Is He too young?

The Beijing Olympics was a chance for China to shine. But despite the brilliance of much of the games, the hosts keep reinforcing the criticism that all isn’t what it seems. At the opening ceremony we had the 9 year old miming because the real singer wasn’t pretty enough. And now we have a gold medallist who may not be old enough to compete.

He Kexin won the top prize in the uneven bars gymnastics at the supposed age of 16. However a blogger appears to have found lists from the General Administration of Sport of China that show she is 14. These allegations are not new as they were levied by the Chinese press before being taken down by Government censors, a sad indictment of the corruption Jonathan Mirsky outlines in his letter in this week’s Spectator. But if this new primary data holds up then He will lose her medal and the hosts’ will lose another piece of their reputation.