International Law

Stupid China Headline of the Day

By Stan

"U.S. Women Gymnasts Denied Visa by China" — that was the headline for a while from MSNBC. Just a tad bit inflamatory and yes, kinda stupid.

Here’s the background:

[U.S. gymnastics] national team coordinator Martha Karolyi said the alternates for the women’s team — Jana Bieger, Ivana Hong, Corrie Lothrop — would train in Tokyo because of visa restrictions.

Athletes on official rosters get an Olympic credential, which doubles as their visa. Alternates, however, do not get Olympic credentials and must get tourist visas.

The alternates for the U.S. men’s team already have received their tourist visas and will go to Beijing Normal, where the U.S. Olympic Committee will have a training center. The women’s team was only finalized on Saturday night.

Yes, the fact that they need to jump through these visa hoops at this late stage seems a bit crazy, and the government should have lumped in the alternates with the team members. However, it looks like this is all cleared up now. I get the feeling that there are 100 different stories like this floating around at the moment - the logistics of putting on an event like this must be challenging, to say the least, unreasonable visa rules notwithstanding.

But suggesting that the "U.S. women’s gymnastic team" was denied visas? Surely MSNBC can do better.

Full post as published by China Hearsay on July 23, 2008 (boomark / email).