Friday, November 5, 2010

Cheng Fei is training again

Rumor has it that Cheng has been training since last August. It was confirmed in one recent WeiBo(Chinese Twitter) of Fang Ye that Cheng Fei is training again. However, during an interview in August 2010, Lu ShanZhen said

"Cheng Fei is a veteran with injuries. It will be hard for her to get back to her peak level within two years of time(for 2012 London). But she has not given up, and her persistence set up a good example for the members of current national WAG team. Once her rehab is fully done, her first challenge will be weight loss, before technical skill recovery begins."




A Cheng Fei Montage made by LiVeLiKeURdying2, better than any CCTV Cheng Fei documentary I have seen.

Yilin, the crying baby ---a new blog from Coach Lu

The newly updated blog from Coach Lu

Our flight arrived in Guangzhou for the Asian Games at 11am Friday (Nov. 5th), and we all settled down at athlete Village around 4 in the afternoon. Village accommodations are pretty good. Only issue is that there is no TV and computer in our rooms. The internet access we can get is in the Games entertainment center. It will take a while for the coaches and athletes to get used to it. We believe such an arrangement from the Games organizing committee is to guarantee a well rested and focused game for the athletes.

6:30 pm, the team headed out for our training gym- Guangzhou Sports Training and Technical College (used to be known as Weilun Sports School)- which is one hour drive away from the village. The gym is also the training base for Guangzhou Gymnastics team. Once arrival, Yang Yilin was so excited, as this is her alma mater, which ingrained her most wonderful childhood memories. Through the familiar campus, here is the gym Yilin shed countless sweat and tears in. From her eyes, we can pretty much see training memories start to come back to her. Polite as she always is, Yilin-now a Olympic Champ- greets her old coaches. During our spare time from training , her old coaches sat with us and shared some old stories about our little Yilin. Not only did the coach tell us what a crying baby little Yilin was, they also pointed out the exact spot Yiling used to stand when crying. We can easily picture a skinny girl standing all alone over there, tears in her eyes, sobbing with tears flowing down the cheeks. Yang Yilin is indeed known as a crying gymnast. It was not until she got into national team that it became all better. We joked to make Yilin cry once more time during this Asian Games, so that we can all see what a crying baby she really is. From a little crying girl to our Olympic champ, only Yilin knows how much hard work it involved in such a metamorphosis. In the next two weeks time, Yilin will certainly treat her hometown and nurturing alma mater with her excellent performance and results from the Asian Games.


Note, Guanzhou, hosting city of 16th Asian Games, is Yang Yilin’s hometown.

Gymnastics training milestones of Yilin(Born in August 26th 1992)

1997-7/1999, trained in Huadu Sports School, Huadu(district), Guangzhou, Guangdong
7/1999-3/2003, trained in Weilun sports school, Guangzhou, Guangdong
3/2003-1/2007, member Guangdong Provincial Team
1/2007- member of Chinese National WAG Team



Yilin is known for her pencil-straight handstand and "textbook pirouette" on the Uneven bars.


Yang Yilin Tribute by IRunFastest

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Deng LinLin - "Come stop your crying, It will be all right"



Ollie Williams’ “Understanding China's gymnastics powerhouse” is one of reasons I started this blog. This well-written article is by all means a good read, but I second the doubt on “the profitability and potential harm of these kinds of articles” from the comment sections of OW's piece.

Apart from culture differences we usually believe, misunderstanding sometimes is simply caused by the language barrier. In the article, “why Deng was crying for her Silver” was one reason Ollie started his quest of understanding China’s gymnastics- WAG to be specific :

But even a silver medal could not keep Deng Linlin, narrowly beaten to balance beam gold by Romania's Ana Porgras, from bursting into tears in front of the same press pack a day later. She trembled with emotion as one journalist reached out to pat her on the shoulder, an awkward attempt at compassion in a confrontational environment.

I believe the following report should be written by the journalist interviewed DLL.

