Maybe you are wondering why I haven’t posted any Beijing Olympics related post since day 1of the games and for the reason that I am a former HS athlete myself and a fan of the Olympics? It’s my personal conviction actually to ignore the almost concluded Beijing Olympics here in my blog because I am so disappointed on how the Chinese Government handled so many issues thrown at them by their critics. Don’t get me wrong. This post is not anti-Chinese. I’m not against the Chinese people since most of my friends are also chinese. My lamentations are particularly focused on China’s Government and the Olympic Organizers. Controversies has been raised left and right due to China’s poor integrity on some basic issues and the worse, on the Olympic events themselves. Some bloggers have already discussed previously the different controversies that arose days after the Olympics opened and much to our dismay, many more are resurfacing.

One such example is the US Women’s Gymnastics team’s protest against China’s Gymnasts, He Kexin et al. The rules were clear, no gymnast younger than 14 years old should compete in Gymnastics for obvious reasons that underage athletes’ bodies are still fragile and developing. To train strenuously for the Olympics at that very young age would be detrimental to the child’s health. Actually it looks like the US Team is sour graping from their loss, but as we usually say, rules are rules. No matter how great a nation is, if its medals were acquired in a dubious manner, is not worth the honor at all less they should be considered void and null. Three Gymnasts from China were already controversial even before the games began since their appearance is so childlike that you will have difficulty in convincing yourself that they are really 16 years old. Its true that asians are smaller, petite and younger looking than our Caucasian brothers and sisters but common sense dictates that even if one has that kind of feature, you can still see the difference bwteen a 16 year old and a fourteen year old. The protest of the US is backed by the different Media entities like the New York Times which first exposed the paper trail that leads to the true age and and date of birth of the three gymnast. One can cheat through passports and birth certificates, but the human anatomy doesn’t lie! Another blogger also made claims of China’s alleged cheating through his research and investigation via the Internet. You can find the article here and here.

If you still don’t get the issue, maybe this video can sort it out for you. And tell me if they really looked like 16… in all honesty, I want to believe that they are, but my background as an allied medical professional who studied normal and abnormal human growth and development hinders me from doing such.

Another controversy that caught my ire is the arrest of a UK Journalist who was just there in China Covering the protest for the Independence of Tibet. The Police manhandled the journalist, took his equipments and arrested him without even enumerating his rights or at least listen to his reason. We can recall that the Chinese Government boast that there will be unhindered press freedom during the Olympics but this video shows otherwise.

The bottom line is, the Chinese Government and the Philippine Government has so many parallels that we can only conclude that no matter how they sugarcoat the issues with lies, cheating and deception, the people will still know the truth. The 2008 Beijing Olympics may be the Greatest Olympics ever for CHINA, but for the world it isn’t. Can’t wait for the Olympics to finish so that we can actually see how China will morph back into its old ways, after all, the courting and press releases are already over by then!