Gymnastics controversies at the Olympic Games 

From scoring controversies to numerous attempts of age fraud, here are some controversies in the gymnastics arena at the Olympic Games.

2000 Olympics – Sydney, Australia 

• In the women’s artistic gymnastics, Australian competitor Allana Slater complained that the vault was set too low. The vault was measured and found to be five centimetres lower than it should have been. Some gymnasts made unusual errors, including American Elise Ray, who missed the vault completely in her warm-up, and Briton Annika Reeder, who fell and had to be carried off the mat after being injured. 
• Romanian Andreea Raducan became the first gymnast to be stripped of a medal after testing positive for pseudoephedrine, which was at the time a prohibited drug element. Raducan, 16, took Nurofen, a common medicine, to treat her fever.  The Romanian team doctor who gave her the medication was expelled from the Games and suspended for four years. The gold medal was finally awarded to Răducan’s teammate Simona Amânar. Răducan was allowed to keep her other medals, a gold from the team competition and a silver from the vault. 
• In April 2010, Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao lost his bronze medal. She was just 14 at the 2000 Games, according to investigations conducted by FIG, the body that oversees the sport. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible. FIG recommended the IOC to take the medal back as Fangxiao’s points helped China secure the bronze for the team. The US women’s team had finished fourth in the competition. The team advanced to third place after the result of Fangxiao’s case. 

2008 Olympics – Beijing, China 

China’s gymnast gold medal winner He Kexin poses with her gold medal during the uneven bars apparatus finals at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Questions have been raised about the ages of two Chinese female gymnasts, He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan. This is due partly to their youthful appearance, as well as a speech in 2007 by the Chinese director of general administration for Sport, Liu Peng.  

Kexin, particularly, was alleged to be about 14 years old, less than the minimum age limit to compete at the Olympics (16) during the Games. However, the Chinese officials then provided the passport details of both gymnasts, who said they were 16. But the two had their profiles registered in the Chinese news media, which indicated that Kexin was 14. Kexin beat Nastia Liukin of the US to win gold at the Games. 

2012 Olympics – London, England, United Kingdom 

Japan advanced to the silver in the men’s team artistic gymnastics after effectively bringing up an appeal on Kohei Uchimura’s last pommel horse performance. Initially, the Japanese were ranked fourth after he fell on the final piece of equipment, while host Great Britain was ranked silver and Ukraine was ranked bronze. After judges spent about five minutes reviewing Uchimura’s pommel horse performance, his score was revised and Japan was awarded the silver medal with Britain getting bumped down to bronze. The teams in question accepted the modification even though the decision to raise the Japanese score was met with jeers in the arena.