<p>It’s true that if ages can be lowered when needed, the same ages can also be fudged to make athletes seem older. But, since there are some–many, actually, including oh-so-objective-and-all-knowing journalists–who treat documents showing younger birthdays as irrefutable proof and documents showing older birthdays as obvious forgeries by the Chinese officials, it might be useful to realize that the 1994 birthdays might be the real lies. </p>
<p>And birth years are also misreported on birth certificates, not because the parents are evil but simply because of personal reasons. On another forum a poster mentioned that her father’s official birthday is the same as his younger brothers, and some parts of China are still much unchanged from the 1960s.</p>
<p>Oh dear. While I was responding to Marite Coolweather insinuated a connection between the Communist party and me. Thank goodness we’re so past the Cold War. Is the idea of parents lying about their children’s ages so extremely unlikely? I mean, surely I’m not the only person in the United States who know of parents who lied about their kids’ ages to get them into academic/extracurricular/camp programs that are not that diligent about age checking?</p>
<p>I ain’t oranges. But I can tell you that most community and commercial EC programs in my neighborhood don’t verify the kids birthdates, i.e. they are what their parents reported.</p>
<p>Sure, but when you see an incredibly young-looking gymnast who is still shedding her baby teeth, it tends to tell in favor of the earlier birthdate being the forgery and not the later one.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a picture of this baby teeth falling out situation? Or are we just making this up. Because I know a Chinese girl who is 18 that look younger than even those gymnasts, though taller.</p>
<p>Poor Chinese parents in the US lie about their kids’ ages to get into ECs? I never see that. I only Chinese parents with college degree bring their kids to EC activities. And I don’t see any reason why the poor parents have to lie. If they are poor they may have priority.</p>
<p>jmilton, if you were watching the gymnastics competition carefully, you would have seen the newly emerging teeth on at least one of the chinese female gymnasts when they smiled. We are not making this up. Are you a parent? Do you remember when your child lost their baby canines? why do you think it is still an issue 2 weeks later? spite on our part? racial prejudice?</p>
<p>Deng Linlin is the one whose permanent teeth are still coming in. You can see it is some of the pictures. She is also the tiniest and youngest-looking of the Chinese children on the gymnastics team.</p>
<p>We are talking about 3 individual Chinese girls here out of some 700 millions Chinese females, i.e. about 8 standard deviations. Even if they are all really 16, it doesn’t statistically contradict with the norms. And forensics x-ray adjusted to varations in puberty and training may also have difficulty to resolve a 2-year difference. It would be difficult to prove either way. I actually have a 28-year-old Asian friend who was asked to show her ID at the casino. :-)</p>
<p>No, you can’t. She is missing a tooth. Between that and claiming that she just lost a baby tooth is quite a stretch! </p>
<p>There is simply no forensic test that can tell a 14 year old from a 16 year old. Some people never lose their baby teeth. Sacramone doesn’t look like she is 20. Three years ago, Nastia didn’t look like a 16 year old. She was 4 inches shorter and weighed 70 pounds. A major reason these athletes are successful gymnasts is because they have under-developed bodies, with either the fire hydrant look of Shawn Johson/M.L. Retton or the ultra-petite bodies of the Chinese/Japanese girls. Hardly your typical teenager physique!</p>
<p>Regarding US cheating, we did a rec level swim team for years and several parents were caught fudging the birthday, either by a few days/weeks when their kid just missed the cut off or by a year when their kid was about to age up to longer distances.</p>
<p>They were caught by other people who knew those kids dates of births or by the system. The mom that did not want her DD to swim a 50 had given the right age in prior years and did not think about that being stored in the system It was just rec league, but it was intensely competitive. None of the people caught were looking for an advantage as much as they thought they were trying to correct an inequity for a smaller than average child or one who missed the seemingly random cut off by a few days</p>
<p>Nope. We always love you. That is why it pains us so much when we are treated unfairly. In the midst of the Watergate investigation, where everybody was wondering what’s wrong with America, it was Canadian journalist Gorden Sinclair who penned " What is right with America". I heard it many times on radio in the American Midwest that year. In the Iran hostage incident, it was the Canadian embassy, using false Canadian passports, that sneak the American hostages out of danger. What more can we do to show you our love?</p>
<p>Proving what? The last time I was carded (for a beer at a restaurant) I was 27. There’s a difference between an adult looking young and a “16-year-old” who looks about 12.</p>
It was just rec league, but it was intensely competitive. None of the people caught were looking for an advantage as much as they thought they were trying to correct an inequity for a smaller than average child or one who missed the seemingly random cut off by a few days</p>