T H E S T A R S O F * * * C H I N A * * *

Online Magazine ____________________________ issue 4 - may of 1997 i. WHAT'S NEW ii. FEATURE: STRUGGLING TO MAKE THE TEAM iii. COMPETITION REPORTS: 1997 EAST ASIAN GAMES, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF CHINESE WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS: A LOOK BACK AT THE '97 ITCs iv. UPCOMING COMPETITIONS: WORLD GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS v. BIO: MO HUILAN vi. a-CONTESTS AND POLLS AND TRIVIA b-TV AND WEB SCHEDULE c-WEBLINKS d-CLASSIFIED e-SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION/BACK ISSUES vii. OPINIONS, QUESTIONS, & FEEDBACK iix. STUFF FROM THE EDITOR

i. W H A T ' S N E W i.

China: The World of Gymnastics http://members.aol.com/MCFlip9713/chn-worldgymn.html

There is now a website, China: The World of Gymnastics, for the Chinese senior women's gymnastics team, created by me. Please come, vote, sign the guestbook, and tell your friends about these webpages!

Here you will find:

1. BIOGRAPHIES AND INFORMATION 2. PICTURES 3. COMPETITION RESULTS AND REPORTS 4. A VOTING ROOM 5. MESSAGE BOARDS 6. A GUESTBOOK

NOTE: This website is under construction. Not all of the gymnasts' pages are finished, nor are some of them created yet! So, bookmark it and come back often! ii. F E A T U R E ii.

Struggling to Make the Team

At the coming of every World Championship or Olympic Games, gymnasts fight for a spot on the Chinese team, for a chance to "defend the motherland."

In this article taken from USA Today Online, you will see what it takes to have an Olympic dream...in the People's Republic of China.

08/09/96 - 04:37 PM ET -

Tears and grind pave China's road to Atlanta

BEIJING - Sobbing after two botched floor routines, star Chinese gymnast Mo Huilan wiped tears from her baby face and tried again.

With a running start, Mo launched her 4-7 frame into an explosive series of somersaults, finishing with the triumphant thump of tiny feet on the mat.

Got it.

Here, beyond the guarded gates of Beijing's Training Institute, China's drive for Olympic gold is speeding ahead. For the gymnasts, the road is paved with tears and childhoods lost to day-in, day-out training.

Fourteen women are battling for seven places to represent China at Atlanta.

"The competition is intense," said head coach Lu Shanzhen, who picks the team.

Mo, 17, is guaranteed a place. A winner of five golds at the 1994 Asian Games and the balance beam world champion in 1995, Mo is too well-known to be left behind.

"Famous gymnasts always get marked higher," Lu said.

Lu speaks softly and smiles rarely. Only around his young charges does he look relaxed, pacing the gymnasium, cajoling, scolding and encouraging.

A group of 11- and 12-year-olds train with the Olympic squad.

"They're our next generation of Olympians," Lu said.

The slap of feet flat on mats echoes off the walls. Pop music blares from a radio to relax the gymnasts and accustom them to background noise. The air tastes of the chalk they dust on their hands.

Meng Fei, 15, trains despite a broken left hand. Many of the gymnasts have bruises and bandages. They use razors to trim the calluses from their hands and often arrive late at their dining hall, after the choicest food has disappeared.

But they "don't mind too much because they are worried about getting fat," said Lu.

Their day begins at 6.30 a.m. They warm up with dance steps, sending them into fits of giggles, train seven to eight hours a day, attend school four times a week and rest Sundays.

A banner on the wall urges them to "Unite and Give Our All In the Fight to Become World Team Champions."

Lu retained the banner from the 1995 World Championships, when the team got silver, to remind them that top honors - Olympic or World Championship team golds - still elude them.

Suddenly, Lu broke from a conversation with a visitor to admonish Bi Wenjing, a new recruit from east China who fought back tears as he told her to vault again.

Why tears?

"She's tired from training," Lu replied. €

The Associated Press Tears and grind pave China's road to Atlanta

iii. C O M P E T I T I O N R E P O R T S iii.

THE 2ND EAST ASIAN GAMES May 2, 1997 Pusan, South Korea

R O S T E R

Team China (Women): Mo Huilan, Meng Fei. Liu Xuan, Kui Yuanyuan, Bi Wenjing, Ji Liya, Zhou Duan

R E P O R T

by Michael Cama of mcflip9713@aol.com

Only the best of the best in China traveled northward to Korea to compete in the 1997 East Asian Games. Top names such as Meng Fei, Liu Xuan, and Mo Huilan were present at the meet. Everyone in the Chinese contingency has participated in at least one World Championship or Olympic Games.

With such experience and strength, the Chinese dominated the competition, winning 4 of 5 gold medals in the women's meet.

This Championship marked a comeback for China's Mo Huilan, who had not competed in any major international event since the Olympics. But this return to competition also proved her inconsistency. Falling on her beam dismount, not executing her Mo Salto on bars, and stepping out of bounds of floor during the team competition cost her advancement to the all-around finals. Instead, Liu Xuan and Meng Fei would advance, finishing gold and silver, respectively.

But the Chinese did not stop there. Onto event finals they went, and won every event except for floor excercise. On vault, the powerful Ji Liya placed first with an amazing 9.575, followed by diminutive teammate Kui Yuanyuan, who flashed a 9.450.

Then on bars '96 Olympic silver medalist, Bi Wenjing, showed the audience she was still one of the top bars performers with an incredibly high score of 9.850, one of the highest scores we've seen since the debut of the New Code of Points (she had a 10.0 start value). Liu Xuan, at 18 years old, is still going strong with a 9.625 to win the beam event final. Xuan won the bronze (tie with Dominique Dawes of USA) on beam at '96 Worlds. The floor found member of the Kazakhstan team, Yevdokeva, with the gold, and Ji behind her in 3rd.

