Several of the Chinese female gymnasts shouldn't even be in the Olympics. According to several U.S. media investigations, three of the Chinese athletes were previously listed on documents with birthdates that that would make them as young as 14 during this calendar year. There are at least four members of the team that are clearly well below the minimum age of 16, and a couple of them look as though they could be as young as 10 or 12. The American gymnasts, in comparison, are all obviously mature young women.

The Chinese cheat at virtually everything they do, including exporting toys coated with lead paint (or otherwise defective), sending us adulterated pharmaceuticals, poisoning our toothpaste with chemicals used in brake fluid and antifreeze and poisoning our pets with melamine-laced pet food. Now they are cheating at sports by having infants compete for them in the Olympics.

Being a totalitarian regime that controls all levels of government, the Chinese are able to control the birth records for these children and pass them off on their passports as being 16 or older. This is completely unfair, not only to the Chinese girls themselves who have no choice but to labor in athletics from infancy, but also to the young American women and other athletes who compete against them.

One of the most obvious advantages of using underage athletes is in the floor exercises, where long tumbling runs are required. Because of their larger body sizes, the "regulation-age" contestants have more inertia that makes it much harder for them to do tumbling runs with the same complexity as those of their Chinese counterparts and still stop in time to stay inbounds. The laws of physics were obviously at work with two of the American women who stepped out at the end of long tumbling runs.

Since age restrictions have been adopted for this sport, they should be enforced. They don't rely on the honor system with regard to doping rules, and they shouldn't in gymnastics either. It should be mandatory for all gymnasts to be checked by neutral doctors of their own sex for bone size and structure (including x-rays and MRIs of knitting of skull plates and fusion of growth plates in long bones), the presence of adult vs. baby teeth in their mouths, hormone levels, the presence of secondary sexual characteristics, etc.

Again, if you are going to have rules, enforce them or get rid of them. There can't be any middle ground. It is unfair to all of the female gymnasts who work so hard to get the chance to compete in the Olympics to overcome such obvious cheating by the Chinese. The U.S. Olympic Committee should stand up for its athletes and make sure they are able to compete on a level playing field.