It was a nice change in Antwerp to hear very little questioning of the age of Chinese gymnasts.
One of the few who brought it up was Marta Karolyi:
Karolyi answered questions regarding the ages of the Chinese gymnasts. Shang Chunsong competed in the same subdivision as Biles and posted the top beam score of the competition so far. Martha said clearly that she believed the Chinese were competing with underage gymnasts here in Antewrp and that she wishes everyone would compete at a level playing field. She stated, “We [the United States] respect the rules and we play by the rules.” She feels that until they lift the age limit, some countries will continue to cheat in this way.
World Bar Champion 2013 Huang Huidan is listed born 16 May 1996 (age 17). She was age eligible for London. She trained in Zhejiang Province before moving to Beijing.
Marta is hardly the best person to be making allegations.
Lavinia Agache (Romania), Olga Bicherova (Soviet Union), Gina Gogean (Romania), Alexandra Marinescu (Romania), Olga Mostepanova (Soviet Union) and Daniela Silivas (Romania) all later admitted they had competed “underage”.
None were penalized by FIG.
Age rules have been made stricter, over time. Much stricter today than it was in the era of Silivas.
… Currently, as per the 1997 regulation, gymnasts must be at least 16 years of age, or turning 16 within the calendar year, to compete in senior-level events. For the current Olympic cycle, in order to compete in the 2016 Olympics, a gymnast must have a birth date before January 1, 2001. …
Since 2009, gymnasts competing in FIG-sanctioned events at both the senior and junior level have been required to have licenses issued by the Federation. These licenses reportedly verify the competitors’ ages based on their passports. However, the licensing does not include any independent verification of submitted passport information. …
Age falsification is the practice of advancing gymnasts’ ages to make them age-eligible for senior-level competition. …
… there have only been three cases, those of Kim Gwang Suk in 1993 and Dong Fangxiao and Hong Su Jong in 2010, where the FIG has elected to take any action against a gymnastics federation for age falsification.
Kim Gwang Suk (North Korea)
Dong Fangxiao (China)
Hong Su Jong (North Korea)
Because all 3 happen to be Asian, some consider any accusation of age falsification to be “racist”.
… No girls from Japan are ever accused, though some look just as young as He Kexin at the same age.
Nobody believes that Japan would falsify a passport.
MANY believe that North Korea and China are willing and able to falsify passports. They’ve done it before. Why would you think the same government, the same sport regime, the same coaches in some cases … wouldn’t do it again?
If you stole my wallet once, don’t blame me for wondering if you might steal my wallet again.
I suspect any totalitarian State.
FIG “licenses” as they exist today, are not enough.
If science cannot verify age, age requirements should be dropped.
Updates:
• Andrei Rodionenko: the Chinese girls were of “dubious age“. He’s quite wrong about other things in that interview, by the way.
• Gymnast Karissa Chock on Karolyi Gymnastics circa 1996
Gymnastics Coaching.com 