During the post-competition interview, Deng summarized her performance during the Beam Event Finals:
"I think my performance was pretty good today. Among my 3 competitions (Prelim BB, TF BB, BB EF) in this championship, my performance in the prelim was the best.”

Deng didn’t feel extra pressure from her reigning world BB title coming into this EF. “All my rivals were pretty strong, and I don’t think I have much advantage. It would all come down to the execution. “As for the wobbles on beam, she believes those non-stuck landing were caused by somehow lack of confidence.

Two days ago, Chinese WAG team head coach Lu Shanzhen said that the whole team was upset about the Team bronze medal, and Deng was even seen crying during training afterwards. Even till the EF day 2, Deng still could not hold back her tears when asked about the TF. “I simply feel bad”. Although her performance during the TF was pretty solid, she still felt sorry for the whole team.

During the competition, Deng, and her teammate, saw a strong reviving Russian WAG. Deng said although Team USA in this championship wasn’t as strong as the one in 2008, there are still some very good American juniors at home. "We will certainly train harder after we go back, and will prepare for next year's world championships and 2012 Olympics in London."


Had Ollie asked the Chinese journalist interviewed Deng, his question “why Deng was so upset about her silver” would have been answered. Chinese journalist won’t bite, you know. :)

PS. Some background on what might have caused Deng’s still upset about bronze medal even with her solid performance in TF even 4 days later, and her lack of confidence in the BB EF. Here was her routines in TF, and how her D scores worked out.



Front Tuck D
Bhs+ Bhs+ Back Layout BBE 0.2
Full Turn with horizontal leg C
Switch Ring Jump E
Side Somie D
Sheep Jump+Back Tuck DC 0.1
Front Aerial+ Chen DC 0.1
Bhs+ Bhs+ Double Pike BBE 0.2
In theory, her D score should have been
EEEDDDDC + CV 0.6 = total 6.5

However the BB D-score judge downgraded her Back Layout(E) to Back Pike (C). Not only did she lose 0.2 from E->C, she also lost the connection value 0.2. So her actual awarded D score was
EEDDDCCC+ CV 0.4= total 6.1

This was one of most controversial downgrade in this championship. Please review the routine one more time and tell me the layout looks like a pike to you. With all that said, please try to step into Deng shoes, and imagine how you would feel if your best piece gymnastics was unfairly judged.

More on Deng’s personality: Deng is known as the "crying one" among her teammates. But she was one of those train-hard-never-give-up gals. Besides, from BBC TF & BB EF pre-Award-Ceremony-backstage footage, you can see how she congratulated Ksenia Semonova after TF (they knew each other from Beijing 2008), and Ana Pogras after BB EF (they knew each other from 2009 WC).

Maybe 10 years from now, Deng will become a UK gymnastics coach - mostly likely a USA coach, but everything is possible in the sports. And maybe then Ollie can ask her why she was upset about her 2010 Rotterdam Silver. But will he or his readers still be interested about the feelings of a silver medalist in a 10 year ago world championship? 09 London WC was only 1 year ago, and how many silver medalists can we still name?


My favorite montage about Deng Linlin, made by iRunFastest.

Li Shanshan carries torch at the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games Torch Relay



On 9:30 this morning, Li Shanshan, a champion gymnast of the Beijing Olympic Games, received the torch from Chen Jixing, Municipal Party Secretary of Jiangmen, to run the firstleg from East Lake Square, which begins the journey of the trend in Jiangmen.




Li retired after 2009 11th Chinese National Games, is now studying in Central University of Finance and Economics(so is her teammate Pang Panpan).

Li’s WeiBo

Bi Wenjing has a baby on the way ...



In one of her recent WeiBo(Chinese Twitter), Bi Wenjing-the 1996 Olympics Silver Medalist on UB and 1998 World Cup Champion on UB- revealed that she is expecting a baby around mid December.



