Beijing 2008, or: who else isn't watching?

[Adrian II]

Looks like the gymnatics age issue is going live. Yes Sir, five out of six girlie gymnasts are now officially suspect. What makes me laugh hardest is that the Chinese state media themselves directed attention to the issue by stating the girls' real ages in their columns in previous years. What was it an American political scientist said years ago? He said that dictatorships breed 'structuraly induced stupidity' in their people and institutions.

Oh beautiful, just look at those Chinese reactions in the article:

“Surely it’s not possible that these documents are still not sufficient proof of her birthdate?” Lu asked. “The passports were issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The identity card was issued by China’s Ministry of Public Security. If these valid documents are not enough to clarify this problem, then what will you believe?

Indeed, if the Ministry of Security of one of the world's worst human rights violators can't be trusted, then who can you trust? ROFL!

China coach Lu Shanzan said the parents are “indignant” over persistent questions about their daughters’ ages.
“It’s not just me. The parents of our athletes are all very indignant,” Lu said. “They have faced groundless suspicion. Why aren’t they believed? Why are their children suspected? Their parents are very angry.”

Why are their children suspected? Because of the government's stupidity, including the mention of the girls' real ages on the Minisry of Sports websites in previous years! Hahaha, I can't believe this. I know some parents who have a right to be angry: the parents of the girls and women who were cheated out of their gold medals because of this fraud.

Oh, and here's a beauty - the Chinese officials are playing the race card:

“At this competition, the Japanese gymnasts were just as small as the Chinese,” he said. “Chinese competitors have for years all been small. It is not just this time. It is a question of race. European and American athletes are all powerful, very robust. But Chinese athletes cannot be like that. They are by nature that small.”

No Sir, it is a question of your own stupid government shooting itself in the foot. Go on, and I will start watching the Games after all, for comic relief.

[HoreTore]

Hmm, I have to confess that I'm clueless when it comes to gymnastics, but why is being young an advantage in that sport?

[Ronin]

Hmm, I have to confess that I'm clueless when it comes to gymnastics, but why is being young an advantage in that sport?

girls that have not yet gone through puberty have a series of physical advantages in gymnastics....total body weight is lower, center of gravity position in the body is different, general flexibility is higher...etc.

this whole subject will end up coming to a dead end obviously.....the Chinese government issues the documents that state the false ages so they can basically "verify" their own false claims....these medals will obviously be tainted on the general public´s opinion but that´s about as far as it will go.

[JR-]

has anything happened since to publicly out this record tampering?

[Adrian II]

Since Jamaica, a country with no independent drug testing for ahletes, won just about every track gold medal, I'm considering taking part in the London 2012 Games with a rocket pack on my back. I guess as long as my passport looks okay, I'm in.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Thanks Beijng for these great games! It's been a distinct pleasure having made aquintance with the real China in this way.




79-year-old Wu Dianyuan. And her friend Wang Xiuying, 77.

Sentenced to one year of 'reeducation through physical labour in the camps. What for? For protesting the demolishment of their family homes for the Olympics without compensation.

Just two faces out of hundreds of thousands.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Wait - it said on the coverage yesterday that a British diver was fourteen, and he apparently acknowledged that it was true, but he was still competing. Do the regulations differ by sport?

[JR-]

i think it does, being younger is supposed to confer an unnacceptable advantage in sports like gymnastics if i remember correctly.

[Ronin]

the age limits vary from sport to sport....I think they are set by the international federation for each individual sport.

[Marshal Murat]

Age matters in different sports. In Gymnastics, age confers flexibility, agility, and ignorance. They are more flexible than an older gymnast. They have almost no fear, since they can't comprehend the full scope of their events. The event age limit also prevents them from developing breaks and sprains that could occur on over strained muscles.

[Papewaio]

Oh, and here's a beauty - the Chinese officials are playing the race card:

“At this competition, the Japanese gymnasts were just as small as the Chinese,” he said. “Chinese competitors have for years all been small. It is not just this time. It is a question of race. European and American athletes are all powerful, very robust. But Chinese athletes cannot be like that. They are by nature that small.”

No Sir, it is a question of your own stupid government shooting itself in the foot. Go on, and I will start watching the Games after all, for comic relief.

You could also point out there more robust large athletes of a 'similar age' in swimming... or the really tall ones in basketball... these kind of point to the lie that 'all chinese' are petite.

[Adrian II]

Has anyone else seen the footage of Boris Johnson's 'whiff whaff speech' to British athletes after the official hand-over? He looked horrible again in his shabby suit, like a tereotype second hand car salesman, but his speech more than made up for it. I loved the reference to Milo of Croton, and his statement that 'ping-pong ('whiff whaff) is coming home' was sheer brilliance. I dont know that the London Games wll necessarliy be the best, or even successful by modern standards since these standards definitely stink - but they will certainly be the funniest!

