IOC officially investigating Chinese Gymnasts.

[npk]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/gymnastics/news?slug=ap-gym-underagechinese&prov=ap&type=lgns

BEIJING (AP)—The International Olympic Committee said Friday it had asked gymnastics officials to investigate whether the Chinese women’s gymnastics team that won the gold medal had underage athletes, saying “more information has come to light.”

“We’ve asked the gymnastics federation to look into it further,” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. “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.”

The IOC, which also asked the Chinese gymnastics federation to investigate, would not give details on what new information prompted it to act now, three days after the gymnastics competition ended.

Messages for the International Gymnastics Federation were not immediately returned.

Chinese coach Lu Shanzhen told The Associated Press they gave the FIG new documents on Thursday to try to remove the doubts about He Kexin’s age, including an old passport, a residency card and her current ID card.
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He said all these documents were issued by various departments of the Chinese government and that he felt there was nothing more that they could do to put peoples’ minds at ease.

The FIG has said repeatedly that a passport is the “accepted proof of a gymnast’s eligibility,” and that China’s gymnasts have presented ones that show they are age eligible. The IOC also checked the girls’ passports and deemed them valid.

A gymnast must be 16 in an Olympic year to compete at the games. But questions about the ages of at least three of the athletes have persisted. Online records and media reports suggest three Chinese gymnasts—He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin—may be as young as 14.

The IOC had said previously that it had verified the passports of all athletes competing at the games.

“We are not in a position to say ‘It’s good, it’s not good.’ It’s a government document,” FIG president Bruno Grandi said earlier this week in an interview with The Associated Press.

The Chinese women won six medals, including the team gold and a gold on uneven bars by He. The media reports include a Nov. 3 story by the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua—that suggest He is only 14. She was asked about her age again after winning the uneven bars title, beating American Nastia Liukin in a tiebreak.

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I have to say it would not surprise me if China was found to have used under aged gymnasts. They were really trying too hard to beat the U.S. in gold medals and were almost seemingly willing to do anything to accomplish that.

[Catch22Dem]

1. They sure LOOK very young

But so do many of the other girls. For the sake of the games, I hope they didn't cheat, because they competed very well. The ice skating judging scandal was another nasty mess. Tarnishes the games.

[npk]

3. The sad thing is.

If it turns out that they did cheat there is really little the IOC can do to completely rectify the situation. The harm is already done with the act of cheating itself. If it turns out that China used one gymnast that was under age than the entire competition becomes a Sham, and every other girl that competed fairly in the competition will still have to wait 4 more years to try and again win a gold medal. I know many people that do not look their age, so I will try and wait before passing judgment.

[NavyDem]

8. The IOC has the ability to strip the medal if foul play was involved.

The IOC can revoke the medal and re-award the medals to the other competitors. It still tarnishes the overall games IMO, but at least it trys to rectify the misdeed.

[Lasher]

2. Passports don't mean diddly in this case.

These are issued by the primary suspect, the Chinese government. A physical exam might be more telling.

[npk]

5. I see this as one large smoke screen

The IOC is investigating on China's behalf. They will investigate to prove to the rest of the world that they are doing everything they can to try and get to the truth. The investigation will of course be inconclusive and a sham in the end. This is the IOC trying to save face once again.

[SoCalDem]

4. They just need to demand (and get) records of their training

facilities. They keep records, and when those kids were entered into training, there would surely be a record of their accurate birthdate..

If you claimed your child was 5 when she entered kindergarten in 2000, by the time it was 2008, she would not miraculously be 16 :)

[npk]

7. That seems to logical to me Socal

But the IOC more than likely has another agenda in mind. They hardly batted an eye when they decided to award the games to Beijing, so I doubt they feel any real sense of obligation to dig deep to get to the truth.

[pacalo]

6. The Chinese girls are good -- can't take that away from them -- but there has been favoritism toward

them. I thought Nastia was cheated out of the gold on the uneven bars. The Chinese gymnasts sure look underage to me.

As an aside, at the beginning of the gymnastics competition, an announcer said that Chinese girls are taken out of day-care, taken away from their homes completely, to train for future Olympics. One little girl called home, wanting them to take her home & the mother said no.