Wow, I’ve been bad about blogging lately, huh? Sorry about that… I’ve been meaning to blog about a bunch of things lately, so much has been happening, but I got kind of thrown off. I saw my post count was about to tick over to 1,000 posts, so I wanted to write a cool Bloggy 1,000 post. But of course, I kept procrastinating and procrastinating, not getting around to it.
But you know what I just realized? Duh, that post count is counting old posts that I never published! So there aren’t actually 999 published posts on this blog yet! I’ve still got time to procrastinate some more, but still blog a little bit in the meantime! Yay! Hehe.
One thing I’ve really, really been meaning to blog about is some thoroughly exciting news that arrived in my email inbox about three weeks ago. (Yes, I know, call me the Queen of Procrastination, I deserve it.) The email was from my old friend Mike Walker, aka Stryde Hax, the hacker extraordinaire I worked with back in 2008 during the whole underage gymnast scandal from the Beijing Olympics. Originally I just volunteered to provide server space to mirror some of the documents he and some secret sources in China had found on official Chinese government servers. But the more we worked together, the more involved I became.
Eventually I ended up talking with a lot of the sources in China, and because of that, Mike and I were sent a very interesting video by a very, very brave person in China who shall remain nameless. (Although honestly, I don’t even know that person’s name, but they deserve a medal.) The video was just like all those little athlete bio fluff pieces we always see in between events on NBC here in the States. Except this time, it was an athlete bio produced by official Chinese state government television, about their all-around gold medal winning gymnast from the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Yang Yun.
In that video, in her own words, Yang Yun admitted to having competed underage.
The only problem was, that admission was in Mandarin. I knew that video was important, so I worked to convince Mike to let me take the video, have it translated, edit on some subtitles in English, and release it for the whole world to see. He graciously gave me the freedom to do so and I worked with a very kind, incredibly brave woman who translated the entire video in only a few short days. I worked round the clock on my cheap little Mac Mini to add the subtitles as quickly as I could, then uploaded the whole thing to YouTube.
After all the documents Mike and his colleagues unearthed, after everything we’d pulled from official Chinese government servers, that video was what caught the International Olympic Committee’s attention. It was only then that a full investigation was opened, this time not just with regard to the 2008 games, but every Olympics reaching back to the Sydney games. That one little video sparked a firestorm at the IOC and the FIG, it got the world talking, and soon enough, Mike and I were being interviewed by news outlets all over the world. All while I was stuck in bed in my pajamas, no less. 🙂
Of course, given the obvious power that China held over the IOC at the time, given everything the world witnessed – and didn’t have the chance to witness – during the 2008 games, Mike and I didn’t exactly have high expectations of medals being yanked. We had hopes, sure, but it’s China. You can’t exactly expect a mouse like the IOC to stand up against the Chinese lion, right then and there. It was painfully obvious that the IOC was depending on China to put on a good show for the world, so that the IOC could make money. They sat by while China violated promise after promise they made in order to win the 2008 games. After the scandals about journalistic censorship, harsh treatment of Olympic workers and “volunteers”, we had no reason to expect that the IOC would suddenly grow a spine. It just wasn’t realistic. As much as it pained us, we were expecting the investigation to drag on just long enough for the world to lose interest in the summer games, until they could quietly sweep this under the rug and let the charade continue.
Three weeks ago, I found out that we have every reason to hold out hope. The investigation carried out by the FIG, under instructions from the IOC, finally came up with something. At long last, it’s out from under the rug.
The FIG has finally, finally, found enough evidence of age manipulation by the Chinese government to recommend that the IOC revoke medals from the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games!!
Sadly, the medal in question isn’t the gold won by Yang Yun. Apparently a videotaped confession by the athlete herself isn’t enough evidence to warrant revoking a medal. But the investigation sparked by our video has found that Yang Yun’s teammate, Dong Fangxiao, was only 14 years old at the time of the Sydney Games, not 16 as she previously claimed. If I’m remembering right, Fangxiao was the one whose blog we found, wherein she happened to admit in which year she was born, and sure enough, it didn’t match up with what she said in Sydney.
Although it’s not the individual all-around gold talked about in our video, Yang Yun’s still losing a medal: Dong Fangxiao was part of the Chinese gymnastics team that took bronze in the womens team all-around competition at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games. The FIG has recommended to the IOC that the entire Chinese team be struck from the Olympic records and their bronze medals revoked. Fangxiao isn’t the only one losing a medal; her deceit, the Chinese government’s deceit, could cost the entire team their bronze medals. Yang Yun included.
The IOC still has the final say on the matter, since it was the FIG that conducted the investigation. The FIG doesn’t have the authority to revoke the medals, so they have to give the results of their investigation to the IOC, who will then make the official declaration. All I can say is, the IOC better do the right thing. This isn’t just about medals; it never was. It’s about the sanctity of sport, trusting in the integrity of the process, being able to maintain respect for Olympic competition; but most of all, it’s about protecting children from the abuse of a tyrannical government.
At the end of this month, the IOC will hold their next board meeting, wherein they will most likely decide whether to accept the FIG’s recommendations to revoke the medals, or instead stand with that same tyrannical government. I urge them to make the right choice, to take that first step. It may not be the gold medal I wanted, but a bronze is a darn good start. If ever there was a chance for the IOC to win back the respect of the world, this is it. Take that step, stand up against China, tell them that dishonesty, disrespect, and child abuse will not be tolerated by the world any longer. This is your chance; take it.
Just know, however, that if you don’t, the world will be watching. You have a chance to further solidify your reputation in the world community, one way or the other. Do you want to remain a mouse, or become a lion? Do you want to take that first step to end systematic child abuse, or turn a blind eye to it and thus become an accomplice to the Chinese government’s crimes?
Mike & I will be watching. The world will be watching. We all hope you’ll make the right choice.
P.s.The New York Times has covered the story! Check it out. Although they sadly neglected to mention Mike & I. Can’t say I’m surprised. 🙂