How not to investigate a scandal.

The IOC is doing a good job of not doing a good job. By this I mean that they are doing exactly what shouldn't be done in the case of the allegedly underaged Chinese gymnasts. The IOC is asking the very body accused of lying, to tell more lies.

I will explain. As far as has publicly been made known, the IOC's "investigation" into the girl's ages consisted of China being asked to produce more documents to "prove" their age. I use the word "produce" deliberately, for China has been given sufficient time to produce them, so as actually to produce them, (that is fabricate them), if necessary.

What many parties all over the world have basically said China seems to have done is lie to the world about the ages of its gymnasts. For the passports to be lies, it means that the Chinese government itself is the lying party - or its representatives. Yet, it is the Chinese government that the IOC has asked to produce further documents to prove the issue. This just doesn't make sense. If the passports are fake - as many different parties believe - then ALL documents produced by the Chinese will have been faked.

For those who haven't been following this matter, the doubt initially arose because of publicly available documents on Chinese government linked websites stating the ages of the girls as being as young as 13, rather recently. So, official Chinese sources are the source of the doubt. It is interesting that these public sources are fast disappearing and exist, now, only in web caches.

What the IOC needs to do is source its own evidence. Do not ask the Chinese government for anything because if the doubts about the Chinese gymnasts' age turn out to be true, it will have been the Chinese government itself that had lied about it, through falsifying documents. Therefore, asking them for further documents, in this instance, will just result in further falsification. The answer to this matter is not to be found in official documents - but in unofficial records: the minds of others, for instance.

There must be hundreds of people in these girls' hometowns who know their true ages. Their fellow schoolchildren and teachers will know. Their neighbours will know. Anyone who has grown up with them will know. Many, many people will know the truth. Simply sending someone to enquire might produce interesting results. Then there will be stories in newspapers in the early days, before anyone had thought to lie about their ages. There will be the records of early competitions. There will, in fact, be an untold variety of physical and other evidences of their true age. All it would take is for the IOC to actually go looking. The IOC appears either to be run stupidly - or in collusion with those they are defending. Only an unintelligent, or a dishonest person, could fail to doubt the ages of the Chinese gymnasts after so much evidence of their underage status has been aired.

To my eyes, it is not, now, the Chinese who are under trial. It is the IOC itself. The manner in which it acts, or does not act, will determine its standing, henceforth, in the eyes of many around the world. By not acting with wisdom, the IOC threatens to damage the Olympic movement itself. Well done, IOC. Well done.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Time to investigate the IOC.

There have been calls, from all over the world, to investigate the age of Chinese gymnasts at the Olympics. At first the International Olympic Committee (IOC) indicated that it would not investigate for it was satisfied by the passports it had seen. The clamour continued, the world was not happy. Finally, today, the IOC announced that it would investigate the issue.

That sounded just fine to me. At last, they would look into the matter. At last, something would be done. At last, the undoubtable truth would be uncovered. Imagine, then, my surprise (and yours, perhaps) when I learnt that, only a few hours after announcing the investigation, that it had been concluded - in favour of the Chinese: all was pronounced well and the girls were as old as stated. The reason given was strange: there was no "proof" that they were underage.

What, exactly, I wonder does "proof" mean? What is the level of evidence the IOC would accept - for there is certainly abundant evidence that these girls are underage. Firstly, there is their development - or lack of it - for even by Asian standards these girls look like kids. They don't even look as old as the age that is suspected of them. If I had been told that they were in primary school, I would believe it. Then there is the little matter of Chinese governmental websites having stated, in the past, that the girls were considerably younger than they would have had to have been, to now be 16. Last year, Xinhua, the Chinese government news agency, wrote of He Kexin as being 13 years old. In May, the China Daily, wrote of her being 14. Suddenly, she has undergone rapid ageing, living two years in just three months. Another magic feat is that documents have come into existence - such as a passport - that have a new opinion of her age.

Well a document is just a piece of paper with lies written on it - if that is what someone wants it to be. It is very easy to falsify a passport - all it needs is one single dishonest official or one single dishonest government. That is all. A piece of paper with the age 16 on it says nothing of the truth at all.

What would tell the truth is a bit of a background check on the girls. Where did they go to school? What do the teachers and students of that school say about the age of the girls? What do townspeople in their respective home towns say? Where are the yearbooks and dated photographs of the girls in particular school years? A life leaves traces of its passing. There will be an abundance of physical evidence in the world as to the true age of these girls. Unless, of course, there is a massive cover-up underway with the erasure of these girls' entire pasts. That, of course, is possible given China's revealed nature and strong interest in maintaining this apparent lie in the face of the world.

