Rogge: Gymnasts’ paperwork OK

From combined dispatches

BEIJING | The investigation goes on, and so does the wait, yet the IOC indicated Sunday that a reshuffling of Olympic gymnastics medals isn’t likely.

Yes, this competition really was and probably will remain … one for the ages.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said paperwork appears to support what China has been saying all along: that all six members of its gold medal women’s gymnastics team were old enough to compete at the Beijing Games. Gymnastics officials were still poring over the documents submitted by the Chinese in response to a request for more information on the birthdates of He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan.

“The international federation has required the delivery of birth certificates and all the documents like family books, entries in schools and things like that,” Rogge said. “They have received the documents, and at first sight it seems to be OK.”

If evidence of cheating is found, four of China’s six medals could be affected. In addition to the team gold, He won gold on uneven bars and Yang got bronze medals on bars and the all-around.

Questions about the Chinese gymnasts’ ages have been swirling for months, with media reports and online records suggesting that He, Yang and Jiang might be as young as 14. The International Gymnastics Federation and IOC thought they had put the matter to rest before the games, when the IOC said it had checked the girls’ passports and deemed them valid.

“The ages of the members of our gymnastics delegation entirely conform to the requirements for participation in the Beijing Olympic Games, ” said Cui Dalin, China’s deputy sports minister.

U.S. is disappointed

The United States said Sunday it was disappointed the Olympics had not brought more “openness and tolerance” in China and pressed for the immediate release of eight American protesters as the games ended.

The New York-based group Students for a Free Tibet said the eight Americans were deported during the Olympics’ closing ceremony, but there was no immediate confirmation from U.S. or Chinese officials.

The blunt U.S. criticism - and China’s harsher treatment of foreign activists - came at the end of 17 days of Olympic competition that generally went smoothly for Chinese organizers who had been nervous about security and protests.

No rallies were held throughout the entire Olympics in three parks designated as protest zones after Chinese officials declined to issue permits to 77 applicants and detained some of them. But mostly foreign activists staged a series of small illegal demonstrations near Olympic venues and at Beijing landmarks.