Lying Scores Another Perfect 10

And the beat of the lying drum goes on. The AP reports that they've found evidence that at least one member of the Chinese gymnastics team isn't yet 16 years old.

16 is the age of eligibility for a gymnast to compete in the Olympic games. But as with all things Olympic, we are asked to avert our eyes at anything that might taint our view of this sham of international harmony.

Says the AP:

In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of "10 big new stars" who made a splash at China's Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. In the final, "this little girl" pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, http://www.hb.xinhuanet.com.

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.

Sent backstage
So that makes at least three lies to come out of the Beijing Olympics so far. First was the phony fireworks during the Opening Ceremonies. Then there was the poor child that was pushed backstage in favour of a pretty face, at the request of a Chinese Politburo member. The politician thought the little girl was bucktoothed, and told the event organizers to bring out the hook. The bucktoothed child sang the Olympic anthem, all right, but the pretty face lip-synched the tune. And now you have a gymnast who has aged three years in nine months.

A miracle? No, just another expected car crash in this insipid display of media hypocrisy colliding with a totalitarian regime.

You've gotta hand it to the Chinese for chutzpah. When they submitted He's passport to the corrupt IOC, they listed her birthdate as January 1, 1992. As is done in horse racing, they made sure her birthdate fell on the first day of the year, to ensure the IOC could do some easy math and give her a free ride. Which, of course, they dutifully did, though past records had He's age listed as January 1, 1994.

Lying about a gymnast's age is nothing new to China. At the 2000 games in Sydney, the Chinese entered a 14-year-old into the mix. She won a bronze medal, and later admitted that she and her coaches lied about her age. The fact that the IOC knew this, and did not investigate He's age for this year's games in Beijing, only proves how complicit they are in the host country's lies. The IOC's mantra is, "Shhh. Don't ruin it. The Olympics are perfect, and always will be."

Nothing will be allowed to disturb this Chinese Moment. No Chinese athlete will be found guilty of doping, and no Chinese gymnast will be stripped of a medal for any infraction. This is the Olympics, get it? Lie after lie will rain down upon you, and you will do your duty: like it, and ignore it. And by the way, how are you enjoying all of that 'mist' you're seeing in China right now? The only gold medal awarded in this Olympic farce should go to the longest lasting fog bank in history.

We're all a great big happy family. While a Chinese political prisoner sits in jail for surfing the internet, the little Chinese girl receives a gold medal for doing handstands on a piece of playground equipment. While the Russian athlete hugs the Georgian athlete for swimming in a pool, the Russian president invades the Georgian countryside and bombs people to death. But hey, don't rock the boat. Michael Phelps might win another medal, wouldn't that be fantastic?

The only good thing to come out of these Olympic Games will be the closing ceremonies.