Kudos to Alexander de Pfeffel.

[Papewaio]

I saw the closing ceremony and the handing of the flag to Boris. He looked utterly shabby, which lead to two good points:

a) He can't be French.
b) He can't be Facist.

[drone]

I saw the closing ceremony and the handing of the flag to Boris. He looked utterly shabby, which lead to two good points:

a) He can't be French.
b) He can't be Facist.

I can't help but wonder what the hand-off would have been like with Red Ken instead.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Has anyone else seen the footage of Boris Johnson's 'whiff whaff speech' to British athletes after the official hand-over?

That was very funny.

Adrian, what is your connection to the U.K.? You seem to show a particular affinity for it in your posts. Have you lived there at all?

[Adrian II]

That was very funny.

Adrian, what is your connection to the U.K.? You seem to show a particular affinity for it in your posts. Have you lived there at all?

You could say the same with regard to threee other countries. I simply love our neighbours like I love my own country; in many ways I identify with Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. I grew up visiting them countless times, making friends and acquaintances in all four of them, reading their literature, papers and magazines, watching their movies and tv channels - and of course writing about them. This little cluster of countries embodies the best and the worst of European history and culture and by extension, in my mind, of mankind.

Call me a North Sea-centrist..

[Strike For The South]

You could say the same with regard to threee other countries. I simply love our neighbours like I love my own country; in many ways I identify with Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. I grew up visiting them countless times, making friends and acquaintances in all four of them, reading their literature, papers and magazines, watching their movies and tv channels - and of course writing about them. This little cluster of countries embodies the best and the worst of European history and culture and by extension, in my mind, of mankind.

Call me a North Sea-centrist..

Communist

[Adrian II]

Communist

Okay. I read books, I admit it.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Call me a North Sea-centrist..

Countries, cultures, in my opinion, are difficult to group in exclusive clusters. To speak of Europe as divided in 'Latin', 'Germanic', or Catholic / Protestant / Orthodox is fruitless. Too many overlaps.

Better is the analogy of a ripples in a pond. A certain cultural trait will usually have a clear centre, and ripples out. Europe then, is a pond with many different ciricles, of many clusters of cultures.

The marriage of language and the nationstate in the nineteenth century, at the exclusion of most other cultural identities, has diminshed the prominence of many of these underlying cultural belts, or clusters. But they are still intact.
France is clearly 'Latin', but it also falls within the circle of Northern Europe. Beer drinking Germany and Britain belong to a separate cluster from France, together with the Czechs, Danes and Belgians. As opossed to the wine drinking countries to the south, or the Vodka belt to the east and north. Britain is sometimes Anglosaxon, and sometimes European. Etcetera.

What then, this is my question, is the common denominator between your five countries? Apart from sharing in the fortune of being Belgium's immediate neighbours, is there a common denominator, a North Sea culture?

[Adrian II]

The marriage of language and the nationstate in the nineteenth century, at the exclusion of most other cultural identities, has diminshed the prominence of many of these underlying cultural belts, or clusters. But they are still intact.

Without a doubt, esteemed colleague. Though I would point out that a narrative analysis of contemporary identity formation marginalizes extraterritorial influences.

What then, this is my question, is the common denominator between your five countries?

This, then, is my answer: I like them.

[Papewaio]

What then, this is my question, is the common denominator between your five countries? Apart from sharing in the fortune of being Belgium's immediate neighbours, is there a common denominator, a North Sea culture?

The five biggest colonial powers at one point.
Yet now five of the most influential and stable democracies around...

Good models for positive upwards trend, even if some of them are two steps forward and one step back.

[Strike For The South]

Countries, cultures, in my opinion, are difficult to group in exclusive clusters. To speak of Europe as divided in 'Latin', 'Germanic', or Catholic / Protestant / Orthodox is fruitless. Too many overlaps.

Better is the analogy of a ripples in a pond. A certain cultural trait will usually have a clear centre, and ripples out. Europe then, is a pond with many different ciricles, of many clusters of cultures.

The marriage of language and the nationstate in the nineteenth century, at the exclusion of most other cultural identities, has diminshed the prominence of many of these underlying cultural belts, or clusters. But they are still intact.
France is clearly 'Latin', but it also falls within the circle of Northern Europe. Beer drinking Germany and Britain belong to a separate cluster from France, together with the Czechs, Danes and Belgians. As opossed to the wine drinking countries to the south, or the Vodka belt to the east and north. Britain is sometimes Anglosaxon, and sometimes European. Etcetera.

What then, this is my question, is the common denominator between your five countries? Apart from sharing in the fortune of being Belgium's immediate neighbours, is there a common denominator, a North Sea culture?

Communist