updated 8:45 p.m. ET Oct. 2, 2008

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - China’s gold medal gymnasts were old enough to compete in the Beijing Olympics, the sport’s governing body said Wednesday, though it still had questions about the team that competed at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Two members of that squad — Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun — remain under scrutiny.

The International Gymnastics Federation said in a statement that it “does not consider the explanations and evidence provided to date in regards to these athletes as satisfactory.”

Dong got a Beijing Olympics credential with documents that suggest she was only 14 in 2000, said Andre Gueisbuhler, secretary general of the FIG. Her blog also indicates she was underage in Sydney, when China won the bronze medal in the team competition.

Yang, who also won a bronze medal on the uneven bars in 2000, said in a June 2007 interview that aired on state broadcaster China Central Television that she was 14 in Sydney. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to compete.

“I would hope that the whole world in sport realizes that the FIG is serious about these rules and the ethics and moral questions,” Gueisbuhler said.

Calls to Yang and Dong’s mobile phones rang unanswered Wednesday, a national holiday, as did phone calls to the Chinese gymnastics team’s media officers.

“We are satisfied with the information provided by FIG, and we now consider the (2008) matter closed,” said Emmanuelle Moreau, spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee.

“Clearly they feel that there is more to be looked at for Sydney,” Moreau added. “We encourage them to pursue their inquiry and shed some light on these cases. We now rely on them to get to the bottom of that and get back to us.”

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Doubts about the ages of China’s current gymnasts swirled for months before the Beijing Olympics, with media reports and online records suggesting some girls could be as young as 14. Three days before the games ended, the IOC asked the FIG to look into the matter one last time.

The investigation was expanded after questions were raised about the 2000 team.

“We did not have another choice,” Gueisbuhler said last week. “If we want to remain credible, then we have to look into things.”

Underage gymnasts have been a problem since the 1980s, when the minimum age was raised from 14 to 15 to protect young athletes from serious injuries. The minimum age was raised to its current 16 in 1997.

North Korea was barred from the 1993 world championships after FIG officials discovered Kim Gwang Suk, the 1991 gold medalist on uneven bars, was listed as 15 for three years in a row. Romania admitted in 2002 that several gymnasts’ ages had been falsified, including Olympic medalists Gina Gogean and Alexandra Marinescu.

“We applaud the serious efforts of the International Gymnastics Federation and International Olympic Committee to conduct an investigation given the level of speculation that existed,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “We believe the continuing investigation regarding the evidence from the Olympic Games in Sydney underscores the importance of maintaining a fair field of play and identifying methods to prevent questions of this nature in the future.”

While it continues to investigate the ages of Dong and Yang, the FIG also is exploring its legal options and what sanctions might be available. The FIG’s statute of limitations in disciplinary matters is five years, and 10 years for criminal cases, and the international federation is trying to determine whether Australia or Switzerland would have jurisdiction. If cause is found, the punishment could be as severe as stripping the medals.

“In our statutes, our code of discipline, we have a range of sanctions. It can be from a suspension, it can be taking medals away, it can be taking the rankings away,” Gueisbuhler said. “Are we entitled to take action for medals or rankings at the Olympic Games? Or does this fall strictly under the IOC authority? We are looking at this moment at these questions.”

But the medals aren’t really the issue, said Dominique Dawes, a member of the U.S. team that finished fourth in Sydney.

“The important issue is them righting a wrong and hopefully prohibiting future Olympians from being underage,” Dawes said. “It’s really about making sure every athlete is doing things the right way.”

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