Underage Gymnast May Cost China Sydney Bronze

(ATR) An investigation by the International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) concludes that China should be stripped of its bronze medal from the Sydney Olympics because one of its gymnasts was underage.

The FIG Executive Committee ruled that the date of birth for Dong Fangxiao was falsified and canceled her Olympic results effective immediately. The decision was forwarded to the IOC Executive Board with the recommendation to withdraw the Olympic bronze medal awarded to China in the team event. The Executive Board will meet in April in Dubai.

The United States, which was fourth in Sydney, would move up if the medal is re-awarded, giving the U.S. its only gymnastics medal from Sydney.

USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny tells Around the Rings that there should be “worthy consideration given to re-awarding the medal.”

“This is probably some new territory,” he says, “This is not an easy issue. The Olympics is about everybody competing on a fair field of play and I just think this whole issue is an unfortunate set of circumstances. And it's not just our athletes. Every athlete that competes is affected by this.”

FIG said there was not enough evidence to prove that the birth date of a second gymnast, Yang Yun, was falsified, but she was given a warning because she made a reference to being underage in a television interview.

The current age restrictions were put in place in 1997 to protect young athletes from injury and exploitation. Dong was actually 14 in Sydney and gymnasts must be 16 during the Olympic year to compete.

“Young gymnasts cannot be manipulated,” FIG President Bruno Grandi says. “Athletes must be protected. To prevent such fraud in the future, a new licensing system has been implemented by the FIG.”

Penny says USA Gymnastics will work closely with the U.S. Olympic Committee in the next steps.

“It's not a USA issue, it’s a global issue,” he says. “I think the FIG has done a very good job of trying to address. Getting to the bottom of something like this is almost impossible.”

IOC spokesman Mark Adams confirms that the IOC has received the ruling from the FIG and “we take due note of their decision. Clearly we need to take time to consider the findings before the Executive Board can consider the matter. We would like to thank the FIG for their work and we would refer further inquiries to them.”

The IOC previously said it would take “necessary measures” if athletes were proven to be underage.

FIG ruled that the costs of all of the disciplinary procedures should be borne by the Chinese Gymnastics Association “for not having adequately controlled the birth dates of the gymnasts. “

According to the FIG, Dong was registered with the IOC, the FIG and her national federation based on identification indicating she was born ona January 20, 1983, implying therewith that she would have been 17 years old during the Sydney Olympics.

At the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008, the FIG discovered that she was accredited to act as Secretary at vault, for which she officially declared her birth date as January 23, 1986. This birth date implies that she would have been 14 years old during the Sydney Olympic Games.

Dong's blog also revealed that she was born in the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which dated from Feb. 20, 1985, to Feb. 8, 1986.

The FIG launched an investigation in October 2008. The FIG’s three-person disciplinary commission held a hearing Dec. 19-20 at FIG headquarters in Lausanne, then submitted its findings and conclusions to the FIG Executive Committee. Dong and Yang, along with their parents and two Chinese gymnastics officials attended the hearing.

FIG also canceled results obtained by Dong at the 34th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 1999 in Tianjin, China, resultsobtained at the FIG World Cup Series 1999-2000 and at the Artistic Gymnastics 2000 World Cup Final in Glasgow.

Penny applauded the FIG for its thorough investigation which “came up with a ruling that at least gives a sense of justice. I think it makes a very loud statement.

“The goal here is to make sure we have a level playing field.”

There have been other cases of age falsification in the past, and suspicions cropped up as recently as the Beijing Olympics.

In 1986, the International Gymnastics Federation raised the minimum age for competing in senior level competitions from 14 to 15. Gina Gogean of Romania, who competed in the 1992 Olympics and won a team silver medal, had a passport with a 1977 birth year. In 2002 her original birth certificate was uncovered by media, and it showed she was born in 1978, which would have made her 14.

Alexandra Marinescu and Daniela Silivas also said coaches and officials forced them to claim they were older.

Marinescu -- a bronze medalist in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics – told the Associated Press she was forced to lie about her age.

"The trainers told me to do it. I thought it was strange but I had to obey," she said. "I knew there were others (in my situation) but I didn't know which ones."

During the 2008 Summer Olympics, the ages of four Chinese gymnasts were questioned, but the FIG found that the gymnasts met the age requirements and were eligible to compete.

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Written by Karen Rosen.