China faces age-old question

Is China's underage gymnasts controversy simply a lost-in-translation misunderstanding? Or did the government issue fake documents to make its girls 16 years old, both in Beijing and in Sydney in 2000? That's what the international federation and, ultimately, the International Olympic Committee, have to sort out before deciding whether or not to revoke at least five medals from the two Games.

Although the birth certificates, passports, ID cards, and family residence permits recently submitted by Chinese officials indicate that all of their female Olympians were old enough to compete, there's significant evidence to the contrary, all of it provided by state-run sources or the athletes themselves.

The country's General Administration of Sport's earlier online registration lists show that both He Kexin and Yang Yilin were too young this summer, with Xinhua, the official news agency, having He as 14 last year. There also are doubts about whether Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao were eligible in 2000, when China won the team bronze ahead of the United States.

In an interview last year with state-run China Central Television, Yang said she was only 14 in Sydney. And Dong's blog says she was born in 1985, not 1983. Now, Yang claims she misspoke. "On television shows, there are always slips of the tongue," she said. Dong, who conceded that her blog age is correct, wouldn't answer questions about it.

So who do the investigators believe - the Chinese then or the Chinese now? If the FIG and IOC conclude the ages were changed, China could lose its team gold from Beijing, He's gold on uneven bars, and Yang's bronzes on bars and in the all-around, plus the team bronze from Sydney. If the medals are revoked, the Americans would be the big beneficiaries. Besides inheriting Beijing golds in team and bars (where Nastia Liukin lost to He on a tiebreaker), the US also would move up to the team bronze in 2000, which would mean medals for Dominique Dawes, Amy Chow, Jamie Dantzscher, Kristen Maloney, Elise Ray, and Tasha Schwikert. The Russians would get Beijing team and all-around bronzes, while Great Britain's Beth Tweddle and Ukraine's Anastasia Koval would inherit silver and bronze on bars.

Good seats available

Now that the Games are over, Chinese who couldn't get tickets are lining up to see Olympic venues such as the Bird's Nest Stadium and the Water Cube during this week's National Day festivities, which will lure millions to the capital. Though the facilities are empty, the price is decidedly cheaper - 50 yuan ($7.30) tops . . . The ongoing global financial chaos is causing a headache for the 2012 London organizers, who were hoping to cover nearly half of the cost of the $2 billion Olympic village from private sources. Unless things change, they'll have to dip heavily into the British government's $1.9 billion contingency fund . . . Bidders for the 2018 Winter Games are starting to line up. Besides Pyeongchang, the South Korean resort that was runnerup by just four votes to Sochi, Russia, for 2014, there'll be a French candidate (1968 host Grenoble, Nice, or Annecy) plus Munich, Geneva, Tromsoe, Norway, and possibly Reno-Tahoe, Nev. The IOC will make its choice in 2011.

Pedal to medals

Though Olympic champion Kristin Armstrong came up empty, US cyclists still picked up two time-trial medals in last week's world road championships in Italy, with Amber Neben winning gold and David Zabriskie bronze. Neben, whose medal bid in the Beijing road race was undone by a slipped chain in the rain, is the fourth American woman to win the global time trial title, along with Armstrong (2006), Mari Holden (2000), and Karen Kurreck (1994). Zabriskie, who missed most of the season after fracturing a vertebra in the Giro d'Italia in May and was 12th in Beijing, edged teammate Levi Leipheimer, who won the bronze at the Games . . . It took 193 matches and 15,278 minutes, but defender Kate Markgraf finally scored a goal for the US women's soccer team 10 days ago, knocking in a penalty kick against Ireland. Though teammates had urged her for years to take a PK (she set the domestic record for most matches without a goal ages ago), Markgraf, 32, always had declined. "Today, I finally caved," she said. By sweeping their three exhibition matches from the Irish, the Olympic champs set a record for most victories (29) in a calendar year, with seven more to play on their "Achieve Your Gold" victory tour . . . Irina Mikitenko's victory in Berlin Sunday puts the squeeze on Gete Wami's bid to retain her World Marathon Majors title. The German, who also won in London, is tied with Wami for the lead with 65 points. If the Ethiopian finishes second or better in New York in November, she'll win the crown and the $500,000 that comes with it. Otherwise, the five race directors will have to choose the victor. It's still possible, but unlikely, that China's Zhou Chunxiu (50 points) or Kenya's Catherine Ndereba (41) could claim the title with a victory either in Chicago next month or in New York, but after winning Olympic medals last month both appear inclined to call it a season. Kenya's Martin Lel (76 points) has all but wrapped up the men's side ahead of countryman and defending champion Robert Cheruiyot, who pulled out of the Games because of a thigh injury and probably won't run in either of the two remaining races. Wami, who finished second to Paula Radcliffe in New York last year, will be competing alongside countrywoman Dire Tune, this year's Boston victor, plus Rotterdam champ Lyubov Morgunova of Russia, Hayley Haining of Great Britain, and marathon debutantes Kara Goucher of the US and Kim Smith of New Zealand . . . With rising star Charles Munyeki leading a group of countrymen, the Kenyans figure to win next month's BAA Half Marathon for the fifth time in six years. The 22-year-old Munyeki, who ran a 59:44 this month, will be joined by John Korir, James Koskei, Stephen Koech, and Gilbert Okari. Top women's entrant is Canada's Lioudmila Kortchaguina, who'll be up against Azalech Masresha of Ethiopia, Neriah Asiba of Kenya, and Kathy Newberry of Virginia.

<3>A wrestling reversalIn the wake of a one-medal Olympics - Henry Cejudo's gold - Zeke Jones has replaced Kevin Jackson as US men's freestyle wrestling coach. Jones, a former world champion who won silver in Barcelona in 1992, is a former Olympic assistant who was head man at the University of Pennsylvania. Jackson, who had coached the national team since 2001, will take over the Sunkist Kids club in Phoenix . . . Randy Stoklos, whose heyday on the beach came before the sport was added to the Olympic program in 1996, will be among the inductees for the Volleyball Hall of Fame next month in Holyoke, where the sport was born. Stoklos, who won 114 tournaments with Sinjin Smith, was the AVP's MVP in 1989 and 1991. He'll be joined by Olympic three-time medalist Andrea Giani of Italy, two-time gold medalist Yuri Poyarkov of Russia, and 1964 gold medalist Masae Kasai of Japan.

Material from Olympic committees, international and domestic sports federations, interviews, and wire services was used in this report; John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com