It would not be difficult to find all this information. Simply hiring a private detective agency in China would probably do the trick in a day or two. However, it is not really necessary to do that - for the Chinese government has told us the true ages of these girls on multiple occasions at earlier stages in their careers, on public websites. Caches of these now strangely missing webpages prove that three girls, at least, in the Chinese gymnastic team are underage, ACCORDING TO THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT ITSELF, in the past.

Investigators from various parts of the world have unearthed diverse evidence stating that these girls are underage. The IOC rules state that no-one under 16 can participate in an Olympics gymnastic competition. Anyone who is under 16 is ineligible for competition - and for the winning of medals. Gymnasts are supposed to take these rules seriously - and are stripped of their medals if found out. However, the IOC has chosen, in the case of the Chinese gymnasts, not to take its own rules seriously. The question is: why?

The IOC is ignoring much evidence that the athletes are underage. It prefers to accept that China, great wonderful honest China, would not lie to it. It is accepting the verbal declaration that the passports and related documents of these athletes state. It is ignoring the verbal declaration of Xinhua, (the Chinese version of Reuters) and various other Chinese organs, as being "unproven". So what makes one verbal declaration trustworthy and another not? Why is one Chinese government source trusted (the passport office) and another Chinese government source (Xinhua) not trusted? It seems, to an outsider, that it all comes down to money. The IOC makes money out of the Beijing Olympics. No doubt it makes a whole lot of money. That money pays their no doubt Olympic sized salaries. They are not going to investigate the behaviour of the source of that money. So, they choose blindness over sight, deafness over hearing and ignore the evidence that the rest of the world can see and hear so clearly.

It is time, therefore, not to just ask the IOC to investigate the age of these questionable athletes, but to ask that the IOC ITSELF BE INVESTIGATED. Is there wrongdoing and collusion at the IOC? Are the IOC truly aware that the gymnasts are underage, but choose to ignore the issue? Why won't the IOC do the simplest of things to verify the ages of these children, themselves? The IOC has great resources and influence. It would not be difficult for them to find concrete sources other than the assurances of their hosts - after all, the rest of the world has had no trouble doing so. The funny thing is that the age verification sources outside of the official ones, all state that these girls are underage. Perhaps that is why the IOC chooses not to look at them: it doesn't want to face up to the situation.

The IOC is being foolish. It fears to embarrass China. It seems to lack the courage to face China. That is the charitable interpretation. The less charitable interpretation is that the IOC, itself, is directly involved in covering this matter up, by giving its assurances that all is OK, when much evidence says that it is not.

The IOC has put its long-term reputation on the line over this. People have long memories. They will not easily forget the multiple lies and deceits that China has brazenly told the world these past couple of weeks. The world will continue to suspect the Chinese gymnasts of being underage. Furthermore, and to the detriment of the IOC, the world will remember how the IOC responded. The reputation of the IOC could be forever lessened by this lack of action on their part. The IOC risks a lot more than embarrassing China. The IOC risks tarnishing the Olympics, itself. For the IOC is showing, quite clearly, that it doesn't care all that much about cheating, at the Olympics, it doesn't care about fairness, it doesn't care about honesty. It doesn't actually care about the Olympic spirit at all. All the IOC cares about is the IOC.

An external body should be appointed, with no connection to the IOC, to investigate two things: the age of the Chinese gymnasts through thorough background checking - and whether the IOC is colluding, in any way, with covering up their ages.

Should it be proven that the gymnasts are underage, the entire upper management of the IOC should go, for not investigating it, thoroughly. Should it be proven that they were in collusion over the matter, then some form of further punishment should be put in place.

The Olympics represent the best of the human spirit. Today, however, they appear to be run by people who do not share in that spirit. It is time to take a good, long look at the IOC, and all its key players. In fact, this is more important than even the age of the athletes that they are so keen not to question.

Is it time to say goodbye to Jacques Rogge? (Interesting name, that...)

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

International Olympic Committee blog visit.

There is nothing more likely to remind one how small the world is, than starting a blog. Yesterday, I wrote about the Youth Olympic Games planned for 2010. Today, someone from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) read the article I had written about them: amazing.

