrictions, or Olympic rules of any kind, becomes tarnished, meaningless and ultimately a pure waste of time and attention.

Within the same context where Disney can justify spending millions of dollars defending a copyright (e.g. defending an estimated $3 BILLION value for Mickey Mouse copyrights) -- the Olympics organization is basically throwing away decades, an entire ERA, of legal precedent if they allow this situation to go unchallenged.

But something else I'm not quite sure I'm seeing addressed in the comments here -- as far as I knew, if you find something via Google, that information has been transferred from "online-somewhere" into the Google space of archived data, such that "once-published-FOREVER-out-there" is the rule. But what I'm hearing in this report is that Google-archived data is NOT inviolable, that SOMEONE in that organization "can be persuaded" to modify or delete archived information.

THAT should shake the very foundations of ANY "trust" we thought we could put in Google.

[Albert__W]

The Olympic Champion should be the best in the world at that moment and the age should not matter. Can you image one is claiming the Champion while someone better is right outside the Games just because the age? What a shame of this rule if it does have such a rule! Thanks China for moving to the right direction if it is true even though we have no any evidence that it is true. Pls remember, women were not allowed in Olympic in the early time; someone has to challenged it to make it more fair.

[MelbyAndAssociates]

I'm married to a Chinese. The truth is always situational, and flat out denying things is perfectly OK. Also, outright lying is perfectly OK if it saves the motherland's "face."

[wjhonson]

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