One of the Chinese gymnasts whose age has been called into question is blaming the discrepancy on a slip of the tongue. International gymnastics officials have expanded their investigation into the eligibility of the Chinese women's team at the Beijing Olympics to include members of the 2000 squad, the bronze medalists in Sydney. One, Yang Yun, said in a June 2007 interview that aired on state broadcaster China Central Television that she was 14 at the Sydney Games. But Yang, who also won a bronze on uneven bars in Sydney, said on Thursday that was a mistake. Gymnasts must be 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible to compete. “Everyone has misspoken before. On television shows, there are always slips of the tongue,” Yang said, declining to comment further. Another, Dong Fangxiao, did not deny that her blog says she was born in the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which would be 1985. But Dong refused to answer any questions about her age, saying, “I've left the gymnastics team.” “If the FIG wants to investigate this matter,” she added, “I will provide every form of documentation.” Age falsification has been a problem in women's gymnastics since the 1980s, and questions were swirling long before the Beijing Games even began about the Chinese team that would win the gold medal. Media reports and online records suggested several gymnasts on the six-woman squad might be as young as 14. Chinese officials insisted that all of the gymnasts were old enough, and that they had the documents to prove it. The International Gymnastics Federation and International Olympic Committee hoped the matter had been put to rest before the Games, when the IOC said it had checked all of the girls' passports and found them to be valid. The controversy never went away, and the FIG announced three days before the Games ended that, at the behest of the IOC, it had asked China for documentation on the ages of He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan. China quickly turned over birth certificates, passports, ID cards and family residence permits for all five athletes. Because there were also suspicions about the ages of some members of the 2000 squad - Yang's interview has been widely reported - the FIG said it had no choice but to expand its investigation. No other Chinese teams are in question. The entire investigation is ongoing, and there is still no timetable for when it might finish. “If you're waiting for a declaration,” FIG President Bruno Grandi said on Thursday, “I can't give one.” If evidence of cheating is found, it could affect as many as four of the six medals the Chinese women won in Beijing. In addition to the team gold, He won gold on uneven bars and Yang got bronze medals on bars and in the all-around. – AP __
