Wow, this is fantastic!
A Chinese gymnast now living in Huntly, in the Waikato, has been stripped of an Olympic bronze medal this morning, for being too young during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee overnight announced it would strip China of its women’s gymnastics team bronze medal from the 2000 Games after finding competitor Dong Fangxiao was only 14 at the time. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible.
Dong now lives in Huntly with her husband Terry, where she has been coaching gymnastics to three children at the local gymnastics club.
Huntly City Gymnastics made a submission to Waikato District Council’s policy committee last December asking for funding for extra equipment, saying that having an Olympic medallist in the club was “an opportunity to really launch the sport of gymnastics in the Huntly district”.
The submission said Dong had initially moved to New Zealand as a student and was currently on a 30-month working visa and applying for residency.
I suspect however that this is going to create a massive stink, since the Chinese government was in on the conspiracy.
Update: so, it was just the team bronze – ah well. But it does strengthen the other claims.
Update 2: Ok, the TV news says it was a result of the investigation into the 2008 frauds which actually uncovered this, not the fact she moved to NZ.
Something should go here, maybe later. 