More specifically, someone whose IP address is called Comite International Olympique, from Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland, with the domain name: "Olympic.org", read the article in question. What I find even more incredible is the manner in which they were alerted. Someone who had read the article in the twenty four hours after I wrote it, sent an email to someone they knew at the International Olympic Committee, enclosing a link to the article - and they opened it and read it. That, to me, is rather surprising. It just goes to show how small and interconnected this modern world we live in, is.

I posted an article, from Singapore, addressed to no-one in particular, leaving it to chance who might see it. Twenty-four hours later, the organization I spoke of - the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had been notified of it and had read it. Phenomenal.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Youth Olympic Games 2010, IOC

Recognizing gifted athletes, and giving them opportunities, is just as important as recognizing gifted intellectuals and giving them opportunities, for growth, too. Sadly, many societies (outside of America, which already nurtures the athletically gifted among them), neglect those of athletic ability.

Singapore is one such country. For most of Singapore's history, sports have played little role in society, though some sporting figures have managed to make a career. The reason for this neglect has been a pragmatic one: sports were not regarded as financially rewarding. There was no significant home market for sports and so no high regard was given to those of sporting ability. It was seen as something without real significance. That, however, has begun to change in recent years. Indeed, in the year 2000, Singapore launched a Foreign Sports Talent Scheme (FST) in order to recruit overseas sporting talent, while young, give them residency, and launch them as Singaporean athletes. This was a bid to activate Singapore's sporting scene and place them on the world stage. It has had varying degrees of success and should be the subject of another post, at another time.

Singapore, today, has indicated its intention to hold the first Youth Olympic Games, in Singapore, in 2010. It is one of ten nations bidding for the right to hold this event. The other cities (nations) are: Algiers (Algeria), Athens (Greece), Moscow (Russia), Turin (Italy), Bangkok (Thailand), Guatemala City (Guatemala), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Poznan (Poland). Bidders have until October 26 to finalize their bids and plans.

The event is, according to Ng Ser Miang, Singapore's International Olympic Committee member, intended to "interest and appeal" to the young. To do so, traditional sports have been shelved or modified. Basketball will make an appearance as a three person game on a half-sized court. There could be beach wrestling. You read that correctly: wrestling on the beach. There will be a sailing event with specially adapted boats, "youth class boats", that cater for the strengths, abilities and limitations of younger athletes. The events are designed for athletes who are 14 to 18 years old.

IOC President Jacques Rogge has indicated that there will be a departure from the nationalism evident at all adult Olympic Games - for no national flags or anthems will be permitted at this one. Only the Olympic flag and Olympic anthem will be played at the medal award ceremony.

Mr. Ng Ser Miang said that the Youth Olympic Games would help educate youth on the core Olympic values of respect, excellence and friendship. He also suggested it could steer competitors away from over-training and doping.

Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) Permanent Secretary Niam Chiang Meng, Chairman of the Singapore 2010 bid committee said that Singapore's good track record in organizing events quickly would help it secure the event. This point is a fair one, since there will only be two and a half years to prepare for the event once the result is announced.

Now, I am happy to hear of this development, for it offers young athletes a new focus to their training and aspirations. It is a long way from childhood to the adult Olympic stage - placing this new stepping stone along the path will allow young athletes to focus themselves and compete against their age-mates and gain some idea of the wisdom of pursuing an adult athletic career once they fully mature.

Not that alone. Allowing young athletes an opportunity to win recognition for their talents, earlier in their careers, may allow them to make better use of the few short years that an athlete can truly say that they are at their best. There will be less wasted time for those athletes who succeed at this junior level. Sponsorship and support could be forthcoming much earlier on. I feel, also, that many more athletes are likely to develop their talents, what with a new arena to focus on and develop their skills for. It is possible that this new IOC initiative could have a wide-ranging impact on the development of athletes around the world. The IOC is to be commended.

The Youth Olympic Games is likely to spur many young athletes to train that bit harder and aspire that bit harder, such that more of them become athletes and win successful careers. The opportunities a win at the Youth Olympic Games could open up, could change their lives so much for the better.

Gift, of all kinds, is precious. Any initiative that is likely to give greater opportunity to the gifted, whatever their gift might be, whether intellectual, athletic, artistic, or other, is to be supported. The very richness and substance of a society depends on offering the best of opportunities to all who might have the gifts to avail themselves of them.

I, for one, will tune in, in 2010, to see the athletes of tomorrow, in their earliest public performances. I wish them - and the IOC - luck in this new endeavour. May it become an established athletic event.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)