China's dominance over the '97 East Asian Games and the New Code of Points has proven them strong... €

R E S U L T S Team Competition:

1. China

All-Around:

1. Liu Xuan (9.725 on UB and 9.775 on BB) 2. Meng Fei

Women’s EF:

Vault: 1. Ji Liya 9.575 2. Kui Yuanyuan 9.450 3. Kuzhnikova (Kazakstan) 9.175 UB: 1. Bi Wenjing 9.850 2. Meng Fei 9.625 3. Kuzhnikova 9.375 BB: 1. Liu Xuan 9.625 2. Kui Yuanyuan 9.450 3. Kuzhnikova 9.350 Floor: 1. Yevdokeva (Kazakhstan) 9.700 2. Kuzhnikova 9.650 3. Ji Liya 9.600

THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF CHINESE WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS: A LOOK BACK AT THE '97 ITCs

by lhsu8@aol.com

This month's newsletter features the coverage of the women's juniors competition of the International Team Championships, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 23, 1997. The Chinese women's junior team finished second to the United States, but it is recognized that the team presented the most spectacular skills and the highest overall start values. Perhaps it is too inappropriate to call them women. Their diminutive bodies are those of little girls, although they are between 13 and 15 years of age. Their tiny bodies are deceptive; they have so much power, amplitude and talent. According to International Gymnast magazine, they are 4 foot nothing, 60 pound gymnasts. When Liang Yan, a 13 year old who walked past the vault, it is apparent that she was shorter than the height of the vault, which is 4 feet high. The meet was mostly a match between USA and China; the Romanian juniors did not live up to expectations--they fell far behind early in the competition with lack of difficulty and poor execution in general. Perhaps Octavian Belu's prediction is not far from the truth.

The first rotation for the Chinese is the uneven bars. Unquestionably they are the most spectacular on this event--some of their junior gymnasts performed more difficult routines than their senior counterparts. But they did have many mistakes for their inexperience on the podium, and they are not as polished in terms of body form and hitting handstands as the senior veteran Liu Xuan. Peng Sha, a 13-year old pixie from Guangdong [also known as Canton], earned a score of 9.5, the highest of any team on this event.

The Chinese were on the balance beam in the second rotation. Their style is generally reminiscent of their senior counterparts, with difficult flight series, bonus-earning combinations, and jumps with amplitude. But again, some of them fell while doing relatively simple moves. For example, Wu Xiaohua fell on her mount, which was simpler than most other Chinese, who mounted with a front tuck. But the rest of her routine was nearly flawless--she landed square on the beam after all flight series and jumps. Liang Yan, a 13 year old from Jilin with a height of probably less than 4 feet, performed a difficult set without a glitch, only to fall on a double tuck dismount. That probably reminds one of Mo Huilan. Her baby face really looked impish when she walked off the podium. After two events, the Chinese were only 0.024 behind USA. Romania fell 4.212 points behind.

The next rotation had the Chinese on floor exercise. Most Chinese juniors did four tumbling passes and used classical music. My overall impression is that they did much better than their senior counterparts. So much for the stereotype that the Chinese are weak tumblers. The juniors showed what they can do when they are 13-14 years old. They also have more sophisticated choreography than their predecessors of the generation of Mo Huilan, although they did not hold back on their display of cutsieness. I know that it will create some controversy with classical fans and ballet purists, but cute choreography fits their small bodies well. Wu Xiaohua was the only one in the junior competition who had a 10.0 start value. She earned a 9.5, which was the highest score on floor in the junior competition. At the end of the third rotation, the Chinese team was 0.249 point behind USA. Romania was 5.337 points behind.

The final event for the Chinese was vault. They had low start values compared to the other three events, but since most Romanian juniors also had low start values on the vault, they were not at an disadvantage. Most did handspring piked front, while others did Yurchenko vaults. It is interesting to note that when Liang Yan walked past the vault, her height was apparently less than the vaulting horse, which is 4 feet high. The vault proved to be the weak event for them; they were more than one point behind USA when the juniors competition was finished. But Romania was so much further behind that its junior team was not even close to the same caliber of USA and China.

Although this is only a junior competition, it does offer a glimpse of what is to come in 2000 Olympics. USA will still remain a power in women's gymnastics with many young talents. What they need is more experience. The Romanian performance in the junior competition is totally disappointing. It seems to prove that Octavian Belu's pessimistic comments on the future of Romanian gymnastics is well founded. They not only had low start values, especially on the uneven bars [some of them 7's and 8's], but were also generally sloppy in execution. The most serious challenge to the American dominance of women's gymnastics will probably come from the Chinese. It is a team that continues its tradition of excellence on uneven bars and balance beam, and has fixed its historical problem of weak tumbling. Yes, they were inconsistent, but it was not a bad performance at all by the juniors. Their difficulty levels reached or even exceeded those of seniors on all events except the vault. Not to mention that they seem to get the right idea about dieting and body type. This is one area that Americans should pay particular attention to since the retirements of Bela Karolyi and Steve Nunno. Lindsey Wing certainly has a great potential and she performed well in the competition, but she was too tall and thin for her age. Monique Chang is small, but she is only 12 years old and her future growth is unknown. Others seem bulky and have developed bodies for their ages. To be a champion gymnast, the body type and size are critical--mere ounces can make a difference between victory and defeat. €

~Continue to the next e-mail message for the second part of The Stars of China: Issue 4 of May 1997~

The Stars of China - Issue 4 (Part 1) - May 1997