China’s highly rated gymnastics team heads into the Olympics battling allegations that three of its female members are underage and with enormous pressure from home fans demanding nothing less than gold.
The Chinese team has a glittering record at world championships but has struggled at the Olympics, snaring just one gold in Athens four years ago.
With gymnastics golds seen as a major contributor towards China’s dream of topping the Olympic medal tally for the first time, expectations are high among the public and a government that funds a vast network of state-run academies.
PHOTO: AP
The demand for a dramatic improvement is such that China’s head coach Huang Yubin (黃玉斌) last week joked there would be dire consequences if the team failed again.
“If we win only one gold again, I will jump off the highest building,” Huang told the China Daily.
But China has been accused of bending the rules in its quest for glory, with allegations that some of the women’s team members are younger than the age 16 minimum set by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Due to concerns about the wellbeing of young gymnasts whose bodies are under huge stress when they reach the elite level, FIG introduced a rule in 1997 saying they had to turn 16 during an Olympic year to compete at the Games.
The New York Times reported last month that online records showed two members of China’s women’s team, He Kexin (何柯欣) and Jiang Yuyuan (江鈺源), may be only 14.
The age of a third athlete, Yang Yilin (楊伊琳), then came into question when the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) Web site posted a profile indicating she too was 14.
China has denied anything is out of order, saying ID and legal documents show He and Jiang meet the minimum age requirement, while also dismissing the CCTV profile as simply wrong.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge laid responsibility for enforcing the age limit on China’s national gymnastics federation last week when asked if he was concerned the incorrect ages may have been supplied.
“The International Olympic Committee relies on the international federations, who are exclusively responsible for the eligibility of an athlete,” he said.
During the controversy, China has shielded its female gymnasts from direct media scrutiny, refusing to put them forward at press conferences in Beijing.
Women’s head coach Lu Shanzhen (陸善真) said the reluctance to face the press was because his charges were camera shy, not because there was anything to hide.
“They will feel stress if the journalists keep throwing questions like ‘which medal do you think you can get?’ They were trained in a closed environment. Even if we want to change, it needs some time,” he said.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS