Strollerderby : He Kexin

Nastia Liukin's mom watches from the stands (video)

Brett Singer — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Apparently Nastia Liukin's mother, Anna Kotchneva Liukin, has a hard time watching her gold-medal winning daughter compete. According to the NBC commentators, she spent some of the recent Beijing events shopping. This time, though, she stuck it out, but not without some difficulty. They didn't mention it, but I don't think she knows the guy she's sitting next to, despite the fact that she almost ends up in his lap.

My kids aren't terribly athletic (at least not yet) so I don't know what it's like to see your offspring in an intense competition, and the Olympics are as big as it gets for gymnasts. Anna knows from being on that big stage: she was a champion gymnast herself. Not sure if that makes it harder or easier to see your kid out there; judging from this video, I'd say it must be pretty tough.

Read more:

IOC orders investigation of Chinese Gymnast's age

Other Old Olympians

Shawn Johnson more mature than her coach

Did Michael Phelps actually win 8 medals?

Michael Phelps to endorse Frosted Flakes

Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh Get The Gold, Now They Want to Get Pregnant

Bela Karolyi likes to kill things

They Say: no junk food ads at the Olympics

Misty May-Treanor Scatters Mom's Ashes at Olympics

Twenty Olympic Moms - Now What's My Excuse?

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Table Tennis Women, Flaunt Your Stuff!

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

IOC orders investigation of Chinese Gymnast's age

Brett Singer — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:54:00 GMT

He Kexin won a gold medal in the uneven bars and also contributed to the Chinese beating out the U.S. in the team gymnastics event. She looks really really young, and there have been questions about her age for awhile now. The IOC has begun to formally investigate whether or not, "Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete," because of, "'discrepancies' that have come to light about the age of He Kexin." You kind of have to wonder what took them so long, but apparently someone, described as an "American hacker" by the U.K.-based Times Online, has uncovered documents that offer proof that Kexin is too young.

Watching the games, the judging also seemed biased, although that's more subjective. Still, I'm pretty sure I saw a member of the Chinese team fall in one event and not get any deduction, whereas an American who had a similar fall lost points. Béla Károlyi told Bob Costas that, "The lack of competence of certain judges is obvious," and it was tough to disagree.

Károlyi's wife Marta has attacked the age issue the way her gymnasts attacked their events, and while I think she went a little overboard, I agree that the whole thing is very suspicious.

Would the Chinese government lie about an athlete's age in order to gain a competitive advantage? And if so, what happens? The medals get stripped, but should they be banned from the Olympics for a time after that?

So – how old do you think she looks? 14? 16? Do I hear 12?

Source/image: TimesOnline

They Say: no junk food ads at the Olympics

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Gold (OK, Silver) Medal Girlcrush: Dana Torres

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Jon Stewart Tackles Olympic Controversies

Olympics Opening Uses One Girl's Voice, Another Girl's Face

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Aussie Rower keeps his kids close

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Team more mature than coach

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Jen Chaney — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:28:00 GMT

There is no question that the performances of the young women on China's gymnastics team were strong enough to earn them a gold medal. But apparently there are questions about whether all of these girls are actually 16.

Based on Olympic rules, all gymnastic contenders must turn 16 sometime during the Olympic year in order to be eligible to compete. Time magazine and other media outlets have reported that past Chinese records and news stories say two of the team members are 14, and another is only 15. The Associated Press cited a story, printed by the Chinese government's news agency, that said gymnast He Kexin was just 13 as of nine months ago. Chinese gymnastics officials maintain that all of the girls meet the age requirement, and that those sources simply printed factual errors.

Of course, this whole situation again raises the issue of whether such age requirements should exist in the first place. Bela Karolyi, former U.S. gymnastics coach, says no. Getting rid of that 16-year minimum would mean the U.S. -- and every other country -- could bring in the often more nubile, younger contenders. After all, Nadia Comaneci (also coached by Karolyi) won gold at the Olympics when she was just 14. That was in 1976, before the age regulations were put in place. What's the harm?

In some situations, Comaneci's being one of them, there may not be harm. Some kids are equipped to handle the stress and pressure of competition at a very young age. But some -- even though they are enormously talented and dedicated -- are not. If there were no age minimum, I worry that kids would get pushed even harder to win than they already do. And when a 13 or 14-year-old girl knows how important it is to herself, her parents, her coaches and her community to win at the Olympics, she might not feel comfortable saying no when someone finally asks too much of her. It's a delicate balance and sometimes even parents can't see when the competition starts to cause cracks in their children's emotional well-being. Hence, the age requirement.

It's a complicated, difficult issue. But I do know this much: It seems to me it should be fairly easy and quick to verify whether all of the Chinese gymnasts are actually 16. The International Gymnastics Federation and the IOC use the girls' passports to verify age. But shouldn't they check their birth certificates, too? If both sets of documents are legit, then case closed. But if they are not, then they have an investigation on their hands.

Personally, I hope all the Chinese gymnasts meet the requirement and can enjoy their gold medals in peace. I don't think the U.S. team really deserved the gold this year after Alicia Sacramone -- and my heart so goes out to her -- fell during her balance beam routine and her floor exercise. But that's not the point. The point is that if there are indeed rules to be followed at the Olympics, they should be followed. And the IGF and the IOC should take them seriously enough to offer proof that they have not been broken. If they really care about setting a good example for every kid watching the Games, then they should hammer home the message that a winning athlete never cheats the system.