BEIJING -- This was not a silver medal won for the United States but a gold medal lost to a team younger, fresher, less experienced but with a bounce in their step and smiles on their faces instead of stares.
China won the Olympic gymnastics team gold medal today because a trio of 16-year-olds with little international experience, flew through uneven bars routines with fearlessness.
Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin and He Kexin, who have all had their official ages questioned in the last three weeks and who all weigh less than 80 pounds, gave China the lead after their breathtaking bars work and 20-year-old Alicia Sacramone started a cascade of U.S. mistakes when she missed her mount on the balance beam.
By the time Sacramone, then 18-year-old Nastia Liukin and 16-year-old Shawn Johnson all fell or stepped out of bounds on floor exercise, it was left to China's Cheng Fei to finish off a triumphant victory dance and bring the house down with waving Chinese flags and thunderous cheers.
This was China's first Olympic team gold medal and it came emphatically, 188.900 points to 186.525. Defending Olympic champion Romania won the bronze.
There has been a simmering controversy for over three weeks as several news organizations received and printed Chinese provincial registration lists showing that as many as three of the Chinese competitors -- He, Yang and Jiang -- may not have their 16th birthdays during this Olympic year. Some documents and even news stories in Chinese publications indicated all three may have been born in 1993 and 1994.
Former Romanian and U.S. coach Bela Karolyi has been outspoken to media here about the "little, little girls," and even while doing his NBC commentary today suggested it was an unfair competition.
His wife and national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, after her team finished second and a second straight Olympics after being favored for team gold, wouldn't agree with her husband, but she wouldn't contradict him either.
"I have no proof," Martha Karolyi said. "I know one baby is missing her tooth, but I have no proof. But I don't think for sure all the countries are going by the rules."
Chinese Coach Lu Shanzhen had this response: "If you think our girls are little because of looks, then maybe you should think the European and Americans are strong because of the doping."
Things began to go badly for the U.S. when Sacramone fell on her mount on the balance beam after a long wait while judges and a floor television producer spoke and gestured.
