The biggest problem I have with the way the Chinese government has handled the Olympics is that with all of these unecessary devious sort of deceptions taking place, it becomes very distracting for the viewer to appreciate the "real" and truly magnificent displays that China has given off. Like one Chinese official said about the lipsynching controversy - Can't China - the most populous country in the world - find a little girl who can be both beautiful and sing? (IMO, BOTH girls were perfectly adorable) Because this deception came to light - everyone is focusing all this negative energy towards the little girls, who come on, were definitely COACHED into saying they were perfectly understanding why this switcheroo took place.

The Opening Ceremonies were truly amazing to watch - 2008 people forming perfect circles and moving in unison? So wonderful and awe-inspiring to watch. But the underhand deceiving of the world is SOOOO unnecessary. We don't need a FAKE China - it is borderline scary how programmed the Chinese government is into trying to outwardly appear this "perfect" race. It is reminiscent of the Nazis to me at least. . .

The gymnast controversy was very frustrating to watch. Not only do I believe there were underage gymnasts performing - which does give China an unfair advantage, but the saddest part for me was the fact that the Chinese gymnasts were so far removed from reality. These children are taken, some as young as three, away from their parents to enter into the national gymnastic program where all they do is live gymnastics almost everyday of their lives. They are like robots! I completely understand representing one's country but it shouldn't be the end of the world if you don't bring home a gold. The head Chinese gymnastic coach PROMISED he would throw himself off a building if they didn't bring home gold medals. Its a sport - not life or death.

Nixie, if the governing bodies of each of those sports had rules specifically in place to prevent physical inequalities such as height, and someone violated those rules, then they should be disqualified. Rules are rules. The Olympic committee has the rule that you must be 16 during the Olympic year in order to compete in gymnastics. If the Chinese gymnastics team has underage gymnasts, they broke the rules. It is clear cut. Whether you agree that the rule is necessary or not is irrelevant. The rules are the rules as they stand, when the competition occurs. The Chinese gymnastics team must adhere to the age requirement, regardless of how good their athletes are. If they disagreed with the age requirement, they had the option to refuse to compete. By choosing to compete, they agreed to compete using the same set of rules as everyone else. If the girls are underage, then the Chinese cheated, plain and simple.

Your examples are pointless, because those sports do not have rules regarding the physical stature of its athletes. When there are no rules that say you must be this height, or this weight, you can be any weight and height you want, and still be eligible to play. The NBA and NFL do have age requirements though. In the NBA, you must be 19 the year of the draft in which you enter, and in the NFL, you must be at least three years removed from when you graduated High School. NBA and NFL wannabe athletes who do not meet the requirements of their league do not get drafted. Period. The Olympics has rules, which the Chinese probably broke. If they did, any medals won in events these ineligible athletes participated in should be forfeit. If they broke the rules, they shouldn't be rewarded for it.

then the Olympic is not fair

another thing people seems to not see is (for example) two 30/40/50 years old, one Chinese and one american/caucasian (words choice) standing side by side, the Chinese person will always look younger. its a fact. unless the chinese person is in hard labour since childhood lol, there are many factors that made someone look young.

why i keep forgetting, hrmzzz, and because of the human growth pattern/genes on different race people, it is also possible that these Chinese gymnast will look smaller and plus did you know if a human over exercise for instant, weight lifter, will it will stunt their grown in certain trait. Chinese gymnast have those smaller gene thing, that's why I look up the body size of human in the first place, and found something else that's even more unfair towards even more athletes.

if people really really wants to pick bones i could very well find a pictures of american gymanst and ask you do they look like 16 yrs to you? i think this pictures looks like she's 12. I don't know when that pictures was taken but what i am saying is looks are deceiving.

I forgot where I read it, even the American Gymnast coach admitted their team made 2 mistakes. if it weren't for those mistakes they could have won. so you see.

I'm not accusing them of having underage gymnasts, as I don't really know whether that is the case. It could be, and like davious said if it is- they shouldn't be able to keep their medals because they broke the rules.

Lots of physical attributes gives you advantages or disadvantages in any given sport, yes we can even say that race can determine that as well but that's not the point. Every sport has a minimum age at which you can compete in and it's there for a reason. And that's what it is with these gymnasts. It's against the rules and deemed "unfair" by whoever made the rules. That's like having wrestlers and boxers from certain weight classes competing against ones from a different weight class.

However, if they wish to have underage gymnasts, who due to their age apparently have an advantage, then all other countries should have gymnasts of equivilant age. Perhaps their 13 year old gymnasts beat other countries' 16 year old gymnasts, but maybe they wouldn't have beaten those same countries' 13 year old gymnasts. That's the thing about rules, if you break them, then your "win" is suspect. Like bringing a gun to a fencing match, no one will ever know if you could have beaten the other guy - at fencing.

I don't know for sure that they did break the rules either...but, the evidence that is out there certainly seems to point in that direction.

Are the two children the ones being referred to as 'mistakes'? If so, that's a little harsh.

Despite the fact the Olympics are over, I don't think the fuss has died down yet. Certainly not over here- Rebecca Adlington's name is still popping up every so often in various media.

And it seems China's not the only one with something slightly shady about their opening ceremony- Australia's come under fire too.

By the way, did anyone watch the boxing finals? The China-Ireland bout result was, I think, more than a little biased (China won by about 5 points). In fact, had several of the events been held elsewhere, I think China would probably not have done so well.

gah.chinese these days.
i wouldn't have sung if the girl who sung was me, i would of told them to f*** off!

"So we made the choice. I think it is fair to both Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi - after all, we have a perfect voice, a perfect image and a perfect show, in our team's view, all together."

One question remains: why was Lin Miaoke allowed to give interviews in which she lapped up the praise for her singing. Mr Chen said she might not have known that the words she was singing could not be heard. She had, in fact, only known she was going to perform at all 15 minutes beforehand.

Yang Peiyi is said to have reacted well to the disappointment. "I am proud to have been chosen to sing at all," she is reported to have said.