This was news to me. Geez, from 2010. China stripped of 2000 Olympic Medal

[PBS Poll-435]

China stripped of 2000 gymnastics medal for underage athlete
By Chris Chase
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/China-stripped-of-2000-gymnastics-medal-for-unde?urn=oly-237384

China was stripped of a team all-around bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics on Wednesday because it fielded an underage gymnast. Dong Fangxiao was discovered to be 14 at the time of those Games, two years younger than the minimum age requirement.

The medal will be given to the United States team which finished fourth in Sydney. The IOC has asked for China to return the medals "as soon as possible" so they can be reallocated to the U.S. team.

The action comes 20 months after China was accused of doctoring the ages of at least two of its gymnasts at the Beijing Games. Those allegations became a focal point of the 2008 Games but were quickly hushed up by the IOC after it cleared China following a sham investigation which basically consisted of the Olympic governing body asking China if they were really, really sure that the gymnasts were of age. When China said "yes" and produced passports and ID cards, the IOC dropped the matter, seemingly content to let the controversy pass and not risk offending its Olympic hosts.

Forget the fact that media reports and security experts found Chinese government documents which said 2008 team member He Kexin was 14 years old and not 16. Forget that asking China to produce documents proving its innocence would be like replacing drug tests with a simple questionaire in which athletes are asked whether they've ever doped or not. And, now, expect the IOC to forget that Dong had proper documentation at one point too, documentation which was clearly forged.

Awarded the Bronze Medal for the Sydney Games was the American team of:

Amy Chow
Jamie Dantzscher
Dominique Dawes
Kristen Maloney
Elise Ray
Tasha Schwikert

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. I remember that the age of their female athletes was an issue - doctors said they looked underage

[PBS Poll-435]

5. There was speculation that a female Chinese gymnast that participated in the '99 Worlds

Was actually a male.

[bluestateguy]

2. How do they retrive the actual medal?

Do they send Olympic security forces to come and get it? What if they won't give up the medals voluntarily?

[Buzz Clik]

3. The US team needs to have those medals tested for lead content and other toxic metals.

;)

[RKP5637]

4. or counterfeit ones returned!

:)