Sport - Sports : General

Chinese gymnasts might be too young for Olympics

— PHOTO: AP

AGE-OLD PROBLEM: The latest controversy involving Chinese gymnasts Jiang Yuyuan (in pic) and He Kexin relates to charges of under-age.

BEIJING: Two female Chinese gymnasts, including a gold-medal favourite, might be too young to participate in the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Several online records and reports show He Kexin, the host nation’s top competitor on uneven bars, and Jiang Yuyuan might not yet be 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility. Both were chosen for China’s team last week.

On the website of the Chengdu Sports Bureau — Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province in southwest China — a file dated January 2006 shows He Kexin as being born Jan. 1, 1994.

Most recently, a May 23 story in the China Daily newspaper, the official English-language paper of the Chinese government, had He Kexin’s age as 14.

The newspaper story begins: “The 14-year old newcomer to the national team, who was recruited last year, has raised a lot of eyebrows recently after she broke two world records on the uneven bars in as many months.”

The New York Times raised questions about the athletes’ ages in a story on Saturday. And Chinese officials provided the newspaper with copies of passports indicating both gymnasts are 16.

But in a speech on Nov. 3, 2007, in the central city of Wuhan, Liu Peng, director of general administration of sport for China, said: “The 13-year-old uneven-bar gymnast He Kexin, who defeated national team athlete Yang Yilin — she just won the bronze medal in the world championships — has demonstrated her ability.”

To be eligible for the Cities Games where Liu made his remarks, Chinese documents show athletes must be over 13, but under 15.

Meanwhile, China’s gymnastics team chief has denied that the country had falsified the age of two of its squad members to allow them to compete at next month’s Beijing Olympics.

He was responding to a report in The New York Times that He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan were not yet 16 as registered, citing previous online registration records and media reports.

International Gymnastics Federation (FIGS) rules forbid athletes younger than 16 years old from competing at major championships and the Olympic Games.

However, the Chinese team manager Zhang Peiwen insisted on Monday that the age of all the members of the team had been recorded according to official documents.

“Our Olympic squads were recently named and we registered their age according to their identity cards or other legal certifications presented by their regional gymnastics associations, which show they all are over the minimum age for the Olympics,” Zhang told state news agency Xinhua.

Several references to the two gymnasts on the internet give them the younger ages, while others make them old enough to compete.

“There’s a lot of online information and reports,” Zhang added.

“We haven’t got the time to check every piece but everybody knows not all of them are reliable.” — Agencies

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