With a leading performance in qualification, Chinese women's gymnastic team is expecting to claim their first Olympic title in Wednesday's final.
Compared with major rival the United States, the Chinese ladies had been comparatively weaker in psychological readiness in international competitions. In the qualification round, however, they have proved their competence, both physically and mentally, to capture the long-awaited gold.
Gao Jian, director of the Gymnastics Center of China's General Administration of Sports, noted the women gymnasts have learned how to smile in tournaments.
As the draw put them in the first of the day's four subdivisions, the Chinese women had to kick off the tight competition from balance beam, an event requiring nerve and firm determination. None of them fell from the apparatus as they did in the podium training. Li Shanshan even finished her routine almost flawlessly with the difficulty of 7.0, triggering a hail from Gao in the stand.
The consistency and aesthetics earned the Chinese team a total score of 248.275, leaving a margin of 1.475 points with the United States which came the second in the qualification.
The Chinese team will have to stand test again in the final on Wednesday as their competition will begin from vault and uneven bars, two events in which they made mistakes in the qualification.
Jiang Yuyuan, reigning Chinese national all-around champion, failed to give a stable landing in vault, adding pressure to team captain Cheng Fei who boasts the world's highest difficulty in the event. In uneven bars, He Kexin fell from the low bar after wrapping up two beautiful flies, and later burst into tears.
Lu Shanzhen, head coach of the Chinese women's team, stressed after the preliminary that any mistakes by anyone could greatly influence the whole team's final performance.
The U.S. team also suffered a blow in uneven bars, the only event in which the Americans have sufficient competitors as both Chellsie Memmel and Samantha Peszek suffered ankle injuries that confined their performance to the bars. Memmel crashed off the bar and Nastia Liukin rolled backward to her bottom in landing.
But the short-handed contingent still did well in other events, surpassing China in vault and balance beam with 62.225 and 63.400 points. China gained 61.825 and 63.050 points respectively in the two events.
World all-around champion Shawn Johnson from the United States said the experience in the qualification will help the United States prepare for the final, which requires a slimmer competition format.
Both Liukin and Johnson vowed in the mixed zone that they would have a hard training and come back as a stronger team in the final.
The competition will be too close to call as the United States is poised to defend its world title gained in the World Championships last year while China is prepared to make history.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)