Did China commit another fraud in the Olympic Games in Beijing?

Questions about the Chinese women have been swirling for months, with media reports and online records suggesting that He Kexin might be as young as 14. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible. Lists previously posted on the Web site of the General Administration of Sport of China that showed He was too young to compete. China's deputy sports minister has attributed the confusion about the age of its gold medalist gymnasts to a paperwork mistake during a team transfer.

He Kexin (who won the gold medal for her bar routine in the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing) was born Jan. 1, 1994, according to the 2005, 2006 and 2007 registration lists. A 2007 online news report from China's state-run news agency hailed He as the 13-year-old queen of gymnastics. Then six months later the same headline referred to He as being 16.

At one time, China's Ministry of Sport website listed He's birthday as Jan. 1, 1994 but since then, that listing has been deleted. Several of these documents and stories have since been deleted from websites, including a Chinese news agency report in November that quoted a Chinese sports federation official as saying that He was 13 and a 2012 Olympic prospect. According to her passport, He is 16 however media reports have cited documents from provincial competitions that list her birthday as Jan. 1, 1994, rather than Jan. 1, 1992, which would make her 14 and not 16. Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

In its report Nov. 3, 2007, Xinhua identified He as one of "10 big new stars" who made a splash at China's Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those Games. In the final, "this little girl" pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, www.hb.xinhuanet.com.

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site and saved a copy of the page. Later, the Web site was still working, but the page was no longer accessible.

The governing body of gymnastics has already been given some of the requested documents, turning over He´s current and former passport, ID card and family residence permit. Lu said the documents all say she was born in 1992, which would have made her eligible to compete.

North Korea was barred from the 1993 world championships after FIG officials discovered Kim Gwang Suk, the gold medalist on uneven bars in 1991, was listed as 15 for three years in a row. Romania admitted in 2002 that several gymnasts´ages had been falsified, including Olympic medalists Gina Gogean and Alexandra Marinescu. Even China's own Yang Yun, a double bronze medalist in Sydney, said during an interview aired on state broadcaster, China Central Television that she was 14 during the 2000 Games.

Age falsification has been a problem in gymnastics since the 1980s after the minimum age was raised from 14 to 15 to protect young athletes from serious injuries. The minimum age was raised to its current 16 in 1997. 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 are not as likely to have a history of injuries or fear of failure.

The International Olympic Committee asked the international gymnastics federation on August 22nd to re-examine the issue as to whether gold-medal-winning gymnast He Kexin was too young to compete in the Beijing Olympic Games. The Committee said that there is still no proof anyone cheated, but it said that there have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies that must be looked into.

The awarding of medals to Chinese gymnastic athletes who were not qualified to participate in the Games in Beijing will bring real shame to China and its people if it is established that the age of He and other gymnasts were falsified.

The problem facing China is the issue of credibility. For years, China has been renown for exporting fakes and even in the Games in Beijing, the organizers committed two examples of fraud. The first was that the nine-year-old girl who appeared on stage to sing before the 90 thousand spectators was in fact not the seven-year-old girl who actually sung the song in a pre-recorded session. The nine-year-old was lip-syncing the voice of seven-year-old girl who was considered by the organizers as being not pretty enough to appear on stage at the games. The second fake was discovered later when it was learned that some of the fireworks shown on TV were computer-generated.

I sincerely hope that the young gymnast is sixteen. It would be a very traumatic experience for her if it is established that she was not qualified to participate. Not only would she have to return the gold medal, she would also be ridiculed by a great many people world wide for participating in the fraud. If she were to participate in the 2012 Games in London, the fraud would be front and centre.

I will keep you posted when new developments emerge with respect to the matter of the so-called under-aged gymnast.