After an investigation that lasted more than a year, the International Gymnastics Federation announced on Friday that a Chinese gymnast from the 2000 Olympics had been too young to compete.

The gymnast, Dong Fangxiao, a member of the Chinese women’s team that won the bronze medal, was found to have falsified her age in order to meet the requirements at those Olympics. The gymnastics federation said in a statement that Dong was actually 14, two years younger than the minimum. Her results at those Games and at several other major competitions have been revoked.

The federation  which goes by its French acronym, F.I.G.  submitted a request to the International Olympic Committee to strip the Chinese team of its Olympic bronze medal. If that happens, the United States women’s team, which finished fourth, will move into third place. The gymnasts on that squad were Amy Chow, Jamie Dantzscher, Dominique Dawes, Kristen Maloney, Elise Ray and Tasha Schwikert.

“There still is what I believe to be unanswered questions about this issue, but there is only so much you can prove when it comes to falsified documents,” Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics, said. “I feel that the F.I.G. is taking this matter very seriously and has done a very responsible job here. They’ve done absolutely everything in their power to get to the bottom of a very sensitive issue.”