Chinese men storm to gymnastics team gold at Beijing Olympics

China's Li Xiaopeng waves his fist after the parallel bars competition during gymnastics artistic men's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    By sportswriters Chen Yu and Li Li

    BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Hugs, tears and laughters... Chinese men's gymnasts indulged themselves in exultation of being on the top again at the Olympic Games on Tuesday.

    Laying behind them is a years-long bumpy journey filled with ups and downs, depression and renaissance.

    The moment when the score of China's last performer Zou Kai flashed on the big screen may be carved in the mind of every Chinese, both inside the stadium and before TV sets, for a fairly long time. The stadium exploded with cheers and the Chinese coaches and gymnasts burst into hugs, tears or laughes in tears.

China's Huang Xu celebrates after the parallel bars competition during gymnastics artistic men's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The victory seemed to have come effortlessly, with China's incredible 7.25 points' lead over runner-up Japan. Even before the final, the Chinese team had been deemed "the team to beat" by other competitors.

    Truely, except for a brief tie with defending champion Japan on the first apparatus of floor exercise, the Chinese kept their edge throughout the rest of the competition, with difficulty and execution both above the field.

    Multiple world champions Yang Wei, Li Xiaopeng and Huang Xu set the tone for the competition with pure magic of next-to-perfect maneuvers, and upstarts Xiao Qin, Chen Yibing and Zoukai further strengthened the Chinese edge with superb work on their specialty apparatus.

China's Li Xiaopeng celebrates after the horizontal bar competition during gymnastics artistic men's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "It's our best show in the past years," said a jubilant Huang Yubing, head coach of the Chinese gymnastics team. "The veterans kept the team psychologically stable, and the upstarts also did their job well." And the seemingly effortless show was only a result of technical maturity, he said.

    He even jokingly thanked his gymnasts for saving him from tumbling from a building, as he had reportedly vowed that the Chinese gymnasts will reap at least one gold medal at the Beijing Games, otherwise, he would kill himself by dropping off from the building roof.

    Gao Jian, director of the gymnastics center of the State General Administration of Sport, the country's gymnastics ruling body, also stressed the importance of Tuesday's win.

China's Huang Xu performs the pommel horse during gymnastics artistic men's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "A team gold medal in Beijing is even more important than the one in Sydney. Eventually, we made up for our failure in Athens, something we must do for our countrymen," he said.

    But the victory has never come easily for the Chinese gymnasts, especially after their Waterloo defeat in Athens.

    As a matter of fact, gymnastics, one of the sports that brought China most Olympic gold medals, means so much to the country and its people. Three gymnasts were chosen for important roles at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

    Former gymnast Huang Liping swore at the ceremony on behalf of judges, Li Xiaoshuang, one of China's greatest gymnasts of his age, was one of the eight torch bearers, and above all, China's gymnastics legend Li Ning was chosen to light the cauldron, making China's gymnasts the focus of the Chinese people and the world.

China's Zou Kai performs the horizontal bars during gymnastics artistic men's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "We are so proud of and inspired by them," said Huang.

    But being the focus equals pressure, resulting from high expectations piled on them. That's exactly what made Chinese male gymnasts' failure in Athens a bitter and lasting scar.

    For veterans Li Xiaopeng, Yang Wei and Huang Xue, the excitement of winning their first team gold in Sydney may have faded away long before, but the bitter memory of the Athens had lingered on.

    From the first world all-around gold medal by Li Ning in 1982, to the first Olympic all-around champion by Li Xiaoshuang in 1996, to the first Olympics men's team gold in Sydney, the Chinese finished their journey from being nothing to a gymnastics superpower.

China's Yang Wei performs the pommel horse during gymnastics artistic men's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    They were expected to gain more, particularly the team title, because it is placed above individual titles as a measurement of the country's overall level of gymnastics. But all of a sudden, their dream to build on their Sydney achievement was crushed in Athens, where they finished only fifth in team event and all the Chinese gymnast brought home a sole gold medal.

    The Chinese gymnastics team came under heavy fire after the Athens, and some media even described the Athens Games as "drawing the line between Chinese gymnasts' paradise and hell". The Chinese gymnastics team sank to its lowest.

    "It's our darkest time," said Huang Yubin. "Yang Wei wanted to retire. Li Xiaopeng was injured and could not do his training even he wanted to. Some young guys in our team just did little exercises to keep them warm up."

Chinese gymnasts are surrounded by photographers after winning gymnastics artistic men's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    But they bounced back with terrific results in the past two championships, pocketing five gold medals in Stuttgart last year and a record eight the previous year in Arhus including the most coveted team titles. "We adjusted ourselves to the new scoring system and new rules," Huang said.

    He also revealed the secret to relieve pressure. "The only way is to be technically perfect, there's no other ways," he said.

    With one title in hand and inspired by a fantastic start, the Chinese are now looking to their first-ever women's team title and an overall medal haul in this sport.

    "What will happen next? It depends on how you compete. But we'll try our best and I'm sure the Athens failure is a by-gone," Huang said.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]