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Men's Gymnastic Team Dream of Sydney Gold
China's men's gymnastic team have long dreamed of winning the Olympic team title, and it will be no different at the Sydney Games, Monday's Chinadaily reported.
Despite eight Olympic gold medals and many world titles, team head coach Huang Yubin said only by winning the top spot at the games will they become a "world champion team.''.
"We have won almost all kinds of titles, but we never tasted the Olympic men's team gold medal,'' Huang said of the coveted crown. "The title is something that we shouldn't miss.''
The star-studded men's team is considered the strongest group among china's gymnasts. They defended their fourth consecutive world title in 1999 Tianjin World Championships, leading some experts to say China has a lock on the team title at Sydney.
"We are doing everything in training to polish our gymnasts to ensure the triumph,'' Huang said.
The Sydney Games, the team's fourth Olympics, will be their best chance to win gold. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, continuous mistakes forced the team to accept silver, behind Russia, despite winning the team title in the World Championships the previous year.
The team enters competition this year in a similar situation. They are heavily title favoured, they snagged the world title last year and their archrivals look too weak to tackle them. But will the team prevent history from repeating?
China's squad to Sydney is composed of Li Xiaopeng, vaulting horse gold medallist in Tianjin, rings titlist Dong Zhen, floor bronze winner Xing Aowei and veterans Lu Yufu, Yang Wei, Huang Xu and new hands Zheng Lihui and Zhao Sheng.
"It is far cry to say that we are 100 per cent to win the title,'' said Gao Jian, vice-head of the Chinese Gymnastics Administrative Centre.
Former world champions Russia may disappoint the Chinese again. They dominated the recent European Championships showing that they are on the course of recovery.
The team is spearheaded by Olympic and world champion Alexei Nemov who won two golds in last year's championships. European champion Alexei Bondarenko and men's all-around winner Nikolay Krukov in Tianjin are the other stars in the team.
"Until now, we didn't fully know the real power of the Russian team,'' said China's team leader Qian Kui who believes the former Soviet giants are still a serious threat for China.
Romania's team, who followed Russia closely in the European Championships, will be another gold challenger, Qian said.
Qian still has high confidence for the Chinese team.
"I have seen a big improvement in our team members during training,'' Qian said.
The team has eyes on at least two gold medals in the Sydney Olympics. Besides the men's team, they are also potential to win any of the men's events as well as the women's uneven bars and balance beam.
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