Shame! Shame! Shame on China! -- International Olympic Committee asks
for inquiry on age of Chinese gymnasts/IHT

International Herald Tribune

International Olympic Committee asks for inquiry on age of Chinese gymnasts
Juliet Macur

Friday, August 22, 2008

Beijing: The International Olympic Committee has asked the world
governing body for gymnastics to investigate whether members of the
Chinese women's team were too young to compete in the Olympics.

The IOC instructed the international gymnastics federation, known as the
FIG, to take up the issue with the Chinese gymnastics federation and
report back to the IOC later Friday.

The New York Times reported last month that online records listing
Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites
in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media,
indicated that members of the team might be as young as 14. A gymnast
must turn 16 in the year of the Olympics to compete in the Games.
Chinese officials responded by providing copies of passports indicating
that the athletes in question were old enough.

"More information has been brought to light and brought to our
attention, so we decided to go to the federation and have them look into
it further," said Emmanuelle Moreau, a spokeswoman for the IOC "We had
been given some more information and thought that this information was
concerning enough to go to the Chinese gymnastic federation and have a
thorough discussion about it."

According to online sports registration lists in China, half the team ?
He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan ? would be under age. The FIG,
however, has said that those gymnasts were eligible and that the ages on
their passports were correct.

The Chinese women won the team gold among six total medals at the
Beijing Games. He won the gold in the uneven bars.

Moreau declined to say what new information had led to this latest move
by the IOC three days after the gymnastics competition ended.