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China’s Jiang Yuyuan jubilates after the women’s uneven bars final at the 2007 Artistic Gymnastics International Invitation Tournament held in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 2, 2007. Jiang Yuyuan took the second place of the event.(Xinhua Photo) |
BEIJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) — It’s an Olympic test event in which everything feels good, even great for the hosts China in the “Good Luck Beijing” Gymnastics International Invitational that wrapped up here on Monday.
In medals table, China swept away nine golds out of 12 on offer with a backup squad in men’s events.
China’s veteran Lu Bin, 28, came back after being sidelined for 14 months to pile up four gold medals in rings, vault and pommel horse, including a gold for men’s team overall.
Chinese women ace Cheng Fei won gold in all the events she was in, including floor, vault and beam.
As a triple world champion at last year’s world championships, the Olympic test could be counted as only a training ground for Cheng, who won the vault world title three times in a row.
China’s teenager Jiang Yuyuan, 15, a team silver medallist at the Stuttgart worlds, grabbed the women’s all-around. Liang Mingsheng brought home the last gold in China’s haul on the parallel bars.
Japan’s Makoto Okiguchi claimed first place in men’s floor; South Korean Kim Jihoon captured high bar as world champion Fabian Hambuechen fell off on his back in his routine.
Ukraine’s Dariya Zgoba managed to lift the only gold medal slipped out of China’s hands in women’s apparatus.
The 2005 all-around champion Chellsie Memmel bounced back from a shoulder injury after being absent from international competition since last year’s world championships, but double bronzes are not enough to meet U.S. expectations for the former leading figure on the U.S. team.
Besides the competition outcome itself, China inaugurated its National Indoor Stadium, the venue for gymnastics, trampoline, handball and wheelchair basketball during the Olympics and paralympics, to worldwide athletes and spectators.
The National Indoor Stadium can seat 20,000 spectators, which is counted as the biggest indoor stadium nationwide.
Athletes, spectators and FIG officials responded well to organizations through the tournament.
The volunteers are well equipped here to serve the test tournament. Nearly 750 volunteers came to service the gymnastics event.
These volunteers have undergone several rounds of selections and professional training and acquired the skills and knowledge required.
Among them, professional volunteers have knowledge background in a certain specialty, such as in medicine, competition and language. The main sources are the Medical School of Peking University, Beijing Sport University and Beijing Foreign Studies University.
After training and rehearsals, the volunteers are basically meeting the needs of the tournament. Former gymnastics world champions Mo Huilan and Guo Linyue have been invited to the training site to cheer them in their training.
At present, the number of volunteers engaged in services for the audience is the largest, reaching 240. There are also a large number of volunteers for competition and media services.
In spite of being an Olympic trial, the event enjoyed a high rate of seating. With only 6,000 tickets on sale, it’s a sell-out almost every day.
It’s “feeling good” that is most frequently used here throughout the tournament. Hopefully ” feeling great” heard next year.
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Ukraine’s Olena Movchan (C) poses with other medalists during the awarding ceremony of the women’s event at the 2007 Trampoline Gymnastics International Invitational Tournament in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 2, 2007. Movchan claimed the title of the event with 37.50 points. (Xinhua Photo) |