CHINESE YANG YILIN BORN 1994 AUGUST 26 VAULTS GOT INJURED IN 2008 RETIRED AT THE AGE 14

CHINESE YANG YILIN BORN 1994 AUGUST 26 VAULTS GOT INJURED IN 2008  RETIRED AT THE AGE 14

In December 2008, Yilin injured herself during  vault finals at Stuttgart cup, and since then, her career gradually declined. 

Olympics: 

Chinese gymnasts accused of being under minimum age

The success of the Chinese gymnasts in the final of the uneven bars apparatus - He Kexin won the gold medal and Yang Yilin the bronze – has stirred up the controversy of whether either gymnast has reached the qualifying age for international competition.



In 1997, to counter the increasing trend towards younger and younger gymnasts,

 the International Gymnastics Federation introduced a rule that competitors must be 16 in the year that the event is held.











Online documents, listed in a series of articles by The New York Times and followed up by Associated Press at the end of July and in August, 

call into question whether either of the gymnasts will reach their 16th birthday this year.

The documents relating to He include a page from the Chengdu Sports Bureau website from 2006, which gave her year of birth as 1994, a report in last November's Cities Games at Wuhan which gave her age then as 13, and a story in the China Daily newspaper in May this year, which gave her age as 14.

Yang's age was given in online files from the General Administration of Sport in China. Records from 2004, 2005 and 2006 give her date of birth as August 26th 1993. That would make Yang only 15 this year, and 14 when she competed in last year's world championships.

When the information concerning He was presented to the International Gymnastics Federation, the secretary-general Andre Gueisbuhler said: "We heard these rumours and we immediately wrote to the Chinese gymnastics federation. They immediately sent a copy of the passport, showing the age, and everything is OK. That's all we can check," he said.

Underage stories have frequently surfaced since the rule was brought in. In 2002, the Romanian federation admitted that gymnasts' ages had been falsified and China's Yang Yun, who won two bronze medals in Sydney, later admitted that she was 14 at the time. The worst culprit, though, was the North Korean federation, which listed one athlete as 15 for three successive years so that she could contest age-group championships.


The visual evidence that He is underage certainly supports the online research, for the Olympic champion is certainly not an inch taller nor a pound heavier than the 4ft 8in and 73lb that are listed in the official information system.

 One British journalist was bundled out when he tried to take a picture of her in the area where journalist and competitors mix after the competition.








Britain's Beth Tweddle, who finished in fourth position, would not be drawn into the controversy, even though it could mean she was cheated out of the silver medal. The Liverpool gymnast is talking of staying on until London in 2012 and having one more shot at the Olympics. By that time she will be 27. If the age-group rules are by-passed in London, Tweddle could find herself competing against gymnasts who could be almost half her age.

After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, gymnastics fans have not heard much about Yang Yilin. 






In December 2008, Yilin injured herself during  vault finals at Stuttgart cup, and since then, her career gradually declined. 

After the 2012 National Olympic Team selection, she quietly retired.

Competitive history[edit]

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
2010	Asian Games	Guangzhou	Team	1	234.150	1	234.150
	World Championships	Rotterdam	Team	3	174.781	2	233.778
	World Cup/Series	Ghent	Balance Beam	2	14.100	4	14.100
2009	World Championships	London	All-around	6	56.575	8	55.500
			Uneven Bars			19	13.925
			Floor Exercise			34	13.025
			Balance Beam	8	13.125	7	14.375
2008	World Cup/Series	Stuttgart	Uneven Bars			10	13.600
			Floor Exercise	3	14.075	7	14.650
			Balance Beam	3	15.075	7	14.650
	Olympic Games	Beijing	Team	1	188.900	1	248.275
			All-Around	3	62.650	3	62.350
			Uneven Bars	3	16.650	1	16.650
	World Cup/Series	Tianjin	Floor Exercise	2	15.275
			Uneven Bars	1	16.925
2007	World Championships	Stuttgart	All-Around	6	60.025	9	59.700
			Balance Beam			27	14.900
			Floor Exercise			24	14.325
			Team	2	183.450	2	241.175
			Uneven Bars	3	16.150	4	16.000