Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two Chinese gymnasts who have been suspected of being under-age for the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games, met in Lausanne Monday 21 December with Fig, the international gymnastics federation, to review their case. A decision on Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun will be made 26 February by Fig’s executive committee, based on the recommendations of the three-person disciplinary commission which met with the athletes and the Chinese Gymnastic Association.

The gymnasts are suspected of having been as young as 14, according to USA Today. Olympic Games athletes must turn 16 during the year of the Games in which they compete. The Chinese team earned bronze in Sydney.

Reports that Chinese women gymnasts may have been too young for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games were squashed by Fig, which ruled the young women were of age, following an investigation.

The disciplinary commission, composed of Rached Gharbi, Tunisia, Margarida Dias Ferreira, Portugal and Marc Schoenmaekers, Belgium, also met Monday with Brazilian gymnast Brazilian gymnast Daiane Dos Santos, in a doping case. She tested positive for furosemide in July 2009. She was 2003 World Floor Champion in Anaheim, US, and winner of the 2006 World Cup in her discipline.

Links to other sites: Asian Gymnastics Union, FIG, USA Today and AP photo from 19 September 2000

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