China's 2000 bronze stripped for underage gymnast

By Tan Yue (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-30 09:44

China's 2000 bronze stripped for underage gymnast

Dong Fangxiao

Local authority agrees to return the bronze won by women's team in Sydney

The Chinese gymnastics authority has agreed to give back the bronze medal the women's team won at the Sydney Olympic Games after it was stripped on Wednesday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for having an under-age representative, Dong Fangxiao.

Luo Chaoyi, the sport's chief in China, told local media on Thursday he learnt of the news on the IOC's website and hadn't received official notice but he would respect the decision.

The medal will be given to the fourth-placed US team.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) nullified Dong's Sydney results in February claiming her birth date, registered at the Beijing Olympics, where she worked as a national technical official, was Jan 23, 1986, which would have made her 14 in Sydney - younger than the age limit of 16. Her birth date in the FIG database is listed as Jan 20, 1983.

Because Dong's scores contributed to China winning the team bronze, the FIG recommended the IOC take back the medal.

China's team gymnastics bronze-winning members (from left to right) Liu Xuan, Kui Yuanyuan, Ling Jie, Huang Mandan, Yuang Yun and Dong Fangxiao. [File photo]

Chinese officials claim they didn't doctor Dong's age at the Sydney Games. They say it was Dong and her family who changed her birth date to be three years' younger after her retirement.

The IOC executive board, however, upheld the request and formally stripped the medal on the first day of a two-day meeting in Dubai. The IOC said Dong was also stripped of her sixth-place result in the individual floor exercise and seventh place in the vault.

"Respecting the minimum age of our gymnasts remains a priority and I am committed to safeguarding the health of our athletes," FIG president Bruno Brandi said.

Dong now lives in New Zealand with her husband, working as a coach at a local gymnastics club.

Luo said the gymnastics administrative center hasn't decided whether to hold Dong accountable for the embarrassment.

The sport's ruling body also said it has been strengthening and improving the management of the athletes, strictly sticking to the rules.

However, this is not the first time Chinese athletes have been drawn into controversies about age.

The registered birth date of Yi Jianlian, power forward of the New Jersey Nets in the NBA, is Oct 27, 1987. However, local media went to his hometown in 2008 and found he was born in 1984, according to his registration form in junior high school.

The age of Chen Ruolin, the gold medalist in the women's 10m platform and 10m synchronized platform diving at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was also in question. Chen was born on April 26, 1994, according to the Chinese national diving registration list in 2003, but the date was changed to Dec 12, 1992 in 2007.

In diving, competitors must turn 14 during the year they compete in any official World Cup, World Championships or Olympics. If Chen was born in 1994, she would have been competing illegally at the 2007 World Championships, where she won a gold and a silver.