Blog Posts by Chris Chase

China is once again under fire from the international sporting community after eight figure skaters were found to have different birthdates from the official ones given to the International Skating Union.

The Associated Press discovered discrepancies in the birthdates of eight athletes on the official website of the China Skating Association. In a twist, some of the doctored ages made athletes appear younger in order to get under the age limit at junior skating events. Previously, China had been caught altering ages of gymnasts to make them old enough to get past international age minimums.

It doesn't appear that the age issues will affect any Olympic medals, but a junior world championship could be in jeopardy if the allegations are proven to be true.

The Associated Press writes:

According to ISU rules, skaters must be 15 by the preceding July 1 to compete at an Olympics or senior world championships, and 14 for other senior-level international competitions, such as the Grand Prix

On Monday, three years from the start of the first Winter Olympics to ever be held in Russia, organizers announced the 11 characters that could become the mascot of the Sochi Games. There's a little something for everyone, from the Christmas lover to the follower of heliocentrism to fans of anthropomorphic animals adept at winter sports.

Russians will be able to vote for their favorite via text message with the winner getting announced at the end of the month. Fourth-Place Medal ranked the 11 candidates:

11. Santa Claus

This mascot is based on the beloved Russian children's literary character Papa Sergei, who is said to have formed during a Siberian blizzard and invented hockey.

I'm kidding. That's Santa. It would make more sense if the mascot was someone other than the guy who delivers gifts to good boys and girls on Christmas morning, but here we are. How would this work? Is Rudolph going to light the cauldron? Will the elves enter the bobseld competition under the North Pole

Olympic bronze medalist Scotty Lago has trouble speaking, can't move his tongue and is eating all his meals through a straw. That's not going to stop him from competing in the year's biggest snowboarding competition.

Despite having his jaw wired shut, the 23-year-old snowboarding star will compete in this week's Winter X Games, TMZ.com reported. Lago plans to compete in four events, the same schedule he had before the accident.

The bronze medalist in the halfpipe competition at last year's Vancouver Olympics was in Wyoming filming a snowboarding movie last week when he landed oddly after a jump and had his knee crash into his jaw, according to Seacoastonline.com. He received stitches in his tongue and chin, broke some teeth and chipped his cheekbone, which forced doctors to wire his jaw shut with metal bands. He expects to get the bands out in two weeks.

Lago told his hometown New Hampshire newspaper that the hardest part of the process is drinking through the straw to keep up his

After two days, 10 runners and 216.9 kilometers, all that was left between Natsuki Terada and a victory for his university team in the final stage of the Tokyo-Hakone relay marathon was one city block of pavement.

But then the college freshman took a wrong turn:

Terada and his Kokugakuin University ultra-marathon team were in eighth place at the time of his error. Remarkably, he recovered from the error and still finished ahead of one other runner in the pack, which ensured that the team finished in 10th place and earned the final automatic qualification for next year's race.

[See also: Three Los Angeles Lakers oversleep due to faulty iPhones]

It's easy to sit on our computers and laugh at Terada's error (clearly the television truck couldn't go the final block; was he expecting it to cross the finish line?), but after running 23 kilometers in front of thousands of cheering fans on national television, it's easy to understand how the young runner made the mistake.

[Video: NBA star

When he won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics, American wrestler Rulon Gardner weighed 286 pounds. A few months ago, he tipped the scales at 474. He knew something had to be done.

Gardner hopes to accomplish his weight-loss goals while competing on the hit NBC reality show "The Biggest Loser." The 11th season of the program began on Tuesday night, with Gardner competing to lose the most weight and earn a $250,000 prize.

[Photos: See the rest of the 'Biggest Loser' Season 11 cast]

At the Sydney Games in 2000, Gardner pulled one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history when he earned a 1-0 victory over Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin in the Greco-Roman super-heavyweight division. Karelin hadn't lost an international match in 13 years and was 59-0 in Olympic competition. He hadn't so much as given up a single point in six years and was the three-time defending gold medalist. Gardner stunned him in overtime of their match, an upset on par with the Miracle on Ice.

Now he's hoping for

Organizers of the Rio Olympics are on the defensive after similarities between the logo for the 2016 Games and a Colorado-based charity foundation were discovered.

The logo, which was released on New Year's Eve at a massive celebration at Copacabana beach, depicts figures embracing in a circular motion. It was soon noticed that the design resembles the logo for The Telluride Foundation, a Colorado charity chaired by Norman Schwarzkopf.

Here's the Rio logo:

And the one for The Telluride Foundation:

Take away the legs and the red dancer from the Telluride logo and you have Rio's. It's undeniably similar. But is it plagiarism?

The director of the Brazilian agency that created the logo says no. Fred Gelli acknowledges that there are similarities between the two, but guaranteed that his design was original. "For some reason, we missed that one," he said.

[Photos: See London's 2012 Olympic venues]

I posed the plagiarism question to Dan Levy, a graphic designer who also hosts a popular

Last week on Fourth-Place Medal, we mentioned that Vancouver Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn would be appearing on the cover of ESPN The Magazine's film issue dressed as Sharon Stone from "Basic Instinct." This weekend, we caught our first glimpse of the cover. As far as re-creations go, this one is about as accurate as can be.

[Photos: Vonn poses for 'Sports Illustrated' swimsuit issue]

Vonn tried her hand at acting earlier this year when she appeared as a desk clerk during the final episode of "Law and Order." The two-time Olympic medalist had lobbied for a role on the program (her favorite) and creator Dick Wolf was happy to oblige.

After a seven-month break from competitive skiing, Vonn returned to the slopes late last month for her 2010-11 season debut in Austria, where she finished a distant 18th in the giant slalom. This weekend she'll appear in her hometown of Vail at the first North American World Cup meet of the season.

The

TooFab, a spin-off of TMZ, is refuting TMZ's report that Michael Phelps is dating socialite/reality star/aspiring jewelery designer Brittny Gastineau and that's he's still with his current girlfriend Miss California USA 2010 Nicole Johnson.

(How many days is it until London?)

If we're going to lilnk Phelps romantically with every person he's photographed with, it's only a matter of time before TMZ reports tgat he's "been seen" with Jared from Subway. Turns out Phelps was one of many athletes to help the formerly-overweight Jared train for the New York City Marathon earlier this month.

Athens silver-medalist and defending NY Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi was also part of the Subway promotion.