Age controversies in gymnastics
Encyclopedia
The age requirements in gymnastics are established by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
and regulate the age at which athletes are allowed to participate in senior-level competitions.
, the minimum required age to compete in senior events sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
(FIG) was 14. The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s; most had studied ballet
for years before entering the sport. Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti
won individual gold medals at the age of 35 at the 1956 Olympics. Larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet
gymnast, won her first Olympic
all-around medal at the age of 21, her second at 25 and her third at 29; she became the 1958 World Champion
while pregnant with her daughter. Czech
gymnast Věra Čáslavská
, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals at the highest level of the sport, and won her final Olympic all-around title at the age of 26.
In the 1970s, the average age of Olympic gymnastics competitors began to gradually decrease. While it was not unheard of for teenagers to compete in the 1960s — Ludmilla Tourischeva
was sixteen at her first Olympics in 1968
— they slowly became the norm, as difficulty in gymnastics increased.
By the late 1970s, Federations occasionally requested permission to allow slightly underage athletes to compete as seniors. One such example is that of Canadian gymnast Karen Kelsall
, who legally competed in the 1976 Olympics
at the age of 13. At the time, gymnasts had to turn 14 by the start of the Games to be eligible. Kelsall, with her December 1962 birthday, was five months shy of the requirement but was turning 14 within the Olympic year, and was granted a special exemption by the FIG to compete. Such exemptions were not automatic, however: American gymnast Tracee Talavera
, who was named to the United States
team for the 1979 World Championships, was deemed ineligible to compete due to her age of 12½ years.
In response to the changing demands of the sport, at the 58th Congress of the FIG, held in July 1980 just before the Moscow Olympics
, the age limit was raised from 14 to 15. Under this rule, which went into effect in 1981, gymnasts were required to turn at least 15 years of age in the calendar year to compete in senior-level events. This age limit remained in place until 1997, when it was raised one more year, from 15 to 16.
On the one hand, proponents such as Jeanne Dopbrak, a sports medicine physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
, contend that "[a child athlete's] immature skeleton just isn't ready to handle the day-to-day stresses that will occur." and that the stresses imposed on only partly developed muscular/skeletal system by gymnastics are almost certain to cause damage that would persist into adulthood. Proponents also point to a 16-year American study of gymnastics injuries concluded gymnastics is the most dangerous sport for girls, with injury rates comparable to those found in boys who play soccer, basketball and hockey. An athlete whose bones are still growing is more likely than an adult to suffer skeletal injury, because the bones are more porous and the joints not yet fully formed. Lesions that are precursors to stress fractures occur in 11 per cent of young female gymnasts, compared to 2.3 per cent of girls and women in general. The International Gymnastics Federation says that intense physical activity, such as that engaged in by gymnasts training at the elite level, affects the functioning of growth hormones, possibly causing delayed bone growth and the onset of puberty – although the body is able to recover and catch up later if given rest periods.
In addition, proponents contend that practicing elite sports is mentally and emotionally demanding. Young gymnasts at these levels are often pressured to perform by coaches and parents, and ex-gymnasts have spoken out about behavioural and psychological problems common to the sport.
, a gymnast must have a birth date before January 1, 1997. There is no maximum age restriction, and some gymnasts compete well into their 20s. The oldest female gymnast currently competing in senior international events is Germany's Oksana Chusovitina
, who was born in 1975, and was old at the 2008 Summer Olympics
. She was old at her first Olympics, the 1992 Summer Olympics
.
In addition, the age requirement technically only applies to meets which are sanctioned and regulated directly by the FIG: the Olympics, the World Championships and the World Cup circuit. Many other meets, such as the European Championships, have separate divisions for juniors. Additionally, some competitions, such as the Pan Am Games, the Pacific Rim Championships and the All-Africa Games
, have different rules which permit seniors and juniors to compete together. There are also numerous international competitions specifically limited to junior gymnasts, such as the Japan Junior International, Moscow World Stars, the Junior Pan American Championships, and the Youth Olympic Games.