Bi has one uneven bar skill named after her in current WAG COP
Inverted giant to full pirouette on 1-arm(E)
also has one balance beam skill named after her
Forward double twist dismount(D)

Bi is currently working for the LiNing Company Ltd., and is FIG certified international WAG judge (cat. 4).

Bi's Blog
Bi's WeiBo

2010 Asian Games Gymnastics Schedule


Official Emblem of the 16th Asian Games


The Official Mascots of the 16th Asian Games


Asian Games City Sports Centre

November 13, 2010 Saturday: Men’s Team
09:30-11:30 Men's Preliminary & Team Finals
15:30-17:30 Men's qualifying & Team Finals
19:30-21:30 Men's Preliminary & Team Finals
21:30-21:45 Men's Team Award Ceremony

November 14, 2010 Sunday: Women’s Team
09:30-11:30 Women's Preliminary & Team Finals
15:30-17:30 Women's Preliminary & Team Finals
19:30-21:30 Women's Preliminary & Team Finals
21:30-21:45 Women's Team Award Ceremony

November 15, 2010 Monday: Men & Women’s AA
15:30-17:45 Men's All-Around finals
17:45-18:00 Men's All-Around Award Ceremony

19:30-21:30 Women's All-Around finals
21:30-21:45 Women's All-Around Final Award Ceremony

November 16, 2010 Tuesday : Event Finals Day 1
19:30-20:00 Men’s Floor Exercise
20:00-20:10 Men’s Floor Exercise Award Ceremony

20:10-20:50 Men’s Pommel Horse, Women’s Vault
20:50-21:00 Men’s Pommel horse, Women’s Vault Award Ceremony

21:00-21:50 Men’s Rings, Women’s Uneven Bars
21:50-22:00 Men’s Rings & Women’s Uneven Bars Award Ceremony

November 17, 2010 Wednesday: Event Finals Day 2
19:30-20:10 Men’s Vault, Women’s balance beam
20:10-20:20 Men’s Vault & Women’s balance beam award ceremony

20:20-20:50 Men’s Parallel Bars, Women’s Floor Exercise
20:50-21:00 Men’s Parallel Bars & Women’s Floor Exercise Award Ceremony

21:00-21:50 Men’s Horizontal Bar
21:50-22:00 Men’s Horizontal Bar Award Ceremony

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Sixin Vs. Komova again, plus Mustafina



The “Freddy Cup” Grand Prix competition will be on Nov. 13th, and is a loose competition that features a small field of gymnasts performing on events of their choice. It will be interesting to see what events they will be competing on.

New world champion Aliya Mustafina of Russia and Italian world medalist Matteo Morandi headline the Italian Grand Prix, Nov. 13 in Cagliari.

Two top juniors are also competing: Russia's Viktoria Komova, winner of this year's Youth Olympic Games and Junior European championships, and China's Tan Sixin, balance beam and floor exercise champion at the Youth Olympic Games.

IG – Mustafina, Morandi Headline ‘Freddy Cup’

(via Gymnastics Coaching)

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Shannon Miller on the World Championships in Rotterdam


Shannon Miller was recently interviewed by Gym Power about her thoughts on the World Championships in Rotterdam


On Chinese Gymnastics:

The Chinese were incredible, even with a few errors, on the uneven bars. (TF)

And I love watching the Chinese on balance beam and uneven bars. I hope to see a little cleaner routine during the next round but they are simply beautiful to watch.

Deng Linlin is simply amazing. She has so much difficulty throughout her routine. If she becomes consistent on this event and works on making her routine a little more fluid she will do very well.

The Chinese have a history of making major mistakes when they are within range of clenching the gold. They were able to overcome that history at the 2008 Olympics but it seems to have returned. With the heavy deductions that a fall brings it is more important than ever to be able to hit your routines. While a high start value certainly helps, in the end, whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins! However, I was surprised overall at how many mistakes were made by almost all the teams. It’s a building year so it could be that everyone is just working out the bugs preparing for the Olympic year!



