Officials say '08 Chinese gymnasts were of age

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Gueisbuhler said the documents Dong used for her Beijing credential list her birthdate as Jan. 23, 1986, which would have made her 14 — and too young — for the Sydney Games. Dong was a national technical official in Beijing, working as the secretary on vault. She was not part of any judging panel.

“If that document is the correct one, that would suggest she was 14 years old at the Sydney Olympic Games,” Gueisbuhler said.

Dong’s birthdate in the FIG database is listed as Jan. 20, 1983.

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Dong’s blog also says she was born in the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which dated from Feb. 20, 1985, to Feb. 8, 1986. Dong has not denied that, but she refused to answer any questions about her age, telling the AP last week, “I’ve left the gymnastics team.”

“If the FIG wants to investigate this matter,” she added, “I will provide every form of documentation.”

The FIG also has a copy of Yang’s 2007 interview, in which she seems to contradict her official birthdate. Yang’s birthdate is listed as Dec. 2, 1984.

“At the time I was only 14,” she said in the CCTV interview, done in Chinese. “I thought that if I failed this time, I’ll do it again next time. There’s still hope.”

But Yang, who is engaged to Beijing men’s all-around champion Yang Wei, told the AP last week that she had misspoken, declining further comment.

“Everyone has misspoken before. On television shows, there are always slips of the tongue,” she said, declining to comment further.

The FIG’s announcement that it was closing the investigation on the 2008 team was hardly a surprise. China had insisted — heatedly and repeatedly — that all the girls were old enough to compete, and that it had the documents to prove it.

China provided the original passports, ID cards and family registers for He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan, all showing the girls were 16 or would turn 16 this year.

“For the FIG, the age of the Chinese team is well documented and proven,” Gueisbuhler said.

In August, the AP found registration lists previously posted on the Web site of the General Administration of Sport of China that showed He and Yang were too young to compete. And a Nov. 3 story by the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, suggested He was only 14.

“My family and I are pleased with the level of scrutiny the FIG and IOC undertook with this very serious issue,” said Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin, who finished second to He on uneven bars on a tiebreak.

“When the questions arose originally in the press, all anyone in the gymnastics and Olympic communities wanted was closure, which we now have.”

Younger gymnasts are considered to have an advantage because they are more flexible and are likely to have an easier time doing the tough skills the sport requires. They also aren’t as likely to have a history of injuries or fear of failure.

China blamed the discrepancies on Web sites and paperwork errors.

“Be it with the age, be it with doping, be it with judges,” Gueisbuhler said, “if we believe in fair play in sport and to be a role model for youth and we believe in the values of the Olympic movement, then I think it is our duty to be serious about it and do all we can to ensure these rules are enforced.”

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