Chinese officials to crackdown on age cheats

Ahead of the 2010 Youth Olympics, the Chinese athletics officials are resolute that there should be no more under-age scandal issues, which witnessed Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao stripped of the women's team bronze medal won at the 2000 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

"Six months after Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao was finally stripped of the women's team bronze medal she won at the 2000 Games due to a falsely documented age, Chinese officials are paying extremely close attention to the issue as the 70-athlete squad prepares for the first Youth Olympics, which will be held from Aug 14-26," reports China Daily.

The Vice President of State General Administration of Sport and Head of China's delegation to Singapore, Cai Zhenhua, said the ages of all the athletes have been verified through various means and the country has no tolerance of age-faking.

"We have scrutinized every athlete's age in the delegation for the Youth Olympic Games to make sure there is no one going to Singapore with a fake age. We have to make our Chinese delegation very clean and transparent. This is for the benefit of the athletes and the fair play spirit of the Olympics," he added, while saying of the event, which will showcase athletes between the ages of 14 and 18.

Cai further said the authorities have checked six credentials from each athlete to confirm their birth dates; including birth certificates, ID cards, passports, domestic athlete registration cards and domestic and international authentication for competitions.

Moreover, the athletes under 16-years of age have undergone bone-age checks through nuclear magnetic resonance.

The Games will feature about 5,000 athletes and officials from the 205 National Olympic Committees, along with an estimated 1,200 media representatives, 20,000 local and international volunteers and more than 370,000 spectators.

The Games will be held every four years and the 2014 Youth Olympic Games will be held in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province. (ANI)

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