Munchkins.
“Still, the Chinese and the Americans were competing on the same apparatus with each rotation, so their differences in body types were glaring.
The Chinese gymnasts lack curves and have an average height of 4 foot 9 and an average weight of 77 pounds. The women on the U.S. team, generally more muscular and shapely than the Chinese, are 3 1/2 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier.”
According to this link:http://www.pr-inside.com/alvanon-releases-most-extensive-chinese-r749807.htm
— Average Chinese Female Height 5’4”; Weight 125 Pounds; Chest 31”; Waist 28”; Low Hip 35”
— Average U.S. Female Height 5’4”; Weight 155 Pounds; Chest 37”; Waist 34”; Low Hip 42”
Average U.S. women are more curvaceous and heavier. Why couldn’t it be true for the gymnasts? From the same article:
“If they think they can tell someone’s age just by looking at them, well, if you look at the foreign athletes, they have so much more muscles than the Chinese. They are so strong. Do you then say that they are doping?”
And on a different but related point. Let’s say it is an advantage for gymnasts to be shorter, lighter, and less curvaceous. You think among 6 billion people, the Chinese athletic people couldn’t find a group of 6 women (or whatever) at the age of 16 that average out to 4 foot 9 and 77 pounds? In America, you probably couldn’t because everyone is fat and going through puberty at the age of 9. That is, unless you looked in America’s Chinatowns.
