How Old is He? She's 14.

That sounds like a good post title for a transgender story, but it's actually about the Olympics. It's becoming more and more obvious that the Chinese have doctored official government documents to make their tiny female gymnasts appear older than they are. Thanks to a computer expert, an investigation is finally starting, though I don't hold out a lot of hope that any results will be changed:

The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete.

An IOC official told The Times that because of "discrepancies" that have come to light about the age of He Kexin, the host nation’s darling who won gold in both team and individual events, an official inquiry has been launched that could result in the gymnast being stripped of her medals.

The investigation was triggered as a US computer expert claimed today to have uncovered Chinese government documents that he says prove she is only 14 - making her ineligible to compete in the Olympics - rather than 16, as officials in Beijing insist is her age.

Mike Walker, a computer security expert, told The Times how he tracked down two documents that he says had been removed from a Chinese government website. The documents, he said, stated that He’s birth date was January 1 1994 - making her 14 - and not January 1 1992, which is printed in her passport.

He’s true age has been a subject of swirling controversy since the Games began. Questions over her eligibility intensified after she edged out the US gymnast Nastia Liukin for the gold medal in the uneven bars on Monday, and was part of the team gold triumph last week. She also edged Britain’s Beth Tweddle out of the medals.

Bela Karolyi, the former gymnastics coach whose wife, Martha, coaches the US women’s team, has repeatedly accused the Chinese of fielding underage female gymnasts. The ages of two other team members have also aroused suspicion: Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin. Time magazine reported that government records, that have since disappeared, showed both girls to be 14. Gymnasts must be 16 to compete.

How'd you like to be the Olympic official that gets to tell the host country that you're taking away a bunch of their gold medals because the girls have been proven to be too you. He better notify his next-of-kin before he calls the Chinese.

Nothing is likely to come of this.

UPDATE: The Chinese are furiously covering their tracks:

BEIJING — With the parents growing indignant and the Beijing Games winding down, the International Olympic Committee wants to "put to rest" persistent questions about the age of China's gold medal women's gymnastics team.

The IOC said Friday there is still no proof anyone cheated, though it asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate "what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies," spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. However, all the information the Chinese gymnastics federation presented supports its insistence that its athletes were old enough to compete.

"We believe the matter will be put to rest and there's no question ... on the eligibility," Davies said. "The information we have received seems satisfactory in terms of the correct documentation — including birth certificates."

If the federation had found evidence that the gymnasts were underage, it could have affected four of China's medals. In addition to the team gold and He Kexin's gold on uneven bars, Yang Yilin won bronze medals in the all-around and bars.

The IOC won't dare take medals away from the Chinese girls, especially after the Chinese government has provided lots of official looking documents (upon which the ink probably still isn't dry).