YANG YUN
The 2000 Olympic Games: A Chinese gymnast won medals & captured hearts.
Her passport said she was 16. She says she was 14.
In this interview from state-run Chinese television,
evidence of China's habitual deceit comes straight from the source.
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The press kit contains the following press release,
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Press Release
Chinese Gymnast Admits Olympic Age Falsification in New Video
September 21, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
In a video released today, Chinese gymnast Yang Yun admits that she was only fourteen when she competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Yun's admission makes her two years too young, for both her government-issued passport and the Olympic gymnastics minimum age requirement. This public admission of cheating only adds to the pressure of the ongoing International Olympic Committee and International Gymnastics Federation investigation into the age scandal of China's 2008 womens gymnastics team, wherein as many as five out of the six girls on China's gymnastics team may be under the minimum age of sixteen.
Presented for the first time in English, this video biography and interview - produced by state-run Chinese television - clearly illustrates through the athlete's own admission that China has regularly engaged in age falsification at the Olympic Games. This lends further credence to the allegations against the 2008 Chinese team, supporting the idea that China is no stranger to altering passports in order to enter underage athletes into international competition.
The translation of this video was brought about by Heather Lawver and Mike Walker, average people who became involved in this debate online. Mr. Walker - aka "Stryde Hax" - is an American Internet security expert who recently made headlines during the Beijing Games for having found official documents on Chinese government servers that clearly showed discrepancies between the birthdates listed for Chinese gymnasts He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan. Although their passports showed them both to be sixteen, the government documents discovered by Mr. Walker supported the allegations that both of the athletes were indeed underage.
As news erupted about Mr. Walker's discoveries and the ensuing official investigation, Ms. Lawver - a 23-year-old web activist and former amateur gymnast - decided to get involved. She came into contact with Mr. Walker through his blog and ended up assisting him with archiving the various government documents he had found.
When the two became aware of the Yang Yun video, Ms. Lawver convinced Mr. Walker to arrange to have the video translated. "Cindy", a young Chinese woman who wishes to remain anonymous, had been following Mr. Walker's work online and volunteered to translate the video. Once the translation was completed, Ms. Lawver edited the video to include English subtitles.
These three people came together using the Internet to distribute concrete evidence that China's government has engaged in an ongoing effort to falsify documents and misrepresent their athletes.
Note to Editors: Ms. Lawver is available for interviews and can be reached at HLawver AT gmail DOT com. If you would like to interview her over the phone, please email your request and she will respond with additional contact information ASAP. Thank you for your interest and cooperation!
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