Sect309Fan
04-28-2010, 12:48 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/gymnastics/news/story?id=5142755
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- China was stripped of the women's gymnastics bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics on Wednesday for fielding an underage gymnast, with that team medal now going to the United States.
The International Olympic Committee acted after investigations by the sport's governing body determined that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 at the 2000 Games. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible.
Dong's accreditation information for the Beijing Olympics, where she worked as a national technical official, listed her birthday as Jan. 23, 1986. That would have made her 14 in Sydney -- too young to compete. Her birth date in the FIG database is listed as Jan. 20, 1983.
Dong's blog also said she was born in the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which dates from Feb. 20, 1985, to Feb. 8, 1986.
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Gotta watch those blogs. They will get you every time. :D
Congrats to the USA women, about 10 years late.
I suppose that the after the controversy over the 2008 Chinese Olympic gymnastic team (who were cleared), the IOC looked back to previous years and found this problem.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- China was stripped of the women's gymnastics bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics on Wednesday for fielding an underage gymnast, with that team medal now going to the United States.
The International Olympic Committee acted after investigations by the sport's governing body determined that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 at the 2000 Games. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible.
Dong's accreditation information for the Beijing Olympics, where she worked as a national technical official, listed her birthday as Jan. 23, 1986. That would have made her 14 in Sydney -- too young to compete. Her birth date in the FIG database is listed as Jan. 20, 1983.
Dong's blog also said she was born in the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which dates from Feb. 20, 1985, to Feb. 8, 1986.
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Gotta watch those blogs. They will get you every time. :D
Congrats to the USA women, about 10 years late.
I suppose that the after the controversy over the 2008 Chinese Olympic gymnastic team (who were cleared), the IOC looked back to previous years and found this problem.