A decision on whether two Chinese gymnasts were old enough to compete at the Sydney Olympics is expected in February after the athletes appeared before a disciplinary commission.
Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun, along with their parents and two Chinese gymnastics officials, met Saturday and Sunday with the International Gymnastics Federation’s disciplinary commission. Dong and Yang are suspected of being as young as 14 in Sydney, where China won the bronze medal and Yang also won a bronze on uneven bars.
Gymnasts must turn 16 during an Olympic year to be eligible to compete.
The three-person disciplinary commission will submit its opinion to the FIG’s executive committee at its Feb. 26 meeting. If the commission decides Dong and Yang were underage, it also could recommend sanctions.

Chinese gymnasts Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao, Sept. 19, 2000, after receiving the bronze medal in the women's gymnastic team finals © AP

Because the case involves the Olympics, however, it would be up to the International Olympic Committee to decide if China should lose any medals. The IOC has said previously it would take “necessary measures” if the FIG finds Dong and Yang were underage.
Questions about their ages arose during the FIG’s investigation into the eligibility of members of China’s team that won the gold medal at the Beijing Games. The 2008 gymnasts were eventually cleared, but the FIG said it wasn’t satisfied with “the explanations and evidence provided to date” for Dong and Yang.
Yang said in a June 2007 interview that aired on state broadcaster China Central Television that she was 14 in Sydney. Yang later told The Associated Press she had misspoken, but declined further comment.
Dong’s official birthdate is listed as Jan. 20, 1983, but the FIG said accreditation information for the Beijing Olympics, where Dong worked as a national technical official, listed her birthdate as Jan. 23, 1986.
That would have made Dong 14 in Sydney.
Dong’s blog also said she was born in the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which dated from Feb. 20, 1985, to Feb. 8, 1986. Dong has not denied that, but she refused to answer any questions about her age when reached by the AP.

source: sports.yahoo.com/olympics

Heptathlete Jessica Ennis, triple jumper Phillips Idowu and Paralympian David Weir also make the list of 67 on the programme for the 2009/2010 season.
Meadows, 28, moves up from Development status with her award increased from around £8,000 to a maximum of £26,142.
There are no places for sprinters Mark Lewis-Francis and Christian Malcolm.
Coming on the back of UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos setting a target of 10 medals for GB to win at London 2012, the national governing body revealed the latest winners of their investment plans.
The programme, which runs annually from December to November, is split into two levels of funding – Podium and Development – each with strict criteria and standards which must be met in selection and maintained with the support of UKA staff.
Since a disappointing haul of four medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Britain’s athletes overall have performed impressively over the last 12 months with six medals at the Worlds in Berlin this summer.

Jenny Meadows

The Podium level of funding is split into three categories, including those who have medalled or had a top-eight finish at Olympic or World Championship level or are likely to be major championship performers, and also covers Podium relay teams.
World heptathlon champion Ennis and World triple jump gold medallist Idowu are at the top level, along with Meadows, 1500m silver winner Lisa Dobriskey and the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.

Wheelchair racer David Weir, winner of five medals at the 2008 Paralympics and is currently ranked number one in the world, also makes the list of top recipients.

It is fine reward for Meadows, who, two weeks after winning her 800m bronze at the Worlds in August, revealed how she and her husband coach Trevor Painter had struggled for two years on a single wage.
The Wigan runner added last month: “Lottery funding would allow me to stop the stress of how we are going to afford this and it will allow me to go away for a little bit longer to train. I am always having to hurry up because Trevor has a full-time job.”
With only 33 athletes receiving funding from the lottery programme last year, UKA head coach Charles van Commenee said the “dramatic” rise in podium athletes was “a direct result of their performances over the last 18 months, which clearly demonstrates increased levels of world class performance”.
Andy Turner, 110m hurdler, returns to the top level of funding, while sprint hurdler William Sharman (fourth in Berlin) and Swansea’s David Greene (400m hurdles World finalist) were promoted.
Turner, who won Commonwealth and European bronze medals in the 110m hurdles in 2006, was removed from the funding list a year ago and said at the time he had been harshly treated and challenged the decision.
However, the delighted 29-year-old said after the latest announcement: “Last year was a difficult time for me, but it was the wake-up call I needed.
“I definitely over-competed last year and that experience and the impact it had injury-wise made me realise just what a blessing lottery funding is by allowing us to peak for the big events and perform where it counts.
“I am looking forward to embarking on a winter of tough training and repaying the faith shown in my ability in 2010.”

Other athletes were not so fortunate.
The 27-year-old Lewis-Francis, part of GB’s gold-medal winning 4x100m relay team in Athens in 2004, is missing from the list, as is Welsh sprinter Malcolm, fifth in the Olympic 200m final in 2000 and 2008.
There are 65 athletes on the Development level list, which includes promising middle distance running talents James Brewer, Hannah England and Stephanie Twell.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/8328123.stm

Jasmine Yeong-Nathan PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

There was also no winner for the Sportsman of the Year award – the first time since the awards were introduced by the Singapore National Olympic Council in 1967.
The national table tennis women’s team of Li, Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Sun Beibei were crowned Team of the Year (Event).
Wushu’s Yong Yi Xiang and kegler Jazreel Tan picked up the Sportsboy and Sportsgirl of the Year respectively.