China’s Olympic deception disgraceful

The Beijing games have come to a close, and I enjoyed every moment. The United States walked away with the most medals. The U.S. men and women basketball teams both finished their Olympic campaigns with gold medals. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals, five of which came in world record times.

However, that was not my favorite part about the Olympics. My favorite stories from these games were about an underage Chinese gymnast and a fake fireworks display.

Supposedly China’s gymnast He Kexin, who won two gold medals, is underage. The allegation is that she is actually fourteen although her birth records say she is sixteen. The Olympic committee is investigating the allegation, and if it is found to be true, she should be stripped of her gold medals. There should be no exception to this, regardless of the fact that China was the host country.

After reports went out about Kexin’s birth records possibly being falsified, Chinese head coach Huang Yubin stated “Since Asian bodies are not the same as Westeners, there have been questions, but there shouldn’t be.” This is not an adequate explanation.

A story posted on Yahoo News pointed out that, last year in a Chinese newspaper, Kexin’s picture had a caption under it that stated she was thirteen, which would clearly make her 14, not 16.

The consequences should include her medals being stripped from her and a harsh fine imposed on China for trying to cover this up. An American relay team from the 2000 games was stripped of their medals when it was discovered that three of the four sprinters had been doping.

Marion Jones, who was in the same games, was also stripped of her medals and records because of doping. These athletes lost their medals because they broke the rules, and Kexin should not be an exception.

The length to which China has gone to represent themselves positively at the Olympics is ridiculous. I watched the opening ceremonies, and was stunned by the huge fireworks displays, and later read that some of the fireworks that were shown on television were not real. They had been special effects added in to attract more viewers.

Well, at least for a time, their deception worked. For better or worse, China hosted one scandalous and amazing Olympic Games.