What word comes to mind when I think of the Chinese. SHADY! Yep, shady, shady, shady. I mean really. I don't believe the pollution is at safe levels for people to breath, I don't believe they've stopped using lead paint, and I certainly don't believe their gymnasts are all of competing age. Did the Americans screw up, yep, they did. Should the Chinese use gymnasts who under the age to compete, nope, they shouldn't. They're just shady characters. Just do it right! Play fair dammit! And the world gets mad at America. Ugh! so annoying.



While the Chinese team celebrated, Martha Karolyi, the U.S. national team coordinator, continued to question the ages of some of China's gymnasts. Concerns over eligibility on the six-member team surfaced before the Olympics and have continued all week.

"One of the girls has a missing tooth," Karolyi said, suggesting that the gymnast was so young that she lost a baby tooth and had yet to have a permanent one emerge.

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The grin of Deng Linlin, a Chinese gymnast who is listed as 16, indeed revealed a wide gap. To be eligible for the Olympics, gymnasts must turn 16 this year. "I have no proof, so I can't make an affirmation," Karolyi said.

China's coach, Lu Shanzhen, bristled when the age issue arose again on the day his gymnasts had upset the Americans, the reigning world champions. He would not explain Deng's missing tooth.

"It's unfair that people keep saying the Chinese are too young to compete," Lu said in Mandarin on his way out of the National Indoor Stadium. "If they think they can tell someone's age just by looking at them, well, if you look at the foreign athletes, they have so much more muscles than the Chinese. They are so strong. Do you then say that they are doping?"

Half of the team - He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan - is under age if online sports registration lists in China are correct. The international gymnastics federation, however, said those gymnasts were eligible and that the ages on their passports were correct.