Were Chinese gymnasts Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao too young to compete at the 2000 Olympics? And if they were, what should be done about it?
The International Gymnastics Federation's (FIG) executive committee is expected to issue a ruling today on whether Yang and Dong were old enough to compete at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, capping an age scandal now 10 years old.
Dong, who was supposedly 17 in Sydney, applied for a press credential for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and gave her birth year as 1986. If the age she gave on the application is correct, that would have made her 14 in 2000.
On her blog, Dong also stated that she was born during the year of the Tiger, which would put her birthday in 1986 (or 1974).
After the 1996 Olympic Games, the FIG instated a rule that gymnasts who were not 16 by the end of the Olympic year were ineligible for competition. The age rule is still in place.
Dong has never publicly admitted her age. But in an interview with a New Zealand newspaper published in October, Dong's husband Li Te said that his wife was age-ineligible when she competed in Sydney but that she had been cleared of wrongdoing. The couple hopes to settle in New Zealand, where Dong has ambitions of one day helping coach the National team.
Yang, who is married to 2008 men's Olympic all-around champion Yang Wei, was said to be 15 in Sydney. But in 2007 she gave an interview on Chinese television and stated that she was 14 when she competed at the Olympics. Yang later said she misspoke. She also won a bronze medal on uneven bars at the Sydney Games.
Yang Yun at 15, 2000 Olympic Games Team Finals, Vault:
Both gymnasts, who were part of the bronze medal winning Chinese team in 2000, appeared in Lausanne, Switzerland for a meeting with the FIG's Disciplinary Committee in December.
Dong Fangxiao at "17," 2000 Olympic Games Team Final, Uneven Bars (unusual skills for a Chinese gymnast on this event):
This is not the first time the sport has dealt with age falsification. Other gymnastics stars known to have been underage at the time they competed in senior international meets include former Romanian stars Daniela Silivas, Gina Gogean and Alexandra Marinescu, as well as 1991 World uneven bars champion Kim Gwang Suk, who was listed as 15 years old for three years in a row at the World Championships.
Daniela Silivas at "15" (she was actually 13), 1985 World Championships Event Finals, Beam:
There's a lot of evidence, especially against Dong, that points to age fakery by the Chinese Federation. If the FIG finds that Yang and Dong were underage, it will have to figure out a way to punish the Chinese retroactively without taking away oppotunities from current deserving (and age-eligible) gymnasts.
There is no precedent for dealing with age falsification. In the post-Kim fallout, the North Koreans were banned from competing at the 1993 World Championships. The Romanians have never been disciplined.
Although the FIG can sanction China and prevent the country from entering athletes in current international competitions, only the International Olympic Committee can take away medals.
Although many thought some members of the gold-medal winning 2008 Chinese women's team were underage, the FIG closed that matter after receiving appropriate paperwork from the Chinese Federation.
He Kexin at 16, 2008 Olympic Games Event Finals, Uneven Bars:
The U.S. women finished fourth behind the Chinese in the 2000 Olympic team final. On uneven bars, Ukrainian star Viktoria Karpenko was fourth behind Yang.
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