No Quiero,

Are you an expert to say if being 14 is advantage or not? By your logic, it is OK to field 16 year players in under 15 cricket or soccer. Does 2 years make such a difference ??

Hari Dai,

China says those gymnasts are 16. However, they are doubts from various sources and not just from looking at their face. Chinese Govt. news agency reported one of the gymnasts as 14 years in Nov '07. Associated Press also found registration documents for earlier tournaments that registered these gymnasts with different birthdates. For example, one news reported "...He was born Jan. 1, 1994, according to the 2005, 2006 and 2007 registration lists. Yang was born Aug. 26, 1993, according to the 2004, 2005 and 2006 registration lists. In the 2007 registration list, however, her birthday has changed to Aug. 26, 1992..."

Finally, it is about ethics. Just like using drugs in track n' field is wrong, fielding under-age atheletes in gymnastics is also wrong. There are other atheletes who worked so hard for 4 years but lost gold because some country got unfair advantage by fielding underage gymnasts.