Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Revealed: The International Olympic Committee has asked the world governing body for gymnastics to investigate whether members of the Chinese women’s team were too young to compete in the Olympics.

Cheng Fei, Yang Yilin, Li Shanshan, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Deng Linlin of China on the podium after winning the women’s team artistic gymnastics gold medal. Half of this team is suspected of being underage.

Chinese Gymnasts Women

The IOC instructed the international gymnastics federation, known as the FIG, to take up the issue with the Chinese gymnastics federation and report back to the IOC later Friday.

The New York Times reported last month that online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, indicated that members of the team might be as young as 14. A gymnast must turn 16 in the year of the Olympics to compete in the Games. Chinese officials responded by providing copies of passports indicating that the athletes in question were old enough.

“More information has been brought to light and brought to our attention, so we decided to go to the federation and have them look into it further,” said Emmanuelle Moreau, a spokeswoman for the IOC “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.”

According to online sports registration lists in China, half the team — He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan — would be under age. The FIG, however, has said that those gymnasts were eligible and that the ages on their passports were correct.

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The Chinese women won the team gold among six total medals at the Beijing Games. He won the gold in the uneven bars.

Moreau declined to say what new information had led to this latest move by the IOC three days after the gymnastics competition ended.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Revealed: The International Olympic Committee has asked the world governing body for gymnastics to investigate whether members of the Chinese women’s team were too young to compete in the Olympics. Editing by Claire Charles

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