The London Times reports that the investigation continues into the age of gymnast He Kexin…
The governing body of world gymnastics has demanded additional documentary evidence to prove that five gold medal-winning China gymnasts were old enough to compete in the Olympic Games.
The coach states the following documentation should be adequate…
The federation did not specify precisely what documents it would require to satisfy itself that the two gymnasts were eligible. However, Lu Shanzan, China’s coach, said that the documents that had now been passed to the federation included He’s present and former passport, her ID card and family residence permit.
Lu said that all of these documents showed her to have been born in 1992 and complained that coaching staff and the girl’s parents were indignant and upset at the investigation. “Surely it’s not possible that these documents are still not sufficient proof of her birthdate,” he said. “The passports were issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The identity card was issued by China’s Ministry of Public Security. If these valid documents are not enough to clarify this problem, then what will you believe?”
In most countries that might be the case!
Of course, is this reported in China?
The investigation has not been reported in the state newspapers. Leading Chinese news websites also failed to cover the story, and yesterday sites running reports of the inquiry appeared to have been closed down. Even the debates of the issue in internet chatrooms, which raged yesterday morning, disappeared in the afternoon as site-hosting companies moved to censor what could be a sensitive topic.
Are you listening Barack Obama?
Before internet debate was silenced one commenter states…
“Plank of Wood” commented: “Changing one’s age in China, especially in the past, is very common. When I was at school I changed my age to get into the class I wanted. Later I changed it back.” All of these comments had vanished from the web by the afternoon.
