So a bunch of adorable Asian girls prance around in leotards and are rewarded with some rare hardware. Problem is that according to the rules of the "rules", they're too young to be prancing on this particular stage. Should we be outraged? And if so, why?
At this point, there is widespread agreement that something is rotten in the state of "women's" gymnastics. Some of the Chinese female gymnasts, perhaps half of the official contingent, as talented as they as, are simply not old enough to be competing in these games. You may want to bury your head in the floor mat and claim that "asian girls are just smaller" but this isn't about appearances anymore. There is about documents. Lots and lots of them. If you actually need to see the "proof" for yourself, you can go here.
So the girls aren't the requisite sixteen years old. And yes, we should be outraged. Here's why.
The rule requiring that gymnasts participating in the Olympic games be sixteen or older was put into place to protect the gymnasts themselves. The intensity of training required to perform the tricks required at the Olympics can stunt growth and expose growing bodies to lifelong injury.
The rule was put into place to prevent no less than the exploitation of children in the name of sport. If the Chinese government wants to isolate little girls from their parents and subject those children to training regimes that can result in permanent disability in violation of the international standards of the very sport the girls are being trained for, then yes, we should all be as outraged by this as we are by images of impoverished third world children rolling cigarettes or sewing tee shirts for Kathy Lee.
Turning a blind eye while the Chinese government falsifies documents in order to exploit children makes us all complicit.
