Changing China

Spare a thought for He in gymnastics row (Update)

Whatever the results of the investigation into the date of birth of He Kexin, China’s double Olympic gold medallist, I hope we don’t lose sight of the fact that even in the event of any subterfuge the gymnast herself would not be the one to blame.

The International Olympic Committee has asked the gymnastics federation to check He’s date of birth of following claims that she might be under the minimum age to compete.

He herself was given a pretty rough ride by reporters during press conferences at these Games, with at least one journalist trying to catch her out by asking her what her star sign was.

She has also been asked to “prove” in a press conference that she really was 16. You can’t help wondering how she was supposed to do that.

He won team gold and a gold on the asymmetric bars. She was registered as having been born on January 1, 1992. Gymnasts must turn 16 in the year of the Games to be allowed to compete.

UPDATE: The International Gymnastics Federation has begun analysing documents from the Chinese, the organisation said in a statement on Saturday.

“The Federation has received a number of documents from the Chinese Gymnastics Federation, including passports, identity cards and family booklets,” the FIG said in a statement.

Too much, too young for Olympic gymnasts?

The more I watch the women’s gymnastics competitions the more I’m torn between amazement at the athleticism on display and horror at what can seem at times like cruel and unusual punishment.

Most elite athletes put themselves through gruelling training regimes — not to mention the mental toll that the stress of competition must take — but few are quite so young as the women’s gymnasts

The gymnastics federation states that competitors must turn 16 in an Olympic year but even assuming that rule has been steadfastly adhered to it still means they are putting their bodies through intensive training by 10 or 12.

Most of the gymnasts I’ve spoken to say they’re having a great time and just being in the competition and giving their best is what matters.

Nadia Comaneci, who wowed the world with a perfect 10 at the 1976 Games when she was just 14, said that she came through the world of high-stress competition none the worse for wear. But she had five gold medals to her name.

When I saw China’s Cheng Fei, who is 20, face reporters with eyes puffy from crying after her gold medal hopes were ruined by split-second mistakes in her performance, I was less sure the gymnasts out there were having the time of their lives.

For every medal winner there is another gymnast crumpled in tears in her coach’s arms.

Day six at the Games: Roger Federer’s miserable year

Roger Federer came to Beijing hoping for a singles gold medal to ease the pain of losing the last two major finals and his number one ranking to Rafa Nadal.

Tennis at the Olympics may rank far below the Grand Slams but considering he has not won one of those this year a gold medal would still have served very nicely, thanks very much.

Sadly for the Swiss, he lost 6-4 7-6 to James Blake in the quarter-finals on Thursday, a miserable day all round given the rain that was falling.

The Williams sisters also went out, double Olympic champion Venus beaten 7-5 7-5 by China’s Li Na and Serena losing to Elena Dementieva.

Away from the tennis, Michael Phelps was for once not the story. Alain Bernard of France won the men’s 100m freestyle in the Water Cube, while there was a nasty incident when a Swedish wrestler tossed away his bronze medal in disgust at the refereeing that cost him a shot at gold.

Otherwise, it was a golden day for Asia, as Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima completed a breaststroke double double and Chinese gymnast Yang Wei ended eight years of hurt in the men’s individual all-round event.

For story of the day and picture of the day, look a bit further down the page. Quote of the day? Nothing great, so I thought I’d give you a joke of the day instead. This was overheard in the Athletes Village:

It ain’t Confucius’s China any more…

He knew it the second he landed.

Gymnast Yang Wei knew that mathematically, emotionally, historically and rightfully the men’s all-around Olympic title was his – and the overwhelmingly partisan home-town crowd knew it too.

There was no need for Yang or for his supporters to wait the seemingly interminable minutes for the judges to review his performance on the horizontal bar – as the final participant in the sixth and final rotation of the championship, his lead was so strong that it would have taken a disaster to knock him out of first.

And there had been no disaster.

So Yang played to the crowd.

He flexed his bulging muscles. He raised his arms in triumph. He draped himself in China’s flag. He played cheerleader, waving his arms to encourage the crowd’s roars.

Oxana’s battle to save her son’s life

German gymnast Oxana Chusovitina is getting ready for her fifth Olympics for a third country in August. That would be by itself unusual enough under normal circumstances.  

The fact that the 32-year-old — who began her career for the Soviet Union before its demise and then for her native Uzbekistan before moving to Germany — is twice the age of some of her rivals in a sport long the domain of teenagers is another feat on its own.

But what makes Chusovitina’s tale even more incredible is that her ambition was fired by a battle to save the life of her son, Alisher. He was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia at the age of 3 in 2002. There were no specialist oncology facilities in Uzbekistan and her family had no health insurance. So with the speedy help of some friends  in the gymnastics world from Cologne she moved to Germany, learned German, and eventually became a German citizen in 2006.

“There was no child oncology in Uzbekistan and in Russia you don’t have a chance because there are already so many on the waiting lists,” Chusovitina said in an interview after a high-energy training session in Cologne under the watchful eye of her coach, Shanna Polyakova. “I’d known Shanna and Peter Brueggemann at Team Toyota Cologne for a long time and they organised everything. They found a spot in hospital for me and fortunately we came here.”

Thanks to the treatment over the last six years, Alisher is now essentially cured and only needs to undergo periodic analysis of his blood. You can see a smile explode on the face of Chusovitina when she reports that.

She says he speaks more German than Russian and is even among the dozens of children who take part in training sessions in the same crowded gymnastics hall at the Cologne sports university with Chusovitina.