should Katelyn Ohashi sue USAG?

Let’s say you are one of the best in the world at your sport … and somebody stops you from competing.

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Why would they do that?

Katelyn Ohashi has competed successfully one of the most difficult beam routines in history (VIDEO), yet is not allowed to even try out for the 2012 Olympics.

Yep. The American Jr Champion is too young to compete in the London Olympics. What a shame.

A recent legal paper looks at the mechanism by which an American could challenge that rule. It’s got a cute name:

Uneven Bars: Age Rules, Antitrust, and Amateurism in Women’s Gymnastics

Katelyn could try to challenge the age-eligibility rules by antitrust lawsuit against USA Gymnastics who enforces the FIG rule.

… That would be odd since nearly everyone in the National Team program for the States is against the age rule, most vocally so.

This legal opinion:

… While gymnastics’ current minimum-age rule would likely survive an antitrust challenge, the rule’s policy impact has been profoundly negative in two distinct ways. First, as predicted by Martha Karolyi, the enactment of the current age rule has helped usher in an era of increased corruption related to age fabrication. As the recent cases in China and North Korea evidence, the nefarious conduct reached governmental levels, where officials knowingly altered documents to further the fraud.

Second, the countries that falsify such documents as a way to circumvent the age rule have created an unlevel playing field vis-a?-vis those countries that follow the rule. …

Still, the paper concludes that if age monitoring cannot be enforced:

… the rule should be eliminated to allow all gymnasts and countries the opportunity for greater parity and fairness in elite-level international competition.

Download the entire 20 page paper here. (PDF)

Rodenberg, Ryan M. , Uneven Bars: Age Rules, Antitrust, and Amateurism in Women’s Gymnastics (July 25, 2011). University of Baltimore Law Review, Vol. 40, No. 4, 2011. Available at SSRN

So, Katelyn Ohashi needs to stay at this level until the Rio Olympics. Exactly as Nastia had to wait until Beijing. … She was too young for Athens.

related – Do Minimum Age Rules “Work” in Sports?