He Kexin

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He Kexin Personal information Full name: 何可欣 (He Kexin) Country Represented:  China Date of birth: January 1, 1992 (1992-01-01) (age 17) (see also Age question below) [1][2][3] Place of birth: Beijing, China Height: 1.42m (4'8") Weight: 33kg (73lbs) Discipline: Women's artistic gymnastics Level: Senior Years on National Team: 2007, 2008 Head coach(es): Liu Guicheng, He Hua

Medal record Summer Olympics Gold 2008 Beijing Team competition Gold 2008 Beijing Uneven bars World Cup Gold 2008 Madrid Uneven Bars Gold 2008 Cottbus Uneven Bars Gold 2008 Doha Uneven Bars

This is a Chinese name; the family name is He.

He Kexin (Chinese: 何可欣; pinyin: Hé Kěxīn; born January 1, 1992 (but see Age question below) in Beijing) is a Chinese gymnast. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing she won gold medals on the uneven bars (her specialty) and as a member of the Chinese Artistic Gymnastics team. In 2008, she won two World Cup titles on the uneven bars. On the bars she is one of the few gymnasts in the world to score over 17.00 under the current Code of Points. With an A-score of 7.7, she has one of the highest difficulty scores in the world in the event, along with Yang Yilin, Nastia Liukin and Beth Tweddle.^[4][5] As with several of her teammates, her age came under scrutiny in the international press;^[5] two investigations have formally cleared her and her teammates of any wrongdoing.^[6]

Contents 1 Gymnastics career 2 Age question 3 Skills 4 Competitive history 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gymnastics career

He Kexin trained at the Shichahai Sports School in Beijing.^[7] She participated in China's National Games in 2006^[8] and Intercity Games in 2007.^[9] According to China Daily, He was recruited for the Chinese National Team in 2007, after her uneven bars win at the Intercity Games drew the attention of head coach Huang Yubin.^[10][11].

He made her international debut in 2008, participating in several events on the World Cup circuit. At her first meet, the World Cup in Doha, she scored 16.550 on the uneven bars; at her second, the Cottbus Cup, she scored 16.800. The mark was the highest uneven bars score posted at an international event under the current Code of Points,^[12] besting Nastia Liukin's mark of 16.65 at the 2008 Pacific Rim Championships.^[13] On May 15, 2008 He participated in the Tianjin World Cup, breaking two world records.^[14][11][15]

At the 2008 Olympics, He was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese team. In the uneven bars final, she and American Nastia Liukin both posted final marks of 16.725, and earned identical A and B-panel scores of 7.70 and 9.025, respectively. Because He's individual B-panel marks had a lower variance, she won the gold medal as per the Olympic tiebreaker rules of the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG).^[16][17]

^[18][17]

He Kexin is currently an event specialist on the uneven bars. She intends to diversify into an all-arounder following the Olympic season.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Age question

During and after the Olympics, He's actual age became the subject of controversy. Her 2008 passport, the Chinese Olympic Committee and FIG list her date of birth as January 1, 1992,^[19][20] which would make her &0000000000000016.00000016 years, &0000000000000220.000000220 days old during the 2008 Olympic opening ceremonies and therefore old enough to compete. However, before the 2008 Olympics, He's age was reported by the Chinese press, including the state news service, Xinhua, as 13 in 2007 and 14 in 2008 in news articles^{[19][5][21][10]} that were later taken off-line.^[22][23] Her birthdate has also been given on several registration lists of the General Administration of Sport in China, the Chengdu Sports Bureau and other registration sources as "1994-1-1" (January 1, 1994), which would have made her &0000000000000014.00000014 years, &0000000000000220.000000220 days old during the Opening ceremonies, and therefore too young to participate in the 2008 Summer Olympics.^{[19][5][22][23]} In addition, in a November 2007 speech in Wuhan, Chinese sporting official Liu Peng introduced He as a 13-year-old.^[5][23]

Chinese officials have denied the allegations, stating in August 2008 that Xinhua had not confirmed He's age before filing their news reports^[21] and attributed the age confusion to faulty paperwork when He was transferred from Beijing to Hubei.^[24] He herself, speaking to reporters after the Olympic team final, said, "my real age is 16. I don't care what other people say".^[25][26] In another interview He Kexin stated "I don't get upset because I have answered this question many times, there's no need to explain anymore".^[27] On August 2, the International Olympic Committee stated that they would not investigate the discrepancy in He's reported age, stating that the FIG's own verification system would be acceptable proof of eligibility. The FIG, in responding to the situation, stated that they would not ask for additional proof of age beyond the passport already supplied by Chinese officials.^[28][29]

However, the matter continued to be a source of controversy among members of the gymnastics community and the media.^[22] The Times reported that a computer expert "Stryde" was able to recover one of the now deleted registration list showing the January 1, 1994 birth date through cached pages on the search engine Baidu.^[30][31] On August 21, the IOC announced that they had asked the FIG to reopen the investigation into He and her teammates' ages.^[32][33] On Friday August 22, 2008, the IOC said they had not uncovered any evidence of wrongdoing "so far" and expressed confidence that the Chinese Federation's documents were correct.^[34] However, the FIG held an emergency meeting about the situation on August 23 and requested additional documentation for every gymnast on the Chinese team, with the sole exception of team captain Cheng Fei.^[35][36] On August 24, a Chinese official addressed the registration lists found online, stating that the discrepancy was due to an administrative error which took place when He was transferred between teams while participating in the InterCity Games in 2007.^[37]

On October 1, 2008, the FIG ended their second investigation and concluded that He and her teammates from the 2008 Olympic games were old enough to compete.^[6] Though some media outlets have voiced doubts about the decision,^[38][39][40] the gymnasts have been officially cleared of any wrongdoing.

[edit] Skills

• Uneven bars: Li Ya release (Jaeger with a mixed grip half turn directly into a Jaeger); Jaeger in a laid-out position; Tkatchev-Pak salto to the low bar; full twisting double back dismount.

• Vault: Double twisting Yurchenko

[edit] Competitive history

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
2008	World Cup/Series	Cottbus	Uneven Bars	1	16.850	1	16.800
		Doha	Uneven Bars	1	16.550
	Olympics Games	Beijing	Team	1	188.900	1	248.275
			Uneven bars	1	16.725	6	15.725
	World Cup/Final	Madrid	Uneven Bars	1	16.250

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• He Kexin at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique

v • d • e Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team Competition 1928: Netherlands  · 1936: Germany  · 1948: Czechoslovakia  · 1952: Soviet Union  · 1956: Soviet Union  · 1960: Soviet Union  · 1964: Soviet Union  · 1968: Soviet Union  · 1972: Soviet Union  · 1976: Soviet Union  · 1980: Soviet Union  · 1984: Romania  · 1988: Soviet Union  · 1992: Unified Team  · 1996: United States  · 2000: Romania  · 2004: Romania  · 2008: China 2008: China: Yang Yilin  |   Cheng Fei  |   Jiang Yuyuan  |   Deng Linlin  |   He Kexin  |   Li Shanshan

v • d • e Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Uneven Bars 1952: Margit Korondi   |   1956: Ágnes Keleti   |   1960: Polina Astakhova   |   1964: Polina Astakhova   |   1968: Věra Čáslavská   |   1972: Karin Büttner-Janz   |   1976: Nadia Comăneci   |   1980: Maxi Gnauck   |   1984: Julianne McNamara / Ma Yanhong   |   1988: Daniela Silivaş   |   1992: Lu Li   |   1996: Svetlana Khorkina   |   2000: Svetlana Khorkina   |   2004: Émilie Le Pennec   |   2008: He Kexin