Sports

Olympic probe over gymnasts' ages

by World_Groove | August 21, 2008 at 08:45 pm

323 views | 6 Recommendations | 3 comments

Under development

There seems to be little doubt the world over, but facts and proof may prove hard to come by

Gymnastics chiefs will be asked to check that none of the winning Chinese women's team were under-age.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants the gymnastics governing body to investigate the matter.

"If there is a question mark and we have a concern, which we do, we ask the governing body of any sport to look into it," said an IOC spokeswoman.

Chinese passport records had appeared to show their gymnasts were aged 16 or above, which met Games regulations.

Questions about the ages of athletes on China's team have been raised through online and newspaper reports, which claimed some may be as young as 14.

No-one from the International Gymnastics Federation was available to comment.

The Communist country that is responsible for massive intellectual property theft and forgeries is very well capable of creating the documents needed to conceal the truth. The Chinese secret service rivals the KGB of old and CIA. Document production is not an issue.

Chinese coach Lu Shanzhen said new documents were handed to the organisation on Thursday in an effort to dispel any doubts about the age of gold medallist He Kexin.

I can see it now...how do we forge this...hmmm...OHHH YEA...just add a "one" in front of the 6

The items, including an old passport, a residency card, and her current identity card were issued by various departments of the Chinese government.

A gymnast must be aged 16 in an Olympic year to compete at the Games.

The IOC had previously said it had verified the passports of all competitors in Beijing.

Chinese women won six medals, including the team gold and a gold on uneven bars for He.

The girls from China where amazing (The judges who handed them scores like candy even more amazing, yet that is a different story) They should be well rewarded for their talents and hard work, but in order to receive the awards handed out at the Olympics they would need to have lived up to the rules of the games.

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Milieunet

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:11 on August 21st, 2008

World_Groove, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Marcel Pellerin

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 04:19 on August 22nd, 2008

World_Groove, I like this story. It's good stuff.

There have been persistent media allegations that He had competed in earlier tournaments under a later birth date, and on Thursday an American computer expert said he had uncovered Chinese state documents that proved she was 14 and not 16.

An American computer expert with Chinese state documents..