Still spooked by the scary ramifications of uncovering an embarrassing scandal, the IOC said it had officially completed its age investigation of the Chinese gymnastics team. The verdict: totally legit.

“We believe the matter will be put to rest and there’s no question … on the eligibility,” [IOC spokeswoman] Giselle Davies said. “The information we have received seems satisfactory in terms of the correct documentation—including birth certificates.”

Really. Hmm. Of course many parents of the Chinese gymnasts are "indignant" about the suggestion that their kids are not as old as typed on (some of) the special government issued pieces of paper they have in their possession. The coach of China's team, Lu Shanzan, is also a little annoyed by the nosiness. He can't see what the problem is. Doesn't everybody know that Asian people are traditionally tiny?

"At this competition, the Japanese gymnasts were just as small as the Chinese,” he said. “Chinese competitors have for years all been small. It is not just this time. It is a question of race. European and American athletes are all powerful, very robust. But Chinese athletes cannot be like that. They are by nature that small.”

The documents presented to the IOC on Thursday night — which included a passport issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and an identity card stamped by China’s Ministry of Public Security — were enough evidence for the IOC to back off. Never mind those "other" papers floating around.

“If you trust every Web site but not a government…,” he [Lanzan] said. “There are so many Web sites, so much hearsay. These are not official. It is possible that all news on the Internet is accurate?”

Lanzan, frothing at the mouth by now, then told the AP that this whole investigation " really pisses the shit out of him."

But! Then later this morning...it's being reported that the investigation is indeed back on. Late Friday night the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG!) giving the once over to some of these "documents" China's pumping out. However, don't rejoice too much about the possibility of adding gold to our country's significant "total medal c—t" just yet for this investigation could very well be over by the time this story is posted.

China's age controversy continues with request for still more documents [USA Today]
Just Stop Watching The Olympics Now [Fan IQ]
IOC's Gymnastic Probe Falls Well Short [Yahoo]
Gymnasts parents indignant over age question [Yahoo]

An IOC official told The Times that because of "discrepancies" that have come to light about the age of He Kexin, the host nation’s darling who won gold in both team and individual events, an official inquiry has been launched that could result in the gymnast being stripped of her medals.

Wow. If He Kexin is stripped of her medals, the disqualification would probably mean a little more gold for the U.S. team and, of course, more embarrassing and troubling news for the host country.

What's even more amazing is the fact that this possibly medal-altering revelation was initiated by "Stryde Hax" who's who's neither super-journalist or super-sports fan, but just a dude named Mike Walker who loves to Google Hack as a hobby.

"There was a conclusion here," Mr Walker said. "These documents existed, on a state-wide website, and now they don’t exist, and this change has taken place recently. I was interested because these were documents that no-one could find. If there’s information to be found on the internet I’m a citizen journalist - it was a challenge."

While every other of the 20,000 journalist covering the Beijing Olympics pranced around eating scorpions, it's a bit ironic that one extremely curious dude with a blogspot account might be the person who exposes one of the biggest scandals in Olympic history. Maybe he should get a medal too?

International Olympic Committee Launches Probe Into He Kexin's Age [The Times Of London]
Stryde Hax: Let's Go For The Gold Part II [Stryde Hax]