China's Huang Shanshan, the 2004 Olympic bronze medallist, locked the first place of qualifications at the trampoline Olympic test event in Beijing on Friday.
The 21-year-old Huang, who finished second to Karavaeva at the 2007 World Championships, scored a total of 68.10 points out of two routines.
Huang's teammates He Wenna and Zhong Xingping took the second and third places in 67.10 and 66.90 as China dominated the qualifying round.
"In the second routine, I did well in the first half because the height of jump was enough. But because of the lack of speed, the second half was not quite good," said Huang, the winner of Doha Asian Games.
"The difficulty is the same as that at the world championships, but it is lower than in the Shanghai World Cup. I want to perform more steadily.
"The venue is higher than usual and I feel better because it seemed that I was flying. That's interesting," she added.
He Wenna, 18, the fourth placer at this year's world championships, is a fast-rising trampoline performer and also the second-youngest female competitor here.
"Zhong does well in consistency and the quality is good, but the difficulty part is not so good. He (He Wenna) is good too," commented Huang.
"China is getting better and better overall. My teammates did excellently today. However they didn't do as well as I did in the difficulty and consistency.
"For me next, I need to improve the difficulty and get more competitive towards the Olympic Games."
The 32-year-old Irina Karavaeva of Russia, the Olympic and world champion, comes to Beijing as the most decorated female competitor, but she suffered a breakdown in her volunteer routine with a poor 7.40.
Karavaeva ended up with the last place and was ruled out of the finals.
Karavaeva has won five world individual titles, and becomes the first female trampoline champion in Olympic history when she placed first at she 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Talking about Karavaeva's mistakes, Huang said: "In order to protect herself, she wasn't intent to compete quite seriously. She just wanted to try the venue and prepare for next year's Olympics."
In Athens, Karavaeva faltered in the qualifications round and did not make the final, but her winning performance at the world championships a few weeks ago shows that she is again a top Olympic contender.
The best non-Chinese scorer is Rosannagh Maclennan from Canada. Maclennan earned 66.50 points to place fifth. After winning the silver medal at the recent world championships that her country hosted, 19-year-old Maclennan entered the tournament with newfound clout and confidence.
2004 Olympic champion Anna Dogonadze from Germany was tenth with 62.50. The 34-year-old Dogonadze won the bronze medal at the 2005 world championships, and placed fifth at the 2007 World Championships. Like Karavaeva, she is a veteran of two Olympic Games.
(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2007)