August 14, 2008

Olympic farce -- caught cheating?

The Internet knows all and sees all, and it's all archived. Somewhere.

Turns out that some people have found old news articles from officially-approved Chinese news agencies which give ages for some of those gymnasts, ages that make clear that they're not eligible to compete.

And since those articles have been found and copied, someone at the Chinese news agencies went back and edited them to up the ages.

This should be fun to watch. Will the IOC be willing to give China, the host nation, a black eye by DQ'ing the gymnasts who just won gold medals? This is going to be the biggest Olympic scandal since the 2002 figure skating meltdown.

If it were someone like Albania doing the cheating, the IOC would stomp on them like grapes in a winery. But China? The host nation? Who have already raised caine because American gymnasts wore face masks when they deplaned, insulting the host nation?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 01:29 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 161 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I, for one, am shocked. Shocked and appalled that a brutal dictatorship would cheat in a sporting event.

You just insist on destroying my comfortable illusions, don't you, Steven?

Posted by: EvilOtto at August 14, 2008 02:24 PM (tYvh+)

2 Seriously, though, I doubt the IOC will do anything whatsoever to China. They wouldn't have given China the games at all if they had the slightest sense of morality.

Posted by: EvilOtto at August 14, 2008 02:27 PM (tYvh+)

3 The IOC is certainly hoist by its own petard, and now they're pretty much screwed no matter what happens. Either they cause a scandal by DQing the Chinese gymnasts, or they cause a scandal by not doing so.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 14, 2008 02:32 PM (+rSRq)

4 That's true. Let's see... where did I put that "worlds smallest violin" graphic?

Posted by: EvilOtto at August 14, 2008 02:58 PM (tYvh+)

5 The thing is, it isn't just a gymnast or a coach involved here. The gymnasts in question used government-issued passports to prove that they were old enough to compete. If it isn't really true, then it means the Chinese government itself is complicit in the fraud.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 14, 2008 03:47 PM (+rSRq)

6 Well, I feel confident in guaranteeing one thing: This is the last Olympics you'll see with gymnasts with missing teeth.

(I'm surprised by that oversight. Covering that would be easy, and I'm sure some dental cement would make it quite sure that fake teeth wouldn't pop out any easier than any other teeth.)

I have to say on the balance of this evidence, both physical and electronic, that it almost doesn't matter if the IOC acts. I suspect a lot of people have already come to their conclusions, or will when they see this stuff.

Posted by: Jeremy Bowers at August 14, 2008 04:08 PM (7LWnd)

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