20080821/黑客找出中国体操运动员的真实年龄

21日，数家英文媒体刊载消息，称网络黑客通过搜索，找到中国体操运动员何可欣的真实年龄。黑客组织是以约纽为基地的的电脑安全专家（whose site Stryde Hax，http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2008/08/hack-olympics.html）。以下为相关媒体的报道：

Hacker uncovers ‘proof’ that Chinese gymnast is underage

Times Online
August 21, 2008
Jane Macartney in Beijing

A determined computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold, edging Britain’s Beth Tweddle into fourth place, may indeed be underage.

Controversy over whether He Kexin, gold medallist in the uneven bars, is under the minimum age of 16 has surrounded her participation in the Beijing Olympics. The latest challenge over the age of the tiny Olympian comes from the discovery through a cyberspace maze of Chinese official documents listing her date of birth.

She certainly does not look as if she has reached the minimum competing age of 16. However China says her passport, issued in February, gives her birthday on January 1, 1992, and the International Olympic Committee has said proof from her passport is good enough.

If incontrovertible evidence that Ms He is underage were to come to light, Britain’s Beth Tweddle, from Cheshire, could edge up from fourth place to bronze medal position in the uneven bars. With the end of the Games just three days away, that now seems unlikely.

The latest unofficial investigation was carried out by ‘Stryde’, a computer security expert for the New York-based Intrepidus Group, whose site Stryde Hax revealed a detailed forensic search for Ms He’s age.

The blogger first simply tried Google, only to find that an official listing by the Chinese sports administration that had given her age could no longer be accessed. Next he tried the Google cache, only to find that Ms He’s name had been removed.

So then he tried the cache of Chinese search engine Baidu. There, he found that Baidu lists two spreadsheets in Ms He’s name, both giving her date of birth as January 1, 1994 – making her 14 years and 220 days old and too young to compete at these Olympics.

The lists were compiled by the General Administration of Sport of China.

Even before anyone arrived in Beijing, American media investigations had accused China of fielding three athletes below the 16-year-old minimum age threshold. Bela Karolyi, the former US head coach, then reheated the issue by claiming that China “are using half-people” and that their flouting of the regulations was so obvious that “these people think we are stupid”.

Nastia Liukin of the US finished second behind He Kexin in the uneven bars final and would be elevated to the gold medal position should the Chinese gymnast be disqualified.

Ms He insists that she is of age. Asked by journalists about the debate, she said: “My real age is 16. I don’t care what other people say. I want other people to know that 16 is my real age.” Asked how she spent her 15th birthday, she paused and then said: “I was with my team. It was an ordinary day.”

Just nine months before the Olympics, the Chinese government’s Xinhua news agency gave Ms He’s name as 13. Officials have since dismissed that report saying Xinhua had never been given her age and had made a mistake.

Stryde, who was later named by the technology news site Information Week as Mike Walker, concludes: “Much of the coverage regarding Kexin’s age has only mentioned ‘allegations’ of fraud, and the IOC has ignored thematter completely. I believe that these primary documents, issued by the Chinese state … rise to a level of evidence higher than ‘allegation’.”

It could certainly make a difference to Britain’s Tweddle, who at 23 and relatively old for a gymnast may not be able to compete in London 2012.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4578241.ece

Report: Hacker Uncovers Proof Chinese Gymnast Is Underage
FOXNEWS.COM
Thursday, August 21, 2008

A determined U.S. computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold in the uneven bars competition, edging the U.S.’s Nastia Liukin, may indeed be underage.

Controversy over whether He Kexin is under the minimum age of 16 has surrounded her participation in the Beijing Olympics. The latest challenge over the age of the tiny Olympian comes from the discovery through a cyberspace maze of Chinese official documents listing her date of birth.

She may not look as if she has reached the minimum competing age of 16, but China said her passport, issued in February, gives her birthday as Jan. 1, 1992. The International Olympic Committee said proof from her passport is good enough.

The latest unofficial investigation was carried out by computer security expert for the Intrepidus Group, whose site, Stryde Hax, revealed a detailed forensic search for He’s age.

First he simply tried Google, only to find that an official listing by the Chinese sports administration that had given her age could no longer be accessed. Then he tried the Google cache, only to find that He’s name had been removed.

Finally, he tried the cache of Chinese search engine Baidu. There, he found that Baidu lists two spreadsheets in He’s name, both giving her date of birth as January 1, 1994 — making her 14 years and 220 days old and too young to compete at the Beijing games.

