The 2007 Gymnastics and Trampoline International Invitational
Tournament concluded in Beijing yesterday, with the host winning
two more gymnastics gold medals and snagging one gold in men's
trampoline.
Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei
(C) poses with runners-up Lauren Michell of Australia (L) and
Chellsie Memmel of the US (R) after winning the beam title at the
Olympic gymnastics test event in Beijing on Monday, December 3,
2007.
China's Liang Mingsheng and Feng Zhe grabbed gold and silver
medals, respectively, on men's parallel bars, with Yang Taeyoung
from South Korea finishing third.
World champion Cheng Fei won a gold medal in women's beam to
conclude the competitions. It was Cheng's third gold of the six-day
event and China's ninth. Lauren Mitchell from Australia and
Chellsie Memmel from the US settled for silver and bronze in beam,
respectively.
Even though she won a gold on the beam, which is not considered
Cheng's best event, the new Chinese captain was not fully satisfied
with her performance.
"Although I made few mistakes today, there were still some small
problems in my routine," said the 19-year-old Cheng. "I got the
gold today, but I still believe my advantages are in floor exercise
and vault."
Cheng won gold medals in those events on Sunday.
Kim Ji-hoon from South Korea won gold in men's horizontal bar,
followed by Yosuke Hoshi and Kazuhto Tanaka from Japan. Germany's
2007 world champion, Fabian Hambuechen, finished a disappointing
seventh place after he lost his grip at the end of the routine and
crashed to the ground.
"It was slippery," Hambuechen explained afterwards. "I had
wanted to do a double twist, but I didn't land well."
With four golds, China's Lu Bin was the biggest winner of the
tournament, taking first in men's rings, vault, pommel horse and
men's team. China's Jiang Yuyuan also won the women's
all-around.
In the men's trampoline final, the last event of the two
tournaments, China's reigning world champion Ye Shuai clinched the
gold with 40.40 points.
(China Daily December 4, 2007)