Starting in 2009, gymnasts competing in FIG-sanctioned events at both the senior and junior level will be required to have licenses issued by the Federation. These licenses will reportedly verify the competitors' ages based on their passports. However, the licensing will not include any independent verification of submitted passport information, just as in the current system.
president Bob Colarossi, have expressed support for the age limit of 16, others, such as coach Bela Karolyi
, have heavily criticized it.
Supporters of the age restrictions have pointed out that it has encouraged older gymnasts to remain in the sport. The average age of an international gymnast was 18.10 years in 2005. In contrast, in 1994, before the new age requirements, it was 16.49, and in 1989, gymnasts who had reached the age of 17 were already often considered to be of retirement age.
Opponents of the rule have countered that by barring younger gymnasts from top level meets, they are denying them valuable competitive experience. They have also argued that junior gymnasts perform and are scored under the same Code of Points as the seniors, perform the same skills, and are thus not avoiding the physical impact of training and performing high-level skills. It is also argued that the current Code of Points, with its increased requirements for difficult skills, is more suited to younger and lighter athletes, and puts older athletes at greater risk of injury.
to make them age-eligible for senior-level competition. Reports of age falsification among top-level international gymnasts first began to surface in the 1980s, after the age limit was raised from 14 to 15. This has frequently taken the form of inconsistently reported birthdates; at other times, speculation has been raised due to the young appearance of the gymnasts. Age falsification has been revealed and confirmed in several ways. In some cases, gymnasts themselves have come forward and publicly confirmed and verified the falsification. In other cases, documents revealing inconsistencies, such as original birth certificates, have been researched and uncovered by the press. Inconsistencies with reported birth dates and ages at international and national competitions have also led to the discovery of age falsification.
Gymnasts who have had their ages falsified, and have spoken about their experiences, have indicated that they were not given a choice in the matter. In a 2002 interview, Romanian gymnast Daniela Silivaş
, whose age was advanced two years in the 1980s, noted: "One of the officials of the Federation told me 'Look at the passport, from today you're not 13 years old anymore but 15.' Nobody asked me if I agreed to this, I was just a child. They needed gold medals and everybody who was involved in gymnastics knew about these practices."
While age falsification has been denied among many gymnastics officials, in recent years some have publicly admitted that the practice has occurred. In reference to the falsifications of the early 1990s and 1980s, the head of the Romania
n Gymnastics Federation, Nicolae Vieru, was quoted in 2002: "Changing the ages was a worldwide practice...we copied this from others." The FIG has publicly stated that they view age falsification as an unacceptable practice. However, there have only been three cases, those of Kim Gwang Suk
in 1993 and Dong Fangxiao
and Hong Su Jong
in 2010, where the FIG has elected to take any action against a gymnastics federation for age falsification.
Psychologically, younger gymnasts may be more fearless, and have less visceral appreciation for the potential for injury. They are therefore more likely to perform more dangerous, and more highly scored, routines with confidence and steadiness. “Psychologically, I think they worry less,” former Olympic medallist Nellie Kim
told the New York Times. Daniela Silivaş, in her interview, commented, "You should know that I competed better at the age of 13 than at 17. I felt much better, physical (sic) and mentally."
Physically, younger gymnasts, particularly those who have not yet gone through puberty
, tend to be lighter, smaller, more pliable and flexible, which aids them in performing more complex skills and gives them a better strength-to-weight ratio. When a gymnast hits puberty, growth spurts and weight gain may affect her centre of gravity, causing mental and physical stress as she must adjust, and in some cases relearn, her moves to compensate. Smaller athletes have generally excelled in the more challenging acrobatic elements required by the evolving Code of Points
after the 1960s. In addition, older gymnasts may be more prone to certain types of injuries caused by overuse of bones and muscles; younger gymnasts are less likely to have such problems, or more likely to be able to work through pain while injured.
(North Korea
): Kim, the 1991 World Champion on the uneven bars, competed in the 1989 World Championships
at the estimated age of 11 or 12 and was active on the international circuit between 1987 and 1993. The North Korean Gymnastics Federation submitted inconsistent dates of birth for Kim at various competitions, claiming that she was 15 for three consecutive years. As punishment, the F.I.G barred the North Korean women's team from the World Championships in 1993.
