By JULIET MACUR
Published: August 22, 2008

BEIJING — With the closing ceremony only two days away and questions
of age falsification lingering, the Chinese Olympic women’s gymnastics
team met about 200 fans Friday on the Olympic Green, beaming and
posing for photos.
Skip to next paragraph
Interactive Schedule
Interactive Olympics Tracker

Follow the schedules of your favorite sports, day by day and event by
event.

Times journalists and special contributors explore the Olympics in
Beijing and on the Web from every angle — the politics, the culture
and the competition.

Their celebration was cut short.

Saying that “age discrepancies” have been discovered regarding the
Chinese gymnasts’ eligibility for these Games, officials from the
International Olympic Committee have asked the international
gymnastics federation, known as the F.I.G., to collect evidence.

“We had been given some more information and thought that this
information was concerning enough to go to the Chinese gymnastic
federation and have a thorough discussion about it,” Emmanuelle
Moreau, a spokeswoman for the Olympic committee, said Friday. Moreau
declined to say what new information had led the I.O.C. to begin an
inquiry, three days after the gymnastics competition ended.

When asked about the inquiry, the gymnasts turned sour. Their faces
drooped. Deng Linlin, a 4-foot-6, 68-pound member of the team, looked
as if she were about to cry.

Their coach, Lu Shanzhen, was furious.

“We talked to the I.O.C. yesterday and we have already submitted
documents; every athlete is completely documented,” he said through an
interpreter. “The foreign media keeps asking about it and it really
makes us upset and affected our preparation for the Games.

“China’s team is very strong compared with the American team. That’s
why they keep asking.”

For five of the six gymnasts on its Olympic women’s team, gymnastics
officials said, the Chinese gymnastics federation must produce a birth
paper, a passport and a hukou card, which is a family residence
permit.

As of Friday evening, the Chinese federation had not produced those
documents.

The New York Times reported last month that official online records
listed the Chinese gymnasts He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan as being as
young as 14. The minimum age for Olympic eligibility since 1997 has
been 16. (The athlete must turn 16 during the Olympic year.)

Those online lists, including at least one generated by the General
Administration of Sport of China, were blocked after that story was
printed.

Since then, The Associated Press reported that another team member,
Yang Yilin, could also be under age, according to other online
registration lists.

Some of those online lists have been recovered by hackers and re-
posted.

The gymnasts whose ages are in question helped the Chinese women win
four medals, including gold in the team event and on the uneven bars.
The United States finished second in those events.

Gymnastics has dealt with age falsification problems since the minimum
age of 14 rose to 15 in the 1980s, then to 16 in 1997, in part to
protect gymnasts from injuries and to prevent burnout.

But there is a lure to skirting the rules. Younger gymnasts are often
lighter, making it easier to perform certain tricks. Some coaches also
believe that younger gymnasts are less fearful of injury.

Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics, said: “USA Gymnastics
has always believed this issue needed to be addressed by the F.I.G.
and I.O.C. An investigation would help bring closure to the issue and
remove any cloud of speculation from this competition.”

Just before Olympic competition began, the international federation
said that the ages on the passports confirmed that the Chinese
gymnasts were eligible. Now it is being asked to double-check that.

But time is running out. The flame over the Bird’s Nest will be
extinguished Sunday night. The United States Olympic Committee has
sent a letter to the international committee and the F.I.G., asking
them to expedite their investigation.

“The questions surrounding the age of some of the athletes have been
out there for quite a while,” said Jim Scherr, chief executive of the
United States Olympic Committee. “It’s unfair to them and unfair to
the other athletes to continue to linger.”

The issue has already dampened the Chinese gymnasts’ post-Olympic
party.

As the team sat in a room in the Samsung building Friday after meeting
the public, He’s head was down and her hands were frozen, folded on
her lap as the debate over her age ensued.

“I’m 16; people who know me know I am 16,” she has said during the
Olympics. “What more do I have to say?”

This time, she said nothing.