Although gymnast Nastia Liukin has been a good sport about tying -- and then, thanks to mathematical minutiae, losing to China's He Kexin in the Olympic uneven bars final -- the Internatioal Olympic Committee ought to be more vigilant. If doping is considered cheating -- because it unfairly enhances performance -- then why is lying about one's age not considered cheating by the International Olympics Committee? After all, in other sports, falsifying age has been a disqualifier.
Being 4'8" and 73 pounds (a size more compatible with a 13-year-old, which documents from He's junior career, and comments by a senior Chinese sports official last year, state her to be) enhances performance in gymnastics. The young have less fear and by dint of size can execute more difficult maneuvers -- even Shawn Johnson has acknowledged that being petite helps.
Seven years ago, Little Legaue officials traveled to the Dominican Republic to resolve a dispute about the age of Bronx pitcher Danny Almonte -- investigating rumors, which turned out to be true, that Almonte was too old to play Little League baseball. This Olympics has been plagued by the opposite problem: persistent rumors -- and more than circumstantial evidence -- that two of China's female gymnasts are under age.
Gymnastics' governing body, which requires gymnasts to turn 16 during the calendar year in which they compete in an Olympics, refuses to investigate, saying that the birthdates listed on the passports for the He and another allegedly underage Chinese gymnast (Jiang Yuyan) are sufficient.
Within an hour after completing a race, swimmers have their blood drawn to test for performance-enhancing drugs. So why is the Internation Olympic Committee looking the other way on the age issue? What about birth certificates? What about asking their parents? Am I overreacting? As a former figure skater, I know that these women (at 18-years-old, the 5'3" Liukin is the picture of "women's" gymnastics) have trained for this event all their lives. They deserve fairness, not fraud. If He or any other gymnast is under age, then we have been deceived, and it impugns the integrity of the entire sport.
Nastia Liukin said of yesterday's surreal outcome:
That's the rules, and you have to play by them.
Her words should be taken to heart by the International Olympic Committee.