A Chinese official said on Monday the Chinese Olympic gymnasts are old enough for the Beijing Games.
Zhang Peiwen, spokesman of the Chinese Gymnastics Association, said they registered the Olympians' ages according to their ID cards or other legal certificates.
International media organizations including the New York Times and Agence France-Presse have raised questions about the athletes' ages.
AFP said in a Monday's report that Chinese gymnasts He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan might not yet be 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility, citing Internet information.
"Our Olympic squads were recently named and we registered their ages according to their ID cards or other legal certificates presented by their regional gymnastics associations, which show they all are over the minimum age for the Olympics," said Zhang.
Gymnastics rules prohibit any gymnast born after December 31, 1992 from competing in the Beijing Games.
Zhang noted the age of the Chinese Olympic gymnasts had been certified by the sport governing body FIG.
Jiang, registered as born in November 1, 1991, won floor and uneven bars in the World Cup in Shanghai last year while He, registered as 16, competed in Cottubus and Doha this year.
Zhang said that he had not seen the erroneous online data that international media have found, but doubted the reliability of Internet information.
"There are a lot of online information and reports," he said. "We haven't got the time to check every piece, but everybody knows not all of them are reliable," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)