China says it respects IOC's decision
Source: Agencies |
April 30, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Chinese Olympic Committee said yesterday that it respected the International Olympic Committee's decision to strip China of the women's gymnastic team's bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Games after one of its athletes Dong Fangxiao was found to be under age.
"The Chinese Olympic Committee has always been committed to safeguarding the fair play principle in sports and has always ordered its athletes and officials to comply with all rules and regulations of the relevant international federations," a COC statement read.
"The COC has learnt a lesson and will endeavor to prevent a repeat of such incidents in future," added the statement.
A spokesman for the Chinese Gymnastics Association, who asked not to be named, also said the CGA accepted the penalty.
"The CGA is consistent with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in the fight against unsportsmanship behavior such as age falsification," the spokesman said. "The CGA would follow the IOC decision," he added.
In February this year the gymnastics governing body FIG conducted an inquiry which showed that Dong was only 14 years old during the Sydney Games whereas the FIG qualification rules for these Games required that an athlete be at least under 16 years old in the year of the Olympic Games.
Dong was also stripped of her sixth-place result in the individual floor exercises and seventh place in the vault. Her five team mates - Yang Yun, Liu Xuan, Ling Jie, Huang Mandan, Kui Yuanyuan - will also lose their medals.
The CGA also suggested that frequent changes to the FIG's age eligibility rules had contributed to the problem.
"The FIG continuously changes the rule of age limit, which requires us to update the information in time and keep strict monitoring and careful supervision. Any carelessness would cause problems," said the CGA spokesman.
"The Chinese Olympic Committee has always been committed to safeguarding the fair play principle in sports and has always ordered its athletes and officials to comply with all rules and regulations of the relevant international federations," a COC statement read.
"The COC has learnt a lesson and will endeavor to prevent a repeat of such incidents in future," added the statement.
A spokesman for the Chinese Gymnastics Association, who asked not to be named, also said the CGA accepted the penalty.
"The CGA is consistent with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in the fight against unsportsmanship behavior such as age falsification," the spokesman said. "The CGA would follow the IOC decision," he added.
In February this year the gymnastics governing body FIG conducted an inquiry which showed that Dong was only 14 years old during the Sydney Games whereas the FIG qualification rules for these Games required that an athlete be at least under 16 years old in the year of the Olympic Games.
Dong was also stripped of her sixth-place result in the individual floor exercises and seventh place in the vault. Her five team mates - Yang Yun, Liu Xuan, Ling Jie, Huang Mandan, Kui Yuanyuan - will also lose their medals.
The CGA also suggested that frequent changes to the FIG's age eligibility rules had contributed to the problem.
"The FIG continuously changes the rule of age limit, which requires us to update the information in time and keep strict monitoring and careful supervision. Any carelessness would cause problems," said the CGA spokesman.
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