Lavinia Agache
(Romania
): Agache competed at the 1981 World Championships
at the age of 13, under a passport which gave her year of birth as 1967. She was in fact born in 1968. The falsification was suspected as early as 1981; Agache confirmed her 1968 birthdate to International Gymnast magazine in 2000.
Olga Bicherova
(Soviet Union
): Bicherova, the 1981 World Champion in the all-around event, was introduced at an early 1981 meet as a 12-year-old, but was claimed to have been born in 1966 at the 1981 World Championships
later in the same year.
Gina Gogean
(Romania
): Gogean competed in the 1992 Olympics
with a passport with a 1977 birth year. However, in 2002 her original birth certificate was uncovered by the media, revealing she had been born in 1978.
Alexandra Marinescu
(Romania
): Marinescu, a World and team Olympic medalist in the mid-1990s, had her birth year advanced from 1982 to 1981 in order to be eligible for the 1995 World Championships
and 1996 Olympic Games
.
Olga Mostepanova
(Soviet Union
): Mostepanova, who competed at the 1983 and 1985 World Championships
and was the all-around gold medalist at the 1984 Friendship Games, has been reported as having 1968 and 1969 birth dates, but has stated that she was actually born in 1970.
Daniela Silivaş
(Romania
): Silivaş, a multiple World and Olympic gold medalist, competed as a junior until 1985, when her birth year was changed from 1972 to 1970. She went on to compete at the 1985 World Championships at the age of 13. Silivaş revealed the falsification to the media in 2002.
Dong Fangxiao
(People's Republic of China
): Dong was a member of the bronze-medal winning Chinese team at the 2000 Summer Olympics
. Her birthdate was listed as January 20, 1983 in the FIG database. However, it was discovered that her accreditation as a technical official at the 2008 Summer Olympics
, where she worked as a vault secretary, listed her birthdate as January 23, 1986. Additionally, her blog stated she was born during the Year of the Ox, which would place her birthdate between February 1985 and February 1986. An FIG investigation determined in 2010 that Dong was 14 during the 2000 Olympics and the Chinese team should be stripped of its bronze medal. Dong's 1999 World Championships and World Cup results were vacated. In April 2010, the International Olympic Committee upheld the F.I.G.'s recommendation and nullified both the Chinese team's bronze medal and Dong's individual Olympic placement.
Hong Su Jong
(North Korea
), the 2007 World Championships silver medalist on vault, was investigated for age discrepancies in 2010. Hong competed at the 2004 Olympics with a March 9, 1985 birth date, but participated in subsequent Asian Games and World Championships meets with a 1986 year of birth. Her 2010 F.I.G. license and 2010 Worlds registration indicated that she was born in 1989. The F.I.G. responded in October 2010 by provisionally banning North Korea from competition for one month, which effectively barred them from the 2010 World Championships. In November 2010, the F.I.G. extended the ban until October 5, 2012, fined the North Korean Federation $20,800, and banned Hong from competing in even national competition within North Korea.
the age of four Chinese
gymnasts, He Kexin
, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin
, Yang Yilin
, was brought into question, with many foreign media outlets speculating that they were underage during the Olympics. Multiple age investigations were conducted at the urging of media, as well as United States Olympic Committee
executive Jim Scherr and International Olympic Committee
president Jacques Rogge
, and the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
(FIG) found that the gymnasts had met the age requirements and were eligible to compete. The Chinese sports administration also acknowledged that mistakes in its paperwork have contributed to the misunderstanding.
Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique or International Federation of Gymnastics is the governing body of competitive gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on July 23, 1881 in Liège, Belgium, making it the oldest international sport organisation...
and regulate the age at which athletes are allowed to participate in senior-level competitions.
History of age requirements in artistic gymnastics
Prior to 19811981 in sports
1981 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup –** Men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, USA** Women's overall season champion: Marie-Theres Nadig, Switzerland-American football:...
, the minimum required age to compete in senior events sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique or International Federation of Gymnastics is the governing body of competitive gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on July 23, 1881 in Liège, Belgium, making it the oldest international sport organisation...
(FIG) was 14. The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s; most had studied ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
for years before entering the sport. Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti
Ágnes Keleti
Ágnes Keleti is a retired Hungarian artistic gymnast. The winner of 10 Olympic medals including five gold medals, she is considered to be one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time. She was the most successful athlete at the 1956 Summer Olympics.-Career:Keleti is Jewish, and...
won individual gold medals at the age of 35 at the 1956 Olympics. Larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
gymnast, won her first Olympic
Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics
Gymnastics events have been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. For 32 years, only men were allowed to compete. Beginning at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, women were allowed to compete in artistic...
all-around medal at the age of 21, her second at 25 and her third at 29; she became the 1958 World Champion
World Gymnastics Championships
The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique organises World Gymnastics Championships for each of the gymnastic disciplines:...
while pregnant with her daughter. Czech
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
gymnast Věra Čáslavská
Vera Cáslavská
Věra Čáslavská is a Czech gymnast. Blonde, cheerful and possessing impressive stage presence, she was generally popular with the public and won a total of 22 international titles...
, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals at the highest level of the sport, and won her final Olympic all-around title at the age of 26.
In the 1970s, the average age of Olympic gymnastics competitors began to gradually decrease. While it was not unheard of for teenagers to compete in the 1960s — Ludmilla Tourischeva
Ludmilla Tourischeva
Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva is a former Russian gymnast and a nine-time Olympic medalist for the Soviet Union.Tourischeva began gymnastics in 1965 and began competing for the Soviet team as early as in 1967...
was sixteen at her first Olympics in 1968
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
— they slowly became the norm, as difficulty in gymnastics increased.
By the late 1970s, Federations occasionally requested permission to allow slightly underage athletes to compete as seniors. One such example is that of Canadian gymnast Karen Kelsall
Karen Kelsall
Dr. Karen Kelsall is a chiropractor and a retired Canadian gymnast and dancer. She was the youngest competitor at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and was one of the first Canadian gymnasts to attract attention from the international gymnastics community.Although she was born in Canada,...
, who legally competed in the 1976 Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
at the age of 13. At the time, gymnasts had to turn 14 by the start of the Games to be eligible. Kelsall, with her December 1962 birthday, was five months shy of the requirement but was turning 14 within the Olympic year, and was granted a special exemption by the FIG to compete. Such exemptions were not automatic, however: American gymnast Tracee Talavera
Tracee Talavera
Tracee Talavera is a retired artistic gymnast of Mexican-American descent who competed for the United States at the Olympics and World Championships. She was the 1981 and 1982 U.S...
, who was named to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
team for the 1979 World Championships, was deemed ineligible to compete due to her age of 12½ years.
In response to the changing demands of the sport, at the 58th Congress of the FIG, held in July 1980 just before the Moscow Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
, the age limit was raised from 14 to 15. Under this rule, which went into effect in 1981, gymnasts were required to turn at least 15 years of age in the calendar year to compete in senior-level events. This age limit remained in place until 1997, when it was raised one more year, from 15 to 16.
Reasons for age restrictions
Age restrictions were designed supposedly not so much to level the playing field in terms of skill and physical advantages, but to allegedly protect child athletes from injury. However, critics dispute the science behind the policy and argue that the answer is not to prohibit junior gymnasts from competing in senior competitions.On the one hand, proponents such as Jeanne Dopbrak, a sports medicine physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is an $9 billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 54,000 employees, 20 hospitals, 4,200 licensed beds, 400 outpatient sites and doctors’ offices, a 1.5 million-member health insurance division, as well as commercial and...
, contend that "[a child athlete's] immature skeleton just isn't ready to handle the day-to-day stresses that will occur." and that the stresses imposed on only partly developed muscular/skeletal system by gymnastics are almost certain to cause damage that would persist into adulthood. Proponents also point to a 16-year American study of gymnastics injuries concluded gymnastics is the most dangerous sport for girls, with injury rates comparable to those found in boys who play soccer, basketball and hockey. An athlete whose bones are still growing is more likely than an adult to suffer skeletal injury, because the bones are more porous and the joints not yet fully formed. Lesions that are precursors to stress fractures occur in 11 per cent of young female gymnasts, compared to 2.3 per cent of girls and women in general. The International Gymnastics Federation says that intense physical activity, such as that engaged in by gymnasts training at the elite level, affects the functioning of growth hormones, possibly causing delayed bone growth and the onset of puberty – although the body is able to recover and catch up later if given rest periods.
