China's gymnasts are set for another impressive gold-medal haul at next month's world championships but they already have the Beijing Olympics on their minds.

 

 

Gold medallist Yang Wei of China blinks with his eye to his supporters during the podium ceremony for the men's individual all-around final at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, October 19, 2006. China's Yang Wei won the gold medal on Thursday followed by Japan's silver medallist Hiroyuki Tomita and Germany's bronze medal Fabian Hambuechen. (Reuters)

 

The Olympic hosts say avoiding injury and trying out young gymnasts before the Games next year are more important than defending their eight world titles at the September 1-9 championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

 

Olympic business is top of the agenda for the other competitors too because the championships are the last before the Games and serve as qualifiers for them. The top 12 teams at the world championships earn places for Beijing.

 

"Our prior goal is not winning the gold medals at the worlds but preventing injury ... because the 2008 Olympics are getting close," China head coach Huang Yubin told the country's official sports website www.sport.org.cn earlier this month.

 

"My biggest concern is unpredictable injuries before the Games."

 

Despite talk of gold medals taking a backseat, the Chinese are favorites to hold on to the men's and women's team titles they won last year in Aarhus, Denmark.

 

Their strength in depth is such that they will barely feel the absence of double Olympic and eight-times world champion Li Xiaopeng, a parallel bars specialist, who has a toe injury.

 

In the men's competition, the strongest challengers are likely to be Japan, Romania and Russia, whose battered confidence has been lifted by Maxim Deviatovsky's all-round gold at the European championships earlier this year.

 

The United States, silver medallists at the 2004 Olympics, need to hope their dismal showing at last year's worlds was a blip if they want to qualify for Beijing.

 

A repeat of their 13th place in the team standings would exclude them from the Olympics.

 

The Americans have a much better chance of medals in the women's event thanks to emergence of 15-year-old Shawn Johnson, who won four golds at this year's Pan American Games, as well as the all-round title at the US nationals.

 

The Chinese women's team also has a new look to it, with four of the eight members competing at this level for the first time. Uneven bar specialist Li Ya has been ruled out with an elbow injury.

 

Romania have been boosted by the return of triple Olympic gold medallist Catalina Ponor, who has come out of retirement to head the squad. Without her at last year's worlds, the Romanian women failed to win a team medal for the first time in 25 years.

 

Italian Vanessa Ferrari will aim to defend her all-round title but could find Johnson is among those launching a strong challenge in a competition that should provide a good indication of podium finishes at next year's Olympics.

 

(China Daily via Reuters August 30, 2007)