The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into the age of Chinese gymnast He Kexin, The Times of London reports. Faced with almost insurmountable evidence which suggests that He is two years younger than the birth date listed on her Chinese passport, the IOC has launched an inquiry that could result in the stripping of He's gold medals.

This news comes on the heels of another Times report that details the findings of a New York computer security expert who found official Chinese documents that list He's age as 14 years and 220 days. Mike Walker used a Chinese search engine's cache feature to find He's actual date of birth on spreadsheets from a Chinese government website. The spreadsheets were taken down off the site recently and He's name had been removed.

Assuming the IOC is committed to a real investigation and not some dog and pony show, the revelation that the Chinese government covered up the ages of gymnasts could end up being the defining moment of these Games for the host country. Officials wanted the Olympics to be a coming out party for a new China. But while the Games have been a huge success, there is a legitimate possibility that China's legacy from Beijing '08 will be that of a massive government cover-up, not the magical Opening Ceremony or the transformation of Beijing or anything else positive.

All the good work China did to put on these Olympics could be forgotten because of an unnecessary, arrogant move by the government. Why risk everything to put a 14-year old in the competition when they could have replaced her with an of-age 16-year old gymnast? Sure, He is a better gymnast than the Chinese gymnasts who were eligible to compete, but with the judges they had at the Olympics, would it really have mattered?

secret has been revealed

...and 2 others are being reviewed by the IOC.

Sad.

The true victims in this are the girls. What a brutal thing to do to a kid... shame on the Chinese government.

It's bad enough they've never gotten to BE a kid, given the fact that they're "selected" by the government to be athletes, removed from their homes and subjected to intense training...

But to LIE, and then leave the girls to suffer having their medals stripped, is just SICK.

I wanted to be there watching the competition with a big sign that says, "At Least Our Girls Can Go To The Mall."

WOWAfter reading that I said wow.You touched on all issues I have been seeing or hearing about at the 08' games. From the scoreing BS to the age contraversey.

When looking at the Chinese gymnists I immeadiatly knew they were too young. Also the scoreing had been so pro China that it was difficult to enjoy the athletes perfomances. So I looked into it...

The every host nation of the Olyimpics has had a dramatic bump on the medals count but nothing like Chinas current rise. So once the Chinese goverment is finished destroying these little girls lives and the truth is out there, the US will receive:All-Around Team GoldVault Bronze (Sacramone)Uneven Bars Gold (Liukin) Floor Exercise Gold (Johnson)

ALSO this makes history because this is the first time my hottest Olypians thread wasnt at the top...

**** like this is why we all should be greatful of the bill of rights and fight like hell if anyone wants to change them.

Keep in mind China won a lot of Gold medals in retarded crap, like "10-meter air rifle".

WTF?

Since when was shooting a bb-gun in the living room an Olympic sport?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/....html

SURE! How convinent....

Also...http://bleacherreport.com/arti...ports

I was watching when China got Gold in trampoline...