Romanians have lied about ages in the past

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I'm glad they did. The age restriction is stupid. I agree with anyone who have lied about their gymnasts ages. We miss a lot of great gymnastics and a lot of gymnasts miss their dreams because of the age restriction.
 
Regardless of how I feel about the age restriction, it exists and lying to circumvent it is cheating. Cheating your way to a win is pretty sad in a lot of ways.

But in these cases it isn't the fault of the athletes, many of whom have little say over what happens to them, although they'll take most of the fall and have the most to lose when someone gets caught (exhibit A: Raducan). One of my longtime early gymnastics coaches trained at Bela Karolyi's facility in Romania and there's not a lot I can really support about that kind of system as a person, much less even bringing up issues of cheating in international competitions (although that certainly plays into many concepts of ultimately putting medals above all else). I don't agree with government officials who lie or control people in an effort to obscure truths that will endanger their power and personal wealth. This kind of systematic control and disregard for procedure is a symptom of much more complex bureaucratic deception. "We copied this from others" is not an acceptable answer. Unfortunately many of these officials have no one to answer to anyway. There's not honestly a lot anyone can do about proving faked documents but supporting this kind of deceit goes beyond them trying to protect the integrity of gymnastics in some twisted way. This is part of a national propaganda organ. It has very little to do with any individual gymnast and what is fair to her.
 
Silivas has admitted she lied about her age...

and what ever happened with Kim Gwan Suk? The big joke was that she still had her baby teeth at 16. I'm not sure if N.Korea is ever going to own up to that one.

It's sad...and I think the rule should be enforced as much as possible for the child's sake.
 
Isn't she the one they listed as 15 for three years in a row, and got barred from the 1993 worlds because of it?
 
Yes I think that`s the one.....

And yes, it is true Romania has cheated before. Gymnasts also talked about regarding this were Alexandra Marinescu and Gina Gogean.
 
I agree that a rule is a rule is a rule. Our gymnasts follow the age restrictions and I think they would have a right to be upset if someone else isn't following the rules.
 
I agree that they shouldn't be breaking the rules, but unfortunately I don't think there's a whole lot that the gymnastics federations can do to prevent it, especially in the case with the Chinese gymnasts, because they are fighting against the Chinese government there.

I like Beth Rybacki's perspective in this interview. She makes a good point:
Age Advantage? | August 24 on Gymnastike
 

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