Expert casts doubt on claim of world's oldest woman citing lack of evidence

MOSCOW – MOSCOW (AP) — An expert is casting doubt on a claim by a Georgian woman to be the world's oldest person.

Officials and reporters from across the former Soviet republic flocked Thursday to the mountain village of Sachire to see Antisa Khvichava, who says she's 130. Georgian officials say two Soviet-era documents attest to her age. Her birth certificate, like many others, has been lost in the area's succession of revolutions and wars.

Stephen Coles — a University of California lecturer and member of the Gerontology Research Group that assists the Guinness Book of World Records — told the AP Khvichava's claim can be proved only with documents dating to the time of birth.

"Otherwise, this claim will remain a curiosity in a newspaper or floating on the Internet," he said.