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简介：www.times.com文章，卫冕冠军美国没获金牌看来很不甘心
她们旋转着，翻滚着，飞翔着，她们瘦弱、柔韧的身体像小刀一样划开空气。终于，中国女子体操队在团体决赛中获胜夺金，美国获得银牌，铜牌则由罗马尼亚获得。但就在中国队那些娃娃般的面孔绽放出灿烂笑容时，一个巨大的问号悬在国家体育馆的体操垫上。上个月，当中国最终确定奥运代表团名单时，知名体操教练贝拉· 卡洛里依指出有些中国体操运动员"明显还是孩子……而你对全世界说她们16岁了？太夸张了！"领奖台上的六个中国女子中，确实有三个没达到比赛最低年龄吗？
奥运会规章限定，参赛的女体操运动员必须达到16岁。根据作为判定标准的护照来看，何可欣，江钰源和杨伊琳都有16岁了。但是中国的网上报道和地方报纸显示的不同讯息，让人们对这三位小运动员的实际年龄产生怀疑。在2006年地方体育局的记录中介绍小何的生日是1994年1月1日，那么她今年应该14岁。今年早些时候在China Daily上的一篇文章也提到她是14岁。另一份当地比赛花名册上有小江的生日，1993年10月1日，就是说她也只有14岁，且她只有32公斤重。而在国家体育总局2004到2006年的网站上看到，小杨的生日是1993年8月26日。作为对纽约时报一篇质疑小何、小江年龄文章的回应，中国体操运动官员张红亮说也许是地方体育部门把她们的年龄登录错了，但她们的护照是绝对没错的。"我确定这个信息是正确的"，张说。国际体操联合会官方称他们接受护照上的信息，除非有可信服的反面证据。
中国体育界修改年龄的报道以前就出现过。在那些以灵活性取胜的项目中，年轻的选手比成熟的更轻巧，孩子们就会被虚报年龄。在悉尼获得两块铜牌的中国体操选手杨云，后来在中国的电视采访中透露她参加比赛时只有14岁。
在中国国内的体育竞技现场也存在虚报年龄的问题。年轻选手可能为了在以年龄为基准的竞赛中占有优势而被报得更小，就像中国篮球明星王郅治，他在俱乐部内的比赛中被列出的年龄比他实际年龄小两岁。
今年早些时候，山东省一个14岁的乒乓球小将兴奋地告诉我她作为一个11岁的选手参加省内和地区比赛。她说她的身份证上的出生日期被改了。"没什么大不了的，"她坚持说，"我的好多朋友都这么干。"她的教练当时不在采访现场，他否认学校里有任何修改年龄的现象，却非常肯定其它的单位有这种情况。
当然，中国并不是惟一一个对运动员年龄无审查的国家。在2001年少年棒球世界联赛中，一个叫Danny Almonte 的投手打了漂亮的一仗，为他所在的纽约队获得了一枚铜牌。但后来证实，这位12岁的选手实际上要大两岁，也就没有参加少年联赛的资格。该队的第三名被取消了。
卡洛里依的妻子协助教练美国体操队，卡洛里依认为完全解除疑惑的惟一方式是取消体操比赛的年龄限制，而这些限制条件设立的原意是为保护运动员。毫无疑问，如果最低年龄限制被取消了，其它国家诸如美国，可以培养他们更年轻的，更小个子和更勇敢的体操运动员。8月13日在团体决赛高低杠上获得16.9高分的柳金，四年前就因为年龄不够未能参加雅典奥运会。
体操联合会官方提醒，没有任何证据表明中国队中有年龄不足的队员。作为卫冕世界冠军参加奥运的美国队，在决赛中出现了许多失误。但如果证实——平均约高于中国对手9cm，重于中国对手13.5kg的美国运动员在和年龄不足标准的运动员竞争的话，中国的金牌很快就会失去光泽。
up to the Olympics, on-line sports registration lists in China suggested that half the Chinese women's team — He Kexin, Yang Yilin and Jiang Yuyuan — did not meet the age requirement of turning 16 in 2008. The international gymnastics federation and the Chinese team officials said those gymnasts were eligible, and that the ages on their passports were correct.
The controversy, though, led to more examination of the gymnasts on both sides.
For sure, the Chinese team's body types and those of the women on the United States team are opposites. The Chinese gymnasts are curveless, with an average height of 4-feet-9 and an average weight of 77 pounds.
The women on the American team, generally more muscular and shapely than the Chinese, are three and a half inches taller and 30 pounds heavier.
"I think the U.S. women look healthy, not decrepit like some gymnasts used to look because of eating disorders and those type of things," said Dominique Dawes, a former Olympic gold medalist for the United States. "It's nice to see gymnasts finally looking like young women, not children."
Still, when the Chinese and American women went head to head in the team final, it wasn't only a test of athlete versus athlete, but also system versus system.
The manner in which two countries train their women's teams could not be more different.
In China, the gymnasts often are sent to sports schools as children, sometimes as young as 4 or 5. They leave their families and their normal lives behind.
There, they train for hours every day and are taken care of by women who serve as surrogate parents. They eat in cafeterias, where they often use one bowl and one plate, washing them after every meal. They sleep in communal bedrooms, often in bunk beds. If they are lucky, the young ones see their parents on weekends, but that is not guaranteed.
Though the system is trying to change, many sports schools still focus on sports over everything else. Education often is secondary.
Bela Karolyi, the former coach of gymnastics legends like Mary Lou Retton and Nadia Comaneci, said that kind of centralized training system is on its way out.
"They are living, training and breathing in the training camp and, sure, that's efficient, but the world is moving forward," Karolyi said. "I wouldn't give it another Olympic cycle. I think this type of preparation will be eliminated forever, even in a place like China.
"Can you imagine if we plucked our girls out of their homes when they were 5 or 6, then kept them and trained them never let them go home?" he said. "In America, that just would not happen, never. We'd have a hundred lawyers knocking on our door because it does not work that way. For us, this system works the best."
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