Manuela Parrino, an Italian woman who has lived in Beijing for the last 41/2 years said she was "fed up with all the visiting journalists talking negatively about China." She decided to prove China's commitment to free speech during the Olympic Games by applying to protest against pollution, with her 4 year old son, in one of the designated zones. After 9 hours, over 2 days, of officials trying to dissuade her cause, and parrying almost nonsensical questions from the local police officials, Manuela's application was unsuccessful because her son was deemed "too young".

How incredibly disappointing.

Now, there may indeed be proof that the gymnasts' ages are at least 16 but at this point, it is doubtful that anyone will trust "documents" that the Chinese government provides since people fully expect China to provide evidence that supports their defense. If there was evidence that their ages were under 16, do you really think the Chinese government would provide it? Don't be ridiculous.

And that is the main problem, the loss of trust and face. The whole reason why there was a controversy in the first place is because China has a history of bending or breaking the rules. Whether the Chinese made the gymnasts older for the Olympics or previously made the gymnasts younger for local competitions, both show that Chinese society often lies about age in formal official matters for various selfish reasons. Think about George W. Bush and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The difference is thankfully this is not about war, this is just about a sport competition and that it is much easier and safer to find real proof and evidence in the United States than in China where the laws and authorities protect the government and not the people.

THAT, sadly, is the understanding that people are getting. This entire incident makes us Chinese people lose face and we can only blame ourselves. Either we cheated now or we cheated before or we had bad media reporting now or bad media reporting before. This entire problem was our own fault and now we're facing the consequences of it.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=253637.html#rogge+paperwork+supports+chinas+claims

Rogge: Paperwork shows Chinese gymnasts are not underage
Posted Saturday, August 23, 2008 11:48 AM ET
The Chinese gymnastics team poses for a picture with their medals before a news conference at the Samsung Pavilion at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Associated Press
The Chinese gymnastics team poses for a picture with their medals before a news conference at the Samsung Pavilion at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

BEIJING (AP) -- The investigation goes on, so does the wait, yet the IOC indicated Sunday that a reshuffling of Olympic gymnastics medals isn't likely.

Yes, this competition really was and probably will remain ... one for the ages.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said paperwork appears to support what China has been saying all along: that all six members of its gold medal women's gymnastics team were old enough to compete at the Beijing Games. Gymnastics officials were still poring over the documents submitted by the Chinese in response to a request for more information on the birthdates of He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, DENG Linlin and Li Shanshan.

I knew Jichuan before and I believe he's not attacking the U.S on purpose. I think maybe he's trying to express something else rather than attacking. But unfortunately some wrong words/expressions were used, that makes you think he's attacking. Personally, at first I also took for granted that Jichuan was just joking about the U.S and be a little unhappy with the trapping question to the young girl who won the gold. So replied to him simply and went away from this post. I should have to consider the words that been used but I did not. That's my fault.

As you know, this is a team blog and every author can say whatever he wants to say. Every commentator can say what he wants to say too. So I don't think it proper to simply remove this post. Just let the comments/post be here :)

BTW, the author management still has a long way to go. I'm afraid that there might be even further misunderstandings like things brought out by this post in the future. As a founder and a featured blogger here, I have the responsibility to reduce such "event" as few as possible. And I would like to hear your response and criticism as well.

As for the age problem, not only the media, but also me stayed critical. You may take a look at another post by me - Hypocrisy culture around us?

http://cmp.hku.hk/2008/08/15/1177/

In response to Jichuan's final question: The foreign media made a big deal about the China gymnasts' age BEFORE the Olympics began and BEFORE the Chinese won gold. This does not mean that Americans or foreigners are NOT jealous, but it does mean that they are not making a big deal about it ONLY because they lost and are jealous. This was a big issue before anyone won. I believe that Jichuan trying to frame this issue as "jealous small Americans" does a disservice to the real meaningful issues involved and does not solve any problems. In fact, it creates problems by suggesting that Chinese people are willing to immediately ignore the actual complaint and just call other people jealous for any concerns they have. This is NOT an image I want us Chinese to have.

I agree, though I actually think there's something to be said about the Olympics being a sport for the adults and letting children compete in their own Olympics.