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It's no secret the female gymnasts on China's Olympic gymnastics team look a little young. But are they too young to compete?

There has been a lot of speculation about the ages of the Chinese gymnasts. He Xexin, in particular, looks strikingly young. We're talking very young. Because Olympians must turn 16 in the year of the Olympics to compete in them, many are questioning whether or not He is old enough to be out on the floor. While her birthday is "officially" listed as Jan 1, 1992, news agencies aren't so sure.


Sports Illustrated is claiming He may only be 14 years old - and ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics. S.I. cites an article from a Chinese news service (uncovered by The Associated Press) that states "this little girl" (He) is only 13 and one of the "10 big stars" from the Chinese Cities Games. The date of the article was November 3rd, 2007. That would make He only 14 this Olympic year.

After the AP found the article, they saved a copy of the page and it's a good thing they did - later that afternoon it was mysteriously removed from the website.

Chinese officials are denying the claim and insisting the news service must have made a mistake. Zhang Hongliang, an official with China's gymnastics delegation at the games, says the media didn't double check He's age before they printed the story.

"It's definitely a mistake," Zhang said of the Xinhua report, speaking in a telephone interview. "Never has any media outlet called me to check the athletes' ages."

He herself insists she is 16 (as do the other questionably-aged gymnasts, Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin). But under that much pressure from a Chinese government so desperate to lead the Olympic medal race, lying might be her only option.

What do you think? Do the Chinese gymnasts look old enough to compete? Would China deliberately lie about He's age to win the gold? Should an official investigation be launched by the Olympic Committee?