Click through here to read the full interview where Shannon reviews both the Men’s and Women’s gymnastics at the World Championships this year.

Move Media Coverage on Chinese Gymnastics in Rotterdam



-translated by longdoydoy

Chinese teams returned to Beijing

(news studio)
Broadcaster: The Holland Worlds ended yesterday afternoon and the Chinese teams arrived in Beijing. As the Asian Games approaches (I think she said), we worry for our WAG team and even our MAG team was intimidated by the Japanese team.

(Beijing airport)
Narrator: The Chinese teams were home, arriving at 12:40pm. Head coach, Huang Yibing expressed that despite some success was achieved, he also saw the insufficiencies of the teams.

Coach Huang: We cannot come back with 4 gold medals and think that everything will be okay, we should recognize the threat that we are facing at present as the gap between the opponents and our teams is closing.

Narrator: Although they topped the medal count with 4 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze, they could not help but feel somewhat embarrassed with the poorest results from the WAG team of the past half year. This time as they returned to home, while there was laughter from the male athletes, some sadness could be felt from the girls.

(Qiushuang interviewed)
Reporter: Were you nervous before the match?
Qiushuang: I was.
Reporter: Do you think it was the environment or what?
Qiushuang: I just get nervous at competitions. (she was in no mood to talk at all)
(reporter patting her back)

Reporter: Jia yo. Everyone gets like that in the beginning. (Qiushuang nods, kind of)

(shows Kexin steps down from bus)
Narrator: Kexin, who lost the chance for the UB gold due to a big error, had puffy eyes as she pushed her luggage along.

(Coach Lu interviewed)
Narrator: At his WAG team’s loss, Coach Lu expressed that it was due to the lack of experience in a major competition.
Coach Lu: This time at our strong event, the UB, we did really well at the prelims; but we had problems at the team finals. Essentially, this was a wake-up call for us; especially for Kexin‘s mistake, she had not made an error in all of her finals before.

Narrator: The WAG team has lost it’s main pillar, Cheng Fei; it is very challenging for Jiang Yuyuan to shoulder the heavy responsibilities alone and as team leader, she deeply feels the weight on her.

(Yuyuan interviewed)
Yuyuan: One, it is about the experience in competitions, and the other it is having the confidence; the juniors still lack confidence. This was their first big meet, well, not for Sui Sui (Sui Lu), but she needs to accumulate her experience to have better performances.

Narrator: At this WTC, the strong teams of Russia and USA were also at the stage of having juniors taking over, gradually; there were many new faces in these teams. In terms of D-value, the 3 teams (Russia, USA, China) were neck and neck, but the Chinese juniors had shown to be more green competing on the spot; whereas the Russians and Americans performed like seasoned athletes, this has a lot to do with their training environments back home. (shows Mustafina’s final tumble pass on FX; teammates cheer and high five)

(senior gymnastic reporter, Bao, interviewed)
Bao: In the US, Russia and the European countries, gymnastic meets are held in a very grand way, their young gymnasts participate in these grand national competitions and club meets and they are immersed in the atmosphere of international meets since little. These kids are extremely charged up on the international stage; especially at team finals, if they had a good start they just get better and better, so we often see exceptional performances at the last of the events from them.

Narrator: Simply said, the foreign athletes treat competitions like they are at training whereas all the Chinese athletes know is to train and train; even though the techniques are like second nature to them but their mentalities are easily affected in an international meet. At present, there are only 3 options to compensate the absence of Cheng Fei: one, to make a selection out of the current team members; two, to wait for the return of Cheng Fei; three, to screen the crop for a core athlete. But these are not permanent solutions. Comparing to the gymnastic training molds of the Russians and the Americans, the Chinese are at a disadvantage in terms of the availability of core talents.

Narrator: While the women athletes had problems, the men’s team had their share of pressures as well. At this WTC, the fine performances of the Japanese juniors had made Chen Yibing to expect a hard battle at the upcoming Asian Games.

(Yibing interviewed)
Yibing: Except for our advantage at Rings, it seemed that we could not pull ahead in other events and we will have to work on these challenges.
(head coach, Huang interviewed)


Coach Huang: At the last men’s team finals we were ahead of the Japanese by over 7 points, but this time it was just by 1.22. The champion of this next team finals will be determined purely by the success ratio at competitions.

Narrator: Like the WAG team, the men are in need of a core team member like Yang Wei. While Chen Yibing and Teng Haibing are the current seniors, they are still not exactly at the same level as the past seniors like Yang Wei and Li Xiao Peng.

(Yibing interviewed)
Yibing: We are definitely not as gifted. Even now, as a core athlete myself, I am no comparison to Wei Ge (big brother Wei).

Narrator: Accordingly, the Chinese teams will begin to prepare for the Asian Games immediately after returning home. They will have hardly any time to rest as the next challenge presses near. Reporter, Huang Haiming, signing off.

(back to studio)
Broadcaster: Let’s hope that our teams benefit from this past experience and achieve great results at the Asian Games.

CCTV Coverage of Women’s AA Finals in 2010 Rotterdam Worlds


-translated by longdoydoy

(CCTV5 studio)
Female presenter: The women’s AA finals in Rotterdam concluded this morning.
Chinese gymnasts Jiang Yuyuan and Huang Qiushuang did a splendid job and earned 2nd and 4th placements respectively.

Male presenter: Jiang Yuyuan’s silver medal is thus far the best results for the Chinese women’s AA in a world class gymnastics competition. The AA gold medal was taken by Russian gymnast, 16 year-old Mustafina.

(shows scene of AA finals)
Narrator: The AA contenders compete in 4 events of VT, UB, BB and FX. Our two girls performed very well today, they had the top 2 rankings after 3 events were competed. (Yuyuan on bars) In the event of UB, Jiang Yuyuan started smoothly with an exceptionally long routine, with 3 continuous pirouettes followed by a Tkachev executed with good flow; she earned 15.533 in this 6.9 D-value UB routine, the highest score (dismount, crowd applauds). In the AA FX, Yuyuan did much better than in the team finals, she completed her difficult techniques in her frolic floor music “Lift up your veil” and secured 2nd ranking. This was the best result in the Chinese women’s AA at a world championships.

(Yuyuan interviewed)
Zhang Jie: We found that you had exceptional stability today, do you feel that it’s the result of your accumulated experiences in the past international matches?
Yuyuan: Yes, I have learned to hold it together through all those competitions.
Zhang Jie: How had you remained focus?
Yuyuan: Through systematic practices I had the confidence to concentrate and just went out there and performed.

(shows Qiushuang on VT)
Narrator: Although this is the first Worlds for Qiushuang, she has not been holding back; she was ranked third after 3 events. But in the last event, the FX, (shows Qiushuang’s error in FX) she was out of bounds with both feet in her “900 degree back lay-out and 360 degree front lay-out” tumble pass (phew! That’s a mouthful for the Chinese term :D Just kidding!) and was caught up by American gymnast, Rebecca Bross, and ranked fourth in the end.

(Qiushuang interviewed)
Qiushuang: This is my first Worlds AA, I will mature with this experience; I am already very pleased that I had gone through with my 4 events here (smiles). I will need to “walk the path and polish myself” in my AA competitions (Chinese expression).

(shows Mustafina on bars)
Narrator: The AA championship belonged to Russian gymnast, 16 year-old Mustafina, she competed in the AA finals with a first ranking in prelims. This was her first Worlds AA, she seemed to have shown anxieties in her UB and BB, and had slowed down her rhythm of her routines.

Narrator: ...(shows Mustafina on FX) Nevertheless, in the final event, the FX, she was the last gymnast to compete, and she had let go of all pressures and executed her best FX routine ever. (shows Mustafina, Bross and Jiang on awards podium) In the end, she had earned the highest score of 61.032.