The lists were compiled by the General Administration of Sport of China.

Even before anyone arrived in Beijing, American media investigations accused China of fielding three athletes below the 16-year-old minimum age threshold. Bela Karolyi, the former U.S. head coach, then reheated the issue by claiming that China “are using half-people” and that their flouting of the regulations was so obvious that “these people think we are stupid.”

Liukin, who finished second to He in the uneven bars final would be elevated to the gold medal position should He be disqualified. Britain’s Beth Twiddle, who finished in fourth place, would be elevated to the bronze.

“My real age is 16,” He said when asked by journalists about the debate. “I don’t care what other people say. I want other people to know that 16 is my real age.” When asked how she spent her 15th birthday, she paused and then said: “I was with my team. It was an ordinary day.”

Just nine months before the Olympics, the Chinese government’s Xinhua news agency gave He’s age as 13. Officials have since dismissed that report, saying Xinhua had never been given her age and made a mistake.

“Much of the coverage regarding Kexin’s age has only mentioned ‘allegations’ of fraud, and the IOC has ignored the matter completely,” said Stryde, who was later named by Information Week as Mike Walker. “I believe that these primary documents, issued by the Chinese state … rise to a level of evidence higher than ‘allegation.’”

It could certainly make a difference to Britain’s Tweddle, who at 23 and relatively old for a gymnast may not be able to compete in the 2012 Olympic games in London.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,407803,00.html

Hacker unearths young Chinese gymnast scam
Underage and under the radar

The Register
By John Leyden → More by this author
Published Thursday 21st August 2008 12:51 GMT

A search engine hacker has uncovered fresh evidence that the Chinese women’s gymnastic team cheated by fielding underage competitors.

Doubts surfaced even before the competition that as many as half the members of the six-strong team – who won their first ever team gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last week – are far younger than the minimum age of 16. He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin were all too young to compete, AP reports.

AP based its reports on registration lists filed by Chinese authorities in the years 2004 to 2006. Subsequent media reports have mentioned articles by Chinese official press agency Xinhua.

Much of this information has since been pulled by Chinese authorities, but enterprising hackers have found digital remnants of incriminating files.

Search engine hacker Stryde Hax has unearthed copies of official registration documents by Chinese sporting authorities (the General Administration of Sport) that show the age of a Chinese double gold medal winning gymnast to be 14 – the age that appears on her government-issued passport. The Excel files, purged by censors from the official site and from Google’s document cache, were found in the document translation cache of Chinese search engine Baidu.

Stryde Hax’s findings (here) reveal that He Kexin, who won individual gold on the uneven bars as well as a team gold, was born on 1 January 1994 (rather than 1992, as per her official passport and birth certificate). Under competition rules introduced to protect youngsters, gymnasts must be aged 16 during the year of an Olympics in order to be eligible. Younger girls have more flexible bodies, giving them an unfair advantage.

All this ought to be the focus of an investigation by the International Olympics Committeee or the gymnastics governing body; but such is the desire of both to avoid doing anything to offend their Chinese hosts that it’s very unlikely anything will happen.

Questioned about the age controversy, IOC President Jacques Rogge said it wasn’t its role to check up on the age of athletes. “The IOC relies on the international federations, who are exclusively responsible for the eligibility of athletes,” Rogge said. “It’s not the task of the IOC to check every one of the 10,000 athletes.”

The minimum age for gymnasts was raised from 14 to 15 in the 1980s, then to 16 in 1997. Issues of age falsification aren’t new; North Korea, Romania and China have all fielded underage competitors in the past, AP notes.

Olympic games medallists Gina Gogean and Alexandra Marinescu of Romania and Sydney Olympics double bronze medalist Yang Yun of China all competed under the eligible age, they have since admitted. North Korea was kicked out of the 1993 world championships after it was discovered that had listed a gold medallist at the previous games as being only 15 for three years on the trot.

Stryde Hax (the nom-de plume of Mike Walker, a principal consultant for the security outfit Intrepidus Group) said he doesn’t have strong opinions about the age limit for gymnastic competitions, and simply undertook his investigation out of intellectual curiosity. He adds that he has nothing against the Chinese people either.

“While I may disagree with the effort the Chinese government is making to conceal this young woman’s age, I have the utmost respect for the Chinese people,” he writes, “and I believe that united they will be able to make state-sponsored censorship a thing of the past.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/chinese_gymnast_age_scam/