In addition, proponents contend that practicing elite sports is mentally and emotionally demanding. Young gymnasts at these levels are often pressured to perform by coaches and parents, and ex-gymnasts have spoken out about behavioural and psychological problems common to the sport.
Current regulations
Currently, as per the 1997 regulation, gymnasts must be at least 16 years of age, or turning 16 within the calendar year, to compete in senior-level events. For the current Olympic cycle, in order to compete in the 2012 Olympics2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
, a gymnast must have a birth date before January 1, 1997. There is no maximum age restriction, and some gymnasts compete well into their 20s. The oldest female gymnast currently competing in senior international events is Germany's Oksana Chusovitina
Oksana Chusovitina
Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina is an Olympic medalist and World Champion gymnast who has competed for Germany since 2006. She was formerly a citizen of, and a competitor for, the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan ....
, who was born in 1975, and was old at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. She was old at her first Olympics, the 1992 Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
.
Terminology
The term senior, in gymnastics, refers to any world-class gymnast who is age-eligible under F.I.G. rules. The term junior is used to describe any gymnast who competes at a world-class level, but does not meet the F.I.G.'s age minimum. Juniors are judged under the same Code of Points as the seniors, and often exhibit the same level of difficulty in their routines.Legal exceptions
The one exception to the F.I.G.'s age restrictions until recently applied to the year before the Olympics, when gymnasts who are one year below the required age, but will be the required age in the Olympic year, may compete as seniors at the World Championships and other FIG meets. For instance, gymnasts born in 1977 were allowed to compete at senior events in 1991, when they were 14 or turning 14 within the calendar year. Within the last Olympic cycle, gymnasts born in 1992 were permitted to compete as seniors in 2007. This is permitted to allow nations to qualify to the Olympics with their best teams, and to give emerging gymnasts some experience in major competition before the Olympics. However, the FIG has now eliminated this exception.In addition, the age requirement technically only applies to meets which are sanctioned and regulated directly by the FIG: the Olympics, the World Championships and the World Cup circuit. Many other meets, such as the European Championships, have separate divisions for juniors. Additionally, some competitions, such as the Pan Am Games, the Pacific Rim Championships and the All-Africa Games
All-Africa Games
The All-Africa Games, sometimes called the African Games or the Pan African Games, are a regional multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa...
, have different rules which permit seniors and juniors to compete together. There are also numerous international competitions specifically limited to junior gymnasts, such as the Japan Junior International, Moscow World Stars, the Junior Pan American Championships, and the Youth Olympic Games.
Verification procedures
According to official statements from the FIG, "the accepted proof of a gymnast’s eligibility for competition is a valid passport issued by the country of residence." This verification process has been criticized by some in the gymnastics community, with the argument that countries can manufacture and submit falsified documents for underage athletes. In several cases, gymnasts involved in age falsification have verified that they did in fact compete under forged passports provided to them by their federations.Starting in 2009, gymnasts competing in FIG-sanctioned events at both the senior and junior level will be required to have licenses issued by the Federation. These licenses will reportedly verify the competitors' ages based on their passports. However, the licensing will not include any independent verification of submitted passport information, just as in the current system.
Response from coaches and federations
The age limit is arguably one of the most contentious rules in gymnastics, and is frequently debated by coaches, gymnasts and members of the media. While some members of the sport, such as former USA GymnasticsUSA Gymnastics
United States of America Gymnastics or USAG is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. The mission of USA Gymnastics is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of gymnastics....
president Bob Colarossi, have expressed support for the age limit of 16, others, such as coach Bela Karolyi
Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania and the...
, have heavily criticized it.
