Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Beijing, China, Apr 29, (THAINDIAN NEWS) On Wednesday the International Olympic Committee stripped China of its 2000 Sydney Olympics Women’s Gymnastics team bronze medal. The decision comes after the age probe carried out by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) reported on February that China’s Dong Fangxiao was under aged when she participated in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. She was reportedly found to be 14 years old in 2000 while the minimum age set for athletes in Olympics games is 16. The IOC on Wednesday ordered the Chinese Olympic Committee to return all the medals and recognitions that was endowed to Dong Fangxiao. Mark Adams, the spokesman of the IOC told the media sources that the medals and diplomas have been “withdrawn and reallocated accordingly”.

As per the reports, Dong Fangxiao had back in the year 2000 registered for the Sydney Olympics sighting her date of birth to be Jan 20, 1983. During the Beijing Olympics, where she acted as one of the officials, her date of birth was reportedly registered as Jan 23, 1986. The FIG probed into the matter and found that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 years old at the time of Sydney Olympics and thus was ineligible for participation.

The bronze medal will now go to the USA which was at the fourth position in the Sydney Olympics. The USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny told to media sources that he is grateful to FGI and IOC for their probe. He said that he is grateful that the committee took time to address the age issue which was first raised during the Beijing Olympics. According to Steve Penny, every athlete aspires to win an Olympic medal and works hard towards it and it was no different for the USA athletes and coaches who worked hard for the Sydney Olympics.