Well, lemme ask ... what's the advantage to having an underage gymnast? Wouldn't a 16-year-old who has trained longer and is more developed muscularly have an advantage over a young child? ... I'm not quite making the connection here with younger (than 16) = an advantage.
On the one hand, they've trained longer. On the other hand, most of the routines favour ultra-light frames. In fact, even in the US, it is rumored that the gymnasts routinely starve themselves -- and maybe take hormones -- to stave off puberty. Once puberty hits, the center of gravity drops, you have to relearn all your routines. Of course, some gymnasts keep going, but it is ultra rare for any females to be any good at the sport after 23 or so. Another issue, perhaps a little overblown, is that younger competitors are too young to know the difficulty of what they are attempting, so they actually have better nerves than older competitors. (I've seen this a little with helping out on a high school athletic team.) One SI columnist said that the Chinese gymnasts had Kool-aid in their veins. Probably 14 is an acceptable age limit, but it is quite clear that the Chinese did cheat this year, but they will get away with it.
If they're cheating, somebody ought to call them on it.
China has financed our national budget deficit for years. We can't call them on it. We can't complain too much about anything to them.
Oh please.