Supporters of the age restrictions have pointed out that it has encouraged older gymnasts to remain in the sport. The average age of an international gymnast was 18.10 years in 2005. In contrast, in 1994, before the new age requirements, it was 16.49, and in 1989, gymnasts who had reached the age of 17 were already often considered to be of retirement age.
Opponents of the rule have countered that by barring younger gymnasts from top level meets, they are denying them valuable competitive experience. They have also argued that junior gymnasts perform and are scored under the same Code of Points as the seniors, perform the same skills, and are thus not avoiding the physical impact of training and performing high-level skills. It is also argued that the current Code of Points, with its increased requirements for difficult skills, is more suited to younger and lighter athletes, and puts older athletes at greater risk of injury.
Age falsification
Age falsification is the practice of advancing gymnasts' agesAge fabrication
Age fabrication occurs when an individual deliberately misrepresents his or her true age. This is usually done with the intent to garner privileges or status that would not otherwise be available to the individual...
to make them age-eligible for senior-level competition. Reports of age falsification among top-level international gymnasts first began to surface in the 1980s, after the age limit was raised from 14 to 15. This has frequently taken the form of inconsistently reported birthdates; at other times, speculation has been raised due to the young appearance of the gymnasts. Age falsification has been revealed and confirmed in several ways. In some cases, gymnasts themselves have come forward and publicly confirmed and verified the falsification. In other cases, documents revealing inconsistencies, such as original birth certificates, have been researched and uncovered by the press. Inconsistencies with reported birth dates and ages at international and national competitions have also led to the discovery of age falsification.
Gymnasts who have had their ages falsified, and have spoken about their experiences, have indicated that they were not given a choice in the matter. In a 2002 interview, Romanian gymnast Daniela Silivaş
Daniela Silivas
Viorica Daniela Silivaş-Harper , best known as Daniela Silivaş, is a Romanian gymnast who is most famous for winning six medals in women's artistic gymnastics at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea...
, whose age was advanced two years in the 1980s, noted: "One of the officials of the Federation told me 'Look at the passport, from today you're not 13 years old anymore but 15.' Nobody asked me if I agreed to this, I was just a child. They needed gold medals and everybody who was involved in gymnastics knew about these practices."
While age falsification has been denied among many gymnastics officials, in recent years some have publicly admitted that the practice has occurred. In reference to the falsifications of the early 1990s and 1980s, the head of the Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n Gymnastics Federation, Nicolae Vieru, was quoted in 2002: "Changing the ages was a worldwide practice...we copied this from others." The FIG has publicly stated that they view age falsification as an unacceptable practice. However, there have only been three cases, those of Kim Gwang Suk
Kim Gwang Suk
Kim Gwang-Suk is a North Korean female gymnast who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics...
in 1993 and Dong Fangxiao
Dong Fangxiao
Dong Fangxiao is a retired Chinese gymnast. She now lives in New Zealand with her husband, and competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She originally won a bronze medal with the Chinese team, however following an investigation, the International Gymnastics Federation ruled that she was under the...
and Hong Su Jong
Hong Su Jong
Hong Su Jong is a North Korean artistic gymnast. She is the 2007 World silver medalist on the vault. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the all-around and in the team event....
in 2010, where the FIG has elected to take any action against a gymnastics federation for age falsification.
Reasons for age falsification
According to many scientific and medical studies, as well as reports from ex-gymnasts, younger gymnasts may have psychological or physical advantages in elite gymnastics competition.Psychologically, younger gymnasts may be more fearless, and have less visceral appreciation for the potential for injury. They are therefore more likely to perform more dangerous, and more highly scored, routines with confidence and steadiness. “Psychologically, I think they worry less,” former Olympic medallist Nellie Kim
Nellie Kim
Nellie Vladimirovna Kim is a retired Soviet gymnast who won three gold medals and a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics...
told the New York Times. Daniela Silivaş, in her interview, commented, "You should know that I competed better at the age of 13 than at 17. I felt much better, physical (sic) and mentally."
