The World Competes

Jaques Rogge says that he’s looking for age cheaters at the Youth Olympic Games. The first Youth Olympic Games will be held this summer in Singapore, and will be for ages 14-18. This is a good and noble goal, and I applaud him for it. However, he’ll need to do a better job than he has in the past.

Most of us who watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics may remember the Chinese gymnasts who looked like they were under age. They had “passports” that said that they were old enough to compete. However, one astute person was able to find documents using Google that said that He Kexin, who won gold on the women’s uneven bars, was 14 years old. He Kexin will be eligible to compete in this year’s Youth Olympic Games, but she will need to continue to lie about her age, or she could lose her medals from Beijing (she also won a team gold medal).

One of the Chinese gymnasts from Sydney, Dong Fangxiao, forgot about this. When she turned in paperwork to participate as an official in the Beijing Olympics… Surprise! Her Beijing paperwork says that she would have been 14 at the time of the 2000 Olympics. Yang Yun, another gymnast from 2000, is also suspected to have been underage. In a recent decision by the IOC, Dong Fangxiao has been confirmed to have been underage, and recommendations are now being made to remove her team medal, as well as those of the Chinese team. Once these recommendations are acted on, the US team from 2000 will move up into bronze-medal position.

Hopefully there will be no age cheating, but I’m doubtful. They also plan on looking for drug cheaters.