China Wins In The Spectacle Of The Olympics, But Fails Where It Counts Most
If you’ve been watching the Beijing Olympics, by now you are well aware of the controversy surrounding the women’s Chinese gymnastic team and the alleged use of underage athletes. According to Olympic rules, a participant must turn 16 within the same year as the Olympics, so they can still be 15 at the time of competition — but even this does not explain the inexplicably young looking women/girl Chinese gymnasts, some of whom are missing baby teeth.
Bela Karolyi, the most famous gymnastic coach in the world has made it clear in color commentary and interviews that the Chinese women’s team had girls who were well under the age limit but there was nothing that could be done about it. China issues the passports for its athletes and clearly, being a fascist state has its privileges.
The question for me isn’t that these girls shouldn’t be participating, because clearly, they are stellar athletes. The real issue is that the Chinese are breaking the rules and as the host country, their flagrant disregard of the rules compromises the overall integrity of the entire competitive spirit of the Olympics. But again, without proof, it’s all just hearsay and conjecture, and few will have the temerity to make an issue of proving these girls are underage.
Dominique Dawes, who won bronze in Barcelona and Atlanta, may be better known for her infectious smile and composure than her Olympic performances. That said, Dominique (seen in the above video) does the familiar dance of saying the Chinese cheated (they won the gold in the overall team competition) without saying they cheated. She should win a gold medal in diplomacy.
The age controversy is just the tip of the iceberg of failure by the Chinese government in relations to the Olympics. Far worse than the the Chinese cheating by entering underage girls into competition, is the nation’s history of FORCING athletes to participate in the Olympics against their will. And China knows as a country, it values nationalistic pride over individual rights:
Being little is a big advantage in women’s gymnastics, where controversies over undersized waifs and child abuse forced a change in the minimum-age rules. But being Chinese is an advantage these days too. “The Chinese race knows how to endure hardship,” one Chinese gymnastics coach told Time magazine in 2004. “Our job is to push these kids to their limits, so they can perform gloriously for our nation.”
Unlike the voluntary sacrifices other nation’s athletes make in order to participate at the highest level of competition, there is something so deeply and inherently wrong in making these young people force their bodies to contort, bend and develop in ways against nature without their consent from the age of THREE.
The Beijing Olympics have been executed beautifully, and the spectacle of it all is tremendous, but this human rights violation AGAINST CHILDREN, is above all a stain on all of humanity.
Though many will argue that the children’s participation is a windfall for the entire family, many of whom come from abject poverty, the overall dullness of joy in their faces, compared to the young athletes who are there because they WANT to be there, is evident to me.
Depriving people of their free will not only diminish the competitive spirit of the Olympics, but also the human spirit. China still has a long way to go before they can feel genuine pride in competing in the one race that really matters; the human race.
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Very good piece, D.
Comment by El Bicho — August 14, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
Thank EB, minus the typos, sketchy editing and cliches, it was as heartfelt as I could muster. I really take the whole Olympic spirit seriously. Some of my earlies memories are of watching the Olympics and its painful to imagine athletes competing against their will. It’s the opposite of what the whole Olympic vibe should be.
I appreciate your reading my messy piece
Comment by D — August 14, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
Isn’t the English diver, Tom Daley, only 14?
Comment by tina — August 15, 2008 @ 4:12 am
The rules for diving are different than the rules for gymnastics.
Comment by k — August 15, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
[...] time to act before the first competitor took to the apparatus; however, blind eyes were turned, as Dawn has said, presumably to avoid offending the host country of China. Because, after all, people will let you [...]
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