Yilin YANG

During the Beijing Olympics, it wasn’t Yang Yilin’s performances (though noteworthy), but rather her age that made the news. Along with several other team mates, she was suspected of being too young to compete at the Games. A minimum age of 16 was required to compete in the Olympics, but prior to the Games, reports where found that Yang would be at most 14-years-old. Though initially ignored by officials, further evidence led the IOC to aks the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to investigate the entire Chinese team. FIG concluded its investigations a month after the Games, reporting that it was unable to find fault with any of the officially reported birth dates of the Chinese gymnasts. This meant that Yang was allowed to keep the three medals she won in Beijing. After having earned the gold in the team all-around, she had added bronze in the individual all-around. She led after the qualification for the uneven bars, but dropped to third in the final, behind He Kexin, who was also suspected of being underage. Outside of the Olympics, Yang has won three World Championships medals, one on the uneven bars (bronze, 2007), and two with the team. She is also an Asian Games champion (team, 2010), and in 2007 won the Chinese all-around title.