BEIJING -- After Huang Shanshan won a bronze medal in the Athens Olympic Games and a silver in the 2007 world championships in Quebec, Canada, sports officials and analysts predicted the 22-year-old would lead the Chinese trampoline contingent to a new high at the Beijing Games.
Huang, born in 1986 in southeast China's Fujian province, joined the provincial gymnastics team in 1994 before she was recruited to the national team in 2002 when the squad was established.
Thanks to her diligence and agility, Huang soon rose to stardom as she became the first Chinese who qualified for Olympic trampoline events and captured the country's first Olympic medal in the acrobatic discipline.
Huang, dubbed the Butterfly among her Chinese teammates, also claimed the first-ever Asian Games trampoline title in 2006 when it was included in the official program of the Doha Asiad.
Faced with challenges from Chinese rookies, Huang increased her difficulty degree to 14.7 last year, the same as that of Russian Irina Karavaeva, a two-time Olympian who won the event in the 2000 Olympics.
It would enable Huang to stand as one of the top contenders in the Beijing Olympics, a national coach says.
However, Huang has another hurdle to clear in her Olympic campaign. The new regulations of the Olympic trampoline competition do not allow on-spot warm-ups. That led to many established athletes including Huang failing to finish their routines in a star-studded test event for the Beijing Olympics in December last year. Huang fell on her back in the eighth action in the trial and pulled off only 26.5 points.
"I malpracticed on a basic kill when I bounced off the net. It is a costly mistake," Huang said after the trial.
As the new regulation increases the uncertainty of the results, Huang says she will still try her utmost to win medals.