Physically, younger gymnasts, particularly those who have not yet gone through puberty
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
, tend to be lighter, smaller, more pliable and flexible, which aids them in performing more complex skills and gives them a better strength-to-weight ratio. When a gymnast hits puberty, growth spurts and weight gain may affect her centre of gravity, causing mental and physical stress as she must adjust, and in some cases relearn, her moves to compensate. Smaller athletes have generally excelled in the more challenging acrobatic elements required by the evolving Code of Points
Code of Points (artistic gymnastics)
A Code of Points is a rulebook that defines the scoring system for each level of competition in gymnastics. There is no unified, international code of points; every oversight organization—such as FIG , NCAA Gymnastics, and most national gymnastics federations—designs and employs its own unique Code...
after the 1960s. In addition, older gymnasts may be more prone to certain types of injuries caused by overuse of bones and muscles; younger gymnasts are less likely to have such problems, or more likely to be able to work through pain while injured.
Major verified cases of age falsification
Kim Gwang SukKim Gwang Suk
Kim Gwang-Suk is a North Korean female gymnast who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics...
(North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
): Kim, the 1991 World Champion on the uneven bars, competed in the 1989 World Championships
1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 25th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Stuttgart, West Germany, in 1989 from October 14 to October 22.The scoring rule New Life was introduced for the first time ever...
at the estimated age of 11 or 12 and was active on the international circuit between 1987 and 1993. The North Korean Gymnastics Federation submitted inconsistent dates of birth for Kim at various competitions, claiming that she was 15 for three consecutive years. As punishment, the F.I.G barred the North Korean women's team from the World Championships in 1993.
Lavinia Agache
Lavinia Agache
Lavinia Agache is a retired Romanian gymnast. She had a successful senior career winning a number of ten medals at major international events. She medaled team gold at the 1984 Olympics and team silver at the 1983 Worlds...
(Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
): Agache competed at the 1981 World Championships
1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 21st Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Moscow, the capital of the USSR, in 1981.-Medals:-All-around:- Floor exercise :-Pommel horse:-Rings:-Vault:-Parallel bars:-Horizontal bar:-Team final:-All-around:...
at the age of 13, under a passport which gave her year of birth as 1967. She was in fact born in 1968. The falsification was suspected as early as 1981; Agache confirmed her 1968 birthdate to International Gymnast magazine in 2000.
Olga Bicherova
Olga Bicherova
Olga Anatolyevna Bicherova was a Soviet gymnast, who won the women's all-round gold medal at the 1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships....
(Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
): Bicherova, the 1981 World Champion in the all-around event, was introduced at an early 1981 meet as a 12-year-old, but was claimed to have been born in 1966 at the 1981 World Championships
1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 21st Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Moscow, the capital of the USSR, in 1981.-Medals:-All-around:- Floor exercise :-Pommel horse:-Rings:-Vault:-Parallel bars:-Horizontal bar:-Team final:-All-around:...
later in the same year.
Gina Gogean
Gina Gogean
Gina Gogean is a retired gymnast from Romania who competed internationally in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. During her career she won an impressive number of 30 medals at Olympic Games, world championships or continental championships...
(Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
): Gogean competed in the 1992 Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
with a passport with a 1977 birth year. However, in 2002 her original birth certificate was uncovered by the media, revealing she had been born in 1978.
Alexandra Marinescu
Alexandra Marinescu
Alexandra Marinescu is a retired Romanian Olympic artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic bronze medalist with the team and a two-time world champion with the team. Individually, she is a world silver medalist on beam and a seven-time Junior European medalist. She currently works as a minimal electro...
(Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
): Marinescu, a World and team Olympic medalist in the mid-1990s, had her birth year advanced from 1982 to 1981 in order to be eligible for the 1995 World Championships
1995 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 30th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held at Sun Dome Fukui in Sabae, Japan in 1995.- All-round :NB: Team rosters are incomplete.- Apparatus :- All-around :- Vault :- Uneven Bars :- Balance Beam :- Floor Exercise:...
and 1996 Olympic Games
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
.
Olga Mostepanova
Olga Mostepanova
Olga Vasilyevna Mostepanova is a retired prominent Soviet gymnast. Her birth year has been variously reported as 1968 or 1969, but Mostepanova herself has stated that she was actually born in 1970.-Gymnastics career:...
(Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
): Mostepanova, who competed at the 1983 and 1985 World Championships
1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 23rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Montreal, Canada, in 1985.-Medals:-All-around:- Floor exercise :-Pommel horse:-Rings:-Vault:-Parallel bars:-Horizontal bar:-Team final:-All-around:- Vault :...
and was the all-around gold medalist at the 1984 Friendship Games, has been reported as having 1968 and 1969 birth dates, but has stated that she was actually born in 1970.
Daniela Silivaş
Daniela Silivas
Viorica Daniela Silivaş-Harper , best known as Daniela Silivaş, is a Romanian gymnast who is most famous for winning six medals in women's artistic gymnastics at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea...
(Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
): Silivaş, a multiple World and Olympic gold medalist, competed as a junior until 1985, when her birth year was changed from 1972 to 1970. She went on to compete at the 1985 World Championships at the age of 13. Silivaş revealed the falsification to the media in 2002.
Dong Fangxiao
Dong Fangxiao
Dong Fangxiao is a retired Chinese gymnast. She now lives in New Zealand with her husband, and competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She originally won a bronze medal with the Chinese team, however following an investigation, the International Gymnastics Federation ruled that she was under the...
(People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
): Dong was a member of the bronze-medal winning Chinese team at the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. Her birthdate was listed as January 20, 1983 in the FIG database. However, it was discovered that her accreditation as a technical official at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, where she worked as a vault secretary, listed her birthdate as January 23, 1986. Additionally, her blog stated she was born during the Year of the Ox, which would place her birthdate between February 1985 and February 1986. An FIG investigation determined in 2010 that Dong was 14 during the 2000 Olympics and the Chinese team should be stripped of its bronze medal. Dong's 1999 World Championships and World Cup results were vacated. In April 2010, the International Olympic Committee upheld the F.I.G.'s recommendation and nullified both the Chinese team's bronze medal and Dong's individual Olympic placement.
Hong Su Jong
Hong Su Jong
Hong Su Jong is a North Korean artistic gymnast. She is the 2007 World silver medalist on the vault. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the all-around and in the team event....
(North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
), the 2007 World Championships silver medalist on vault, was investigated for age discrepancies in 2010. Hong competed at the 2004 Olympics with a March 9, 1985 birth date, but participated in subsequent Asian Games and World Championships meets with a 1986 year of birth. Her 2010 F.I.G. license and 2010 Worlds registration indicated that she was born in 1989. The F.I.G. responded in October 2010 by provisionally banning North Korea from competition for one month, which effectively barred them from the 2010 World Championships. In November 2010, the F.I.G. extended the ban until October 5, 2012, fined the North Korean Federation $20,800, and banned Hong from competing in even national competition within North Korea.
2008 Beijing Olympics age controversy
During the 2008 Summer Olympics2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
the age of four Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
gymnasts, He Kexin
He Kexin
He Kexin is a Chinese gymnast. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing she won gold medals on the uneven bars and as a member of the Chinese Artistic Gymnastics team. In 2008, she won two World Cup titles on the uneven bars. On the bars she was one of the few gymnasts in the world to score over 17.00...
, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin
Deng Linlin
Deng Linlin is a Chinese gymnast. She was a member of the Chinese team that won the team gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, People's Republic of China, and is a three-time World Cup gold medalist...
, Yang Yilin
Yang Yilin
Yang Yilin is a Chinese gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic all-around bronze medalist and a member of the gold medal winning Chinese Olympics gymnastics team. Yang was also the 2007 World Championships bronze medalist on the uneven bars.-Gymnastic career:...
, was brought into question, with many foreign media outlets speculating that they were underage during the Olympics. Multiple age investigations were conducted at the urging of media, as well as United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
executive Jim Scherr and International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
president Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
, and the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique or International Federation of Gymnastics is the governing body of competitive gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on July 23, 1881 in Liège, Belgium, making it the oldest international sport organisation...
(FIG) found that the gymnasts had met the age requirements and were eligible to compete. The Chinese sports administration also acknowledged that mistakes in its paperwork have contributed to the misunderstanding.