Split the Olympics blog into two: have one blog w/ insightful, interesting thoughts about the Olympics (aka King Kaufman), and have another where all the patronizing, self-indulgent crap goes.

If I see another reference to "1.3 billion people" or how the Chinese need to be saved from their government/pollution/life in china/the Olympics I will light myself on fire.

And He Kexin, who looks to be about 10 years old, wiped tears away from her sparkly eyes after a fall on bars.

She looks to be about 10 and is almost certainly only 14, two years too young to compete in the Olympics, according to a number of published sources, including the New York Times. The same goes for her teammate Jiang Yuyuan. (Link to detailed article is attached to my signature below.)

It's an absolute scandal that these girls are being allowed to compete. Everyone is turning a blind eye to the fact that their real ages and birth dates have been published all over the web and Chinese press for years as they've competed, and the passports issued by China's government that claim they are 16 are blatent lies.

And why does China lie to permit these children to perform in Olympic competition? Because they are smaller, yes - but also because they are "more fearless". In other words, their immature reasoning skills and lack of comprehension of consequences mean they will take more risks of injuring their young bodies in the pursuit of pleasing their keepers.

I got physically ill watching them last night and had to turn it off. We might as well be tuning in to watch and cheer on their physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their government.

While the IOC stands by to aid and abet.

It's disgusting.

It was my understanding "women" gymnasts had to be sixteen to compete. If all those Chinese "women" are sixteen, George Bush belongs on Mt. Rushmore. A great thing about a totalitarian state: your birth certificate (one only per family, thank you very much) is what The State says it is. Bogus, big time. Of course, tis' not the girls fault. they're amazing. And Johnson is better than Mary Lou.

There is no way they are all 16 (or 15 going on 16) as required. It is disgusting. The only thing more disgusting is NBC's ridiculous worship of the Chinese gymnastics program. Were they told not to be critical of the Chinese little girls team? And their coverage of the US women is poor too. It's almost like they want them to lose.

Actually the thing that made me the sickest about the NBC coverage was their chiding of Romanian girls when talking about the downfall of Romanian gymnastics, basically calling them lazy and self-centered for being more interested in having a normal childhood and adolescence than in continuing the great Romanian tradition of gymnastics. Of course, I guess it didn't occur to them that the Romanians were great back when they could draft 3 year old girls into the gymnastics program, as the Chinese do today.

I wish the commentators would shut up!! All that blah, blah, blah over the opening ceremony ruined it for me.

The commentators should be there to explain the moves and provide a bit of history and then they should shut up. I couldn't believe the commentator that chided the Romanian coach for hugging one of the girls after she fell.

"Let them eat steroids"

"Let them lie about their age"

When I was 6 years old, I was applied to school in rural China with a age limit of 6 and 1/2 years, because this was the mandatory age. How did I feel about such a act as a adult today. I'm glad I had the opportunity.

The is no lost childhood in China, there is no childhood. There is either opportunity gained or lost. Only rich, affluent and well off people can dream of childhood innocence, for many it is poverty, harsh labor, or working in a field as I did for some time while young.

As for their age, these "children" you see could very well be 16 as there are many Asians, including myself who looked much younger growing up.

To put your body and mind on the line in a field, a class room, or a industrial plant or a sweat shop or on the grand stage of the Olympics is a fact of life in China. It is a place of intense competition and limited opportunity. One that goes beyond steroids and western notions of childhood and faked birth certificates. It is a harsh reality that exists in China and will continue to exist for the foreseeable future.

The worst thing that could happen to these children is not the Olympic stage, it is the alternative.

There is a luxury to living without sacrifice, and that is a worth goal to attain, but dispensing moral outrage against those willing to sacrifice. That's moral cowardice.

why no mention of the apparently substantial accusations of cheating on the part of the chinese womens ("Womens"?) team?

& while rooting for the girls team from china seems to derive from sensitivity to their plight as tools of a restrictive system, wouldn't their victory simply re-inforce that system? Won't that just make the chinese gymnastics system order up even younger girls- make their lives even more miserable in hopes of securing just one more gold medal?

There is a luxury to living without sacrifice, and that is a worth goal to attain, but dispensing moral outrage against those willing to sacrifice. That's moral cowardice.

-- hkkmr1

this is not about moral outrage - it's about child abuse, opposition to which should not be quieted by soft liberal guilt or deference to phony cultural subjectivity.

Thank you for speaking out. I thought to myself as I was watching these young-looking Chinese gymnasts, "Who knows how old they are? They look 10, but who can tell?"

Thank you also for pointing out that it's not the worst thing in the world to be on the Chinese Olympic team.

Ah Americans. So spoiled. . .so foolish. Yes, it's a luxury for most of the world's children to actually HAVE a childhood.