Her skill on the floor, vault, balance beam and uneven bars earned her the respect of gymnasts in the world and the adoration of her many fans for several years. Now Mo Huilan is again demonstrating her poise and elegance the television studio.
The 23-year-old is a new anchor on a TV sports show after studying for four years at Renmin University of China, one of the top Chinese universities in Beijing.
The former world champion is hoping the challenge will prove as satisfying as life at the sporting top.
"I seldom think about previous successes because they only represent the past," Mo said. "I only want to work hard and do my current job well."
Zhang Wenning, a close friend of the former gymnast, said: "She is very modest, a real girl-next-door type."
Zhang, who is also a retired gymnast and now director of content at the official China Gymnastics Net, said Mo was consistently approachable despite winning so many medals.
She would easily make friends with reporters who came to interview her, Zhang said.
Studio Career
"Olympic Games and China's to be aired at 8:30 pm every Saturday on the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV. It has won wide acclaim from viewers and television experts since it was staged last year.
In front of camera, the former world champion is natural and graceful.
But she admitted to being racked with nerves when she made her name in the world of television.
"I always forgot what to say in front of the camera," she recalled.
Fortunately the director and the cameramen were patient and tolerant, helping to build her confidence.
The show enables Mo to track major sports events and travel around the country visiting aspiring and famous sports figures.
Her experience in sports has greatly helped her to become a successful sports journalist.
And while some sports stars turn down other reporters, they rarely say no to Mo.
Over the next two years, Mo plans to develop the show.
But for the long term, she is considering going back to university again but is keen to keep all her options open.
Studying for four years has transformed her from a gymnast into a resourceful and strong-minded university graduate.
Early Bird
But her glorious sporting past is hard to escape from, since it turned the teenage Mo into a household name.
Few people would believe that the world champion was turned down by the national squad at first.
Mo Huilan and twin sister Mo Huifang were born in 1979 in Guilin, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
In 1984, Li Ning, a legendary gymnast, dazzled China and the whole world with three gold medals at the Los Angels Olympic Games.
Mo, then five years old, was inspired by the outpouring of jubilation at Li's success and pestered her father to sign her and her sister up for classes at a local amateur sports school.
Mo doggedly pursued gymnastics from the beginning.
In 1990, Mo Huilan and her younger sister reached the first crossroad in their lives.
Both were chosen to attend a training camp in Beijing to decide whether they would be fit for the national squad.
However, coaches in Beijing concluded that Mo Huifang's physical condition was much better than that of Mo Huilan, who was thus not chosen.
Her luck changed when a coach suggested she follow the example of Li Xiaoshuang and Li Dashuang, a pair of twin brothers in the national squad.
At that time, the Li brothers had achieved good results in the sport. That increased the coach's interest and confidence in the twin sisters.
As a result, Mo Huilan began to work with great diligence to excel in gymnastics.
The story of the Mo sisters is similar to the film "Hilary and Jackie," in which a pair of sisters with musical talent, compete with each other in secret.
"At that time I felt that I had to do better than Mo Huifang. Because I was her elder sister, I could not bear the thought that she was better than me," Mo Huilan recalled.
And four years later, her hard work paid off.
In 1994, displaying perfect skills in all apparatus events, she won four out of six gold medals at the Asian Games held in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, proving that she was a versatile gymnast.
She was the first Chinese gymnast ever to win that many gold medals at the Asian Games.
She also contributed greatly to helping the Chinese women's squad win the team title, even though she finished third in the all-round contest due to a fall on the balance beam.
As well as her record medal haul, she surprised the world with the "Mo Somersault," a one-and-a-half forward somersault that ends by catching the uneven bars. It was such a unique move that it was named after her.
Between 1993 and 1997, Mo won dozens of gold medals in a series of national and international games, including one for the balance beam at the 1995 world championships in Japan.
"I had secured all the titles available, except the most important one "the Olympic Games," Mo said.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics was a hard-luck story. Before the Games, she was one of the favorites but unfortunately did not put it together in the competition.
In the all-around event, she finished only fifth after stepping out of the mat on her last routine, the floor exercise.
In the end she left the United States with only one medal: a silver on vault.
Role Transfer
It seemed that was only the beginning of a series of disappointments.
In 1997, she did not qualify for the women's all-around event at the World Championships as she finished fourth in the Chinese preliminaries. Even at the national games, she finished a disappointing eighth in the all-around event.
Moreover, she began to feel the pressure from her age and weight.
At 18, she decided to leave gymnastics and seek a new life.
In 1998, she opted to study journalism at Renmin University of China.
Her most difficult subject was English, which she had not learned before.
She still remembers her first English class. Fearing the professor would ask her questions, she chose to sit in the last row of the classroom.
Unfortunately, she was still asked to introduce herself in English.
Not knowing what to say, she stood up in embarrassment, and shocked the whole class with her simple English: "I am sorry, my English is very poor."
She recalled: "I could not understand a single sentence of the teacher at that time."
It was a bigger challenge than any she had met as a gymnast.
"As well as medals and championships, gymnastics also gave me many other things. It taught me to be persistent and confident in pursuit of success," said Mo.
Such values enabled Mo to finally overcome difficulties in learning English. A year later, she was able to communicate with her classmates and teachers in English.
Her campus life was also colorful and exciting.
Mo said she had adjusted her mental attitudes before she began her new life at university.
"I told myself that I am only an ordinary student, no different from any others," said Mo.
And as a result, she was warmly received by her classmates, many of whom had been her fans.
(China Daily September 6, 2002)
