Chinese Zebras Win Gold

Ignoring the Obvious

Any time you hear hoofbeats cantering up behind it’s technically *possible* you’ll turn around and see zebras… but you can pretty much rest assured that when you DO turn around you’re gonna see horses.

Pointing Out the Chairman’s New Clothes

Mike Walker of Stryde Hax , David Flummenbaum of HuffPost, and others have provided ample evidence that the Chinese authorities for years certified the ages of their Womens Gymnastics team differently than shown on the passports that now conveniently support their Olympic eligibility.

Years of pre-existing docs are being jerked from the web almost as fast as they’re being discovered, but the pace of removal slows as it becomes obvious the ruling bodies hope the issue goes away, and could care less about the mounting evidence they’ve ignored.

Blame the Whiny Americans? No

Lest anyone suggest I wouldn’t say this had the ineligible players lost… all I can say is of *DUH!*. The idea of a level field kinda requires that even athletes of the host country meet the eligibility standards. I doubt those that consider it poor sportsmanship to protest this poorly concealed ruse would be similarly nonchalant had the US team taken Gold with ONE ineligible player… much less a team packed with same.

Blame the Chinese Athletes? Again, No

Do I hold the girls themselves at fault? No. They’re incredible athletes who are unfortunate to live in a regime that wouldve sent them to a labor camp for failing to play along.

Holding those Responsible to Their Actions

Blame the Chinese Authorities…
They sadly dropped 40 billion or so on the Olympics to build their image, but the image many will remember is a government that cheats for a few medals, then lied indignantly when they get caught passing off docs created in the Peoples Ministry of Photoshop. They wasted a lot of money if all they were gonna do is piss away the goodwill by backing a transparent ruse.

Blame the Governing Bodies: IOC and FIG
The fact that Rogge of the IOC and Bruni of the FIG have so far been willing to accept docs created by Chinese authorities as substantive evidence that docs created by Chinese authorities are accurate only proves that either

1. Past problems with high level payoffs are still an issue… or
2. Female Chinese gymnasts arent the only ones there missing sexual characteristics traditionally developed by a certain age.

The IOCs Jacques Rogge has disgraced his office. With luck, continued pressure will scare him more than the Chinese government apparently does.

Note to Mr Rogge – It takes a lifetime to build a good name. You can tear one down with a single act of cowardice. Surprise us by doing your job, belatedly as it might be, and hold the Chinese to the same rules as everyone else.