Chunsong Sheng

[armbmom]

I am finally watching Worlds and there is no way Chunsong Sheng is 16. She looks so sickly and unhealthy. Poor kid. Even Nastia seemed to hint that she may not be 16 just prior to her vault.

 

[Redford]

I had this same discussion with another CB member (and I'm pretty sure it has been discussed over and over again) and I agree with her, that for us it is very difficult to guess an Asians age.
There are several things coming together in this point:
1. Chinese girls often have a different, more fragile and less muscular body type.
2. There is a careful selection at the beginning and through the girls entire gymastics carreer. Since small body types flip better, have straighter lines and probably work better with the Chinese gymnastics and coaching style, they are more likely to make it to the elite level.
3. Intense training (at a young age)+ different nutrition in the food = low percentage of body fat = smaller and leaner bodies.
4. In the Western world it is common for teenagers to make themselves look A LOT older via make up etc. We are used to different ideas of "looking grown up"
5. No guarantee on this one but I've read somewhere, that in Chinese tradition (mostly practiced in the poorer and rural regions) they have a different system of age counting, which begins BEFORE the child is born, so there might be "wrong" numbers on the birth certific

 

[Redford]

-sorry, CB obviously died in the middle of my post-

... so there might be "wrong" numbers on the birth certificate right from the beginning. Found that one rather interesting.
Furthermore, none of the Worlds girls appeared out of nowhere. There are videos from earlier Nationals where in my opinion most of them look older than at Worlds and have a skill level that is highly unlikely for an even younger girl.
Well it's just my opinion and of course one can never be sure.

 

[B&M's mom]

In the past there was a tradition concerning when you became a year older. However, the Chinese do issue accurate birth certificates showing the actual date of birth and count birthdays the same way the West does.

I can attest that Chinese girls do not always look their age. My 13 year old is still losing baby teeth and is the size of a 10 year old, her equally Chinese sister, who is the size of normal kid. Looks can definitely be deceiving

 

[Empowered]

Obviously looks can be deceiving. If you stuck my kids in a line I'd bet no one would guess them in the right age order.

However, when a country such as China, has repeatedly cheated and been caught in the past regarding age and falsification of records, it is only natural to question them.

It is the once a cheater, always a cheater concept. Perhaps if they are able to go for a long period of time without cheating in an Olympic sport, be it gymnastics, swimming, table tennis… people will stop questioning them.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I guess when you have a history of cheating both internationally and locally people are always going to be suspicious. You only need to Google 'Chinese cheating' and you are faced with pages of news items that suggest that cheating is not viewed in the same way as we see it.

 

[Redford]

Of course. One SHOULD be suspicious. Just like we should question a goverments decisions, the medias or a weird bill for 50 pounds of chocolate cookies.

Just giving it some perspective. The line between being suspsicious and having prejudices is a thin one.

 

[armbmom]

Honestly, my post was more out of concern for the child. I mean the Chinese government is going do whatever it is going to do, and the little girl is going to do what her country tells her to do, so that she can provide for her family. She just looks so small and as a mom, I'm concerned for her well being.

 

[armbmom]

Sorry, I hit enter before I was done. I also agree on discrepancies with birth certificates. I had a co-worker who was actually 8 months older than her birth certificate, because it took her father that long to officially register her birth with the government. I also get that it may be hard to judge age from our western perspective.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Hard to say, I have a little one on team who looks 7 and is the same height as the 7 year olds, but she is 11. People constantly ask her how old she is.

 

[mimi]

Coachp that is exactly how it is with my daughter. She is 11 and only 49 inches. We are actually seeing an endocrinologist on Monday, but that's a whole other thread.

 

[saddlupasb]

I thought it was interesting that both Chinese girls at Worlds had the exact same teeth. I know China was criticized in the past for girls being underage and teeth were missing. Strange that these girls looked like they had implants.

 

[profmom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO3fKF_tnHg

Check video at 2:50 to see her on balance beam at Chinese nationals in 2010. Enough with this. I believe, if I am remembering the story right, that Shang Chunsong was born in a poor rural province and likely experienced very inadequate nutrition as a young child. If Nastia Liukin is running around implying that this young woman, who has had to overcome such adversity in her life to get to where she is, is a cheater, then Nastia should be ashamed of herself.

 

[JessLW]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO3fKF_tnHg

Check video at 2:50 to see her on balance beam at Chinese nationals in 2010. Enough with this. I believe, if I am remembering the story right, that Shang Chunsong was born in a poor rural province and likely experienced very inadequate nutrition as a young child. If Nastia Liukin is running around implying that this young woman, who has had to overcome such adversity in her life to get to where she is, is a cheater, then Nastia should be ashamed of herself.

Yeah, I was going to say, there are videos of her competing years back and she looks exactly the same. She's just one of those people, I think, who will probably hit puberty really late. No doubt China has falsified ages and probably will do it again, but this girl is, I think, legitimately her age.

As for the birth certificate thing, no, in the modern era Chinese people's birth certificates are all based on their actual date that they were born, not on other dates, not legally. For the older generations and for rural folk there can be some guesswork involved because in rural areas people often go by the lunar calendar, but usually that won't effect the birth year. My husband's official birthday is inaccurate because he was born at home and when his family went to record the birth officially his Aunt didn't remember the exact date so she just made something up. She knew the month and year of course, but she guessed as to the exact day. That was in 1973 though. It wouldn't happen these days, because there are people whose job it is to keep track of these things and people have babies in hospitals by and large.