HARTFORD, Conn.—Even after resolving a long-simmering dispute about an under-16 gymnast that put another Olympic medal in their column, leaders of the American program remain dissatisfied with the way the sport’s international body handles a number of age-related issues.
During a series of interviews last week at U.S. nationals, leaders voiced concern about three issues:
— The handling of the Youth Olympics;
— A new rule that makes it more difficult for female gymnasts who are turning 16 in the Olympic year to get international experience beforehand;
— The 16-year-old age limit itself.
“I’d like the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) to look at the preparation of the child and let the country decide who is best to compete,” women’s national coordinator Martha Karolyi said.
Since 1997, international rules have said a girl must turn 16 in the calendar year of a senior event to compete in it.
Karolyi and her husband, Bela, have long believed in scrapping age limits for senior events, saying that, among other things, they create an uneven playing field between countries that adhere to the rules and those that try to skirt them.
“I don’t want to go into all that, but we respect the rules and some countries don’t,” Karolyi said. “It just came out. We just found out the Chinese didn’t respect that.”
Questions about the age of Chinese athletes resulted in investigations, one of which led to the disqualification from the 2000 Olympics of a gymnast who was found to be underage. China’s team bronze medal was reissued to the U.S. team that finished fourth in Sydney. The American gymnasts received the medals at a ceremony at U.S. championships last week.
Another investigation about the age of the Chinese at the Beijing Games didn’t lead to sanctions.
The 2000 bronze medal marked the 50th won by USA Gymnastics in major international competition since 2000. Though the United States fares well under the current system, the country’s leaders remain largely at odds with key rules involving international age.
For instance, it has long been a rule that girls must turn 16 in the year of the Olympics to compete in the games, but for those girls to gain some experience, a loophole was created to allow them to compete at world championships the year before. Starting in this Olympic cycle, however, the FIG eliminated that loophole.
“A fundamentally bad decision,” USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny calls it.
Had the loophole not been there during the last Olympic cycle, Shawn Johnson wouldn’t have been able to compete at 2007 worlds, where she won the all-around championship. Johnson, who turned 16 in 2008, went on to take silver in the Olympic all-around, along with gold on balance beam.
This Olympic cycle, the rule figures to affect Kyla Ross, who won her second straight U.S. junior title last weekend. Ross will turn 16 in 2012. She won’t be able to compete at world championships in 2011.
“It’s not in the best interest of the athlete to expect they’re going to the Olympic Games, possibly for the first time on the international stage, and they have to have their best event there,” Penny said. “And if they don’t, they have to wait another four years. That’s not right.”
FIG officials did not immediately respond to e-mails sent by The Associated Press asking about the loophole. In the past, they have explained it by saying there’s no use having a rule if there’s also that big of a loophole around it. They have said that the Olympic test event, to be held in London in 2012, will provide a good opportunity for those turning 16 that year to get good experience—and to be seen by judges—before the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Ross has competed internationally in junior events and “she’ll continue to get international experience,” Karolyi said.
Penny also pointed out problems in folding women’s artistic gymnastics into the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, being held this month in Singapore. The Youth Olympics are designed for athletes ages 14-18. That is, of course, the age at which most top female gymnasts are in their prime. After haggling with the International and U.S. Olympic Committees over a number of credentialing issues, USA Gymnastics chose not to send a female artistic gymnast.
The handling of girls’ gymnastics is one of many criticisms of the Youth Olympics, which have not been fully embraced in the Olympic community.
“The question is whether you need the top countries in the world competing in an event that’s supposed to be developmental,” Penny said.
Another question asked last week by Karolyi and Valeri Liukin, coach of national champion Rebecca Bross and defending Olympic champion Nastia Liukin, gets to the core of all these issues: Is the 16-year-old age limit realistic?
Liukin said there’s no definitive proof about the long-held idea that age limits protect the gymnasts physically.
“It turns it into age-group gymnastics,” Liukin said. “It doesn’t always identify the best gymnast in the world.”
