Sports Yearender: China's Gymnastics - Big Pool of Talents in Men, Few Stars in Women

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 17, 2001

Sports Yearender: China's Gymnastics - Big Pool of Talents in Men, Few Stars in Women

For the Chinese teenager gymnast Feng Jing, becoming the youngest ever men's all-around world champion is far from a dream coming true.

For the Chinese teenager gymnast Feng Jing, becoming the youngest ever men's all-around world champion is far from a dream coming true.

"There are so many good gymnasts in China. I will definitely have no such a lucky ride to the crown at home," he said.

The 16-year-old upset two-time world champion Ivan Ivankov of Belarus and Olympic medalist Jordan Jovtchev of Bulgaria to win the gold medal at the 35th World Gymnastics Championships in Ghent, Belgium, which concluded in November. But at home, he is a member of the third-string team.

Ivankov, finishing with an all-around silver at the world championships, expressed no surprise in losing to an unknown Chinese boy who is 10 years younger.

"I'm not surprised. China has enough gymnasts to make three good teams. It really doesn't matter whether the best one has come or not," he said.

The veteran said: "I'm second to a boy from China and all I can say is that he's really good and so young that it's just the beginning for him."

China's top gymnastics official Zhang Jian attributed the trend-setting style of the Chinese team to an effective training and selecting system.

"We have a pretty effective training system in the national team as we divide gymnasts to top level, second-tier and junior groups. We can see their improvement from every stage," Zhang said.

The newly-crowned world titlist Feng found himself an underdog in China's Ninth National Games which drew all the Chinese top stars one week after the world championships, finishing fourth in men's all-around competition after veterans Yang Wei, Lu Yufu and Huang Xu.

Five of the men's all-around finalists are world or Olympic champions, including members of the Chinese "Dream Team" at the Sydney Olympic Games Yang, Huang and Zheng Lihui, who placed fifth only after his fall on his last rotation on high bar.

Huang Yubin, head coach of China's national team, said: "The final at the national games show the true color of the finalists as they are all in their best form. It's a world level competition."

Five of the Sydney winning team laureates repeated the feat at the East Asian Games in Osaka, Japan in May as they took the men's team gold, while Yang, the runner-up to Russian Alexi Nemov in the Olympic all-around, snatched the individual title.

Huang Xu led a fresh-faced Chinese squad to compete at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia during August-September, wrapping up one gold, two silvers and one bronze by himself. The seven-member team also pocketed the men's vault and women's balance beam gold medals at the games.

Head coach Huang pointed out that the men's gymnasts have quickly adjusted to the new scoring system introduced by the International Gymnastics Federation this year.

"More than half of the national team have routines with start value of 10 points. By the 2004 Olympic Games all of them will have the 10-point start value," Huang said.

Comparing with the big pool of talents on the men's side, the Chinese women team is troubled by a downhill performance doubled with an uphill battle for developing young potentials.

Qian Kui, former head coach of the national women's team, said that Chinese girls had lost their advantage in the trademark apparatus on uneven bars. Meanwhile, their weaknesses on vault and floor have not been improved on.

"We are unable to score high marks in the international events any more because we cannot create new formation and flash choreography on uneven bars," Qian said.

At the quadrennial National Games, six of the eight finalists on uneven bars scored around 9.10 points during the qualifying round. Most of the competitors failed to reach the difficulty grade of 10 in their routines on vault and floor.

The situation on balance beam is better than the other three apparatus as Goodwill Games gold medalist Sun Xiaojiao displayed a rare consistent performance by winning gold medal at national games. She also brought home a bronze at the worlds. But she will be 20 at the time of the 2004 Olympic Games as many Chinese women gymnasts retire before 20.

Lu Shanzhen, head coach of the national women's team, said: "We don't have a complete reserve team. And we are short of young potentials because women's sports career usually ends earlier than men's."

Only a few young hopefuls emerged at the National Games. Unknown pixie Kang Xin from Beijing won the suspense-filled women's all-around title, beating world champion Ling Jie and East Asian Games winner Yang Yun. Kang's teammate Yang Yahong was also crowned on vault after producing a dazzling performance.

"Only four to five promising girls served notice at the games. It's too few compared with the new stars from other powerhouses like Romania and Russia. I think we should spend a lot more energy on discovering and fostering women potentials," Lu said.

Romania made no sweat to claim the women's team championship at the worlds with only one veteran, the 18-year-old Andreea Raducan who claimed all-around silver and two golds on beam and floor.

Led by elegant Svetlana Khorkina, the fresh Russians placed second in team final before Khorkina won her three titles in all-around, vault and uneven bars in Ghent where China only sent Sun as the sole women gymnast.

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