SHOCKING: Chinese athletes lied about their age
A. Isaac In a story you’ve probably heard once or twice before, the ages of nine Chinese athletes are now in question after some discrepancies were found with their birth certificates. I know, shocking right?
This time the sport isn’t gymnastics though, but rather figure skating. Good to know that the Chinese aren’t bias in their cheating.
According to a list of birthdates published on the Chinese Skating Association’s website and found by The Associated Press, the skaters violated the sport’s age limits by competing when they were either too young or too old. The birthdates on the federation’s websites differ from those listed on the athletes’ International Skating Union bios.
Among the skaters whose eligibility is in question are Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, the 2006 Olympic pairs silver medalists, and Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the reigning junior world champions and China’s top up-and-coming pairs team.
If you recall, it was just last year that the 2000 Chinese Gymnastics team was stripped of their bronze medals. And although, the 2008 team was cleared of any tomfoolery with their birth dates, most officials in America question whether the government had a hand in doctoring some of their papers.
Anything to get ahead though right? China’s motto for the 2012 London Olympic? The brightest and best, regardless of age.
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