Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

August 24, 2008

Chinese Gymnasts Investigated for Cheating? Blame the USA!

My latest over at PJM:

To those who think her being underage — per requirements put into place in 1997 in order to ensure the safety of the athletes — should not be an issue because her performances were so outstanding, I pose this question: why have rules at all for any sport? Rules exist for a reason — to give competing athletes common ground from which to start. There are rules against steroid use, for instance, which no one seems to have a problem with — nor should they. Swimmers, runners, and other competitors are tested for these drugs on a daily basis throughout the competition. Age limits in gymnastics might seem unfair, but unless those rules are challenged and subsequently changed, they should be abided by.

Yet in addition to the comments arguing whether age should matter or not, there were a fair number of those that suggested the only reason this investigation has commenced is that the U.S. team took second place. In other words, American sour grapes. Here’s a sampling (all spelling and syntax from the original):

Read it all here.