China came to the world gymnastics championships
with only one goal in sight -- to prove that they will be the team to beat when
they host the Olympics in Beijing in less than two years' time.
On Tuesday, China produced the first of what they hope will be many
gold-medal winning performances in the Danish port city of Aarhus.
Gymnasts from China celebrate their
gold medals win on the podium following the men's team final at the 39th
Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, October 17,
2006. Team China won the gold medal on Tuesday followed by Russian silver
and Japan's bronze. [Reuters] |
After finishing first in qualifying, the Chinese men made sure their efforts
had not been in vain when they stormed back from a shocking start to capture the
team title ahead of Russia and Olympic champions Japan.
"Our victory was achieved because we stuck together, it was a team effort,"
Yang Wei told Reuters.
"This world championships was good practice for the Olympics and we feel we
are now well prepared to take gold."
The Chinese women will take over the baton on Wednesday when they go for gold
in team final.
But they would do well to avoid the drama of their male compatriots.
At the start, Yang and company could barely string together cleanly executed
routines and at one stage found themselves lingering seventh out of the eight
teams.
But such is the depth in their talent, matched equally by a huge will to win,
they refused to get frazzled and hung in before blazing to the top of the
podium.
Failure does not sit well with the Chinese and having finished fifth at the
2004 Athens Olympics, they made sure that they were on the right path to rectify
the situation in 2008.
Chen Yibing made an impressive debut by being the top performer on rings.
Defending pommel horse champion Xiao Qin was once again the outstanding athlete
on the apparatus while 2000 Olympic champion Yang set the standard on the
parallel bars and vault.
Tuesday may only be the tip of the iceberg as the Chinese men want to go home
with a heavy load of gold.
"This team is rather new so we had to practise a lot as a team," said Yang.
"Now that we have established a good team, we don't want to stop here."
