National Women's Gymnastics Team
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Chinese women's gymnastics team looks awfully young, officials swear all girls meet age standards
After the Chinese women's -- or more accurately girl's -- gymnastics team was unveiled to the world at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, many spectators couldn't help but question just how old these competitors are. So far, the team has not been phased by accusations that they should "go back to primary school." "Chinese athletes are usually small and petite," Shang Chunsong, the captain of the five-woman team, told reporters. "Me and Tan were born in 1996, the rest in 1999 -- maybe we look it, but we're not that young." According to SCMP, Fan Yilin, another Chinese gymnast, added that: “The first one of the US team is even younger than us," referring to Lauren Hernandez, who was born in 2000. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) mandates that to compete in the Olympics, women gymnasts must be turning 16 on the same year that the games are held and male gymnasts must be turning 18. Dubious looks do have precedent, as scandals concerning the age of competitors have plagued the Chinese national team in the past. Back in 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, team member He Kexin was rumored to be only 14 at the time that China won gold. The claims were never substantiated. However, China was stripped of its bronze medal back in 2000 during the Sydney Olympics after the team failed to meet age requirements. To get ahead of suspicion that China is once again trying to dupe officials, the team has assured Olympic officials and the media that all of its members meet the FIG requirements. The 2016 Chinese women's gymnastics team is composed of 5 competitors and 3 stand ins: Shang Chunsong (20), Wang Yan (16), Fan Yilin (16), Mao Yi (19) and Liu Tingting (15). The reserves are Liu Jinru (15), Luo Huan (16) and Tan Jiaxin (19). The majority of the girls have not had any international exposure before Rio, with the notable exception of Fan, who dominated the uneven bars at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow last November. Fan said that China's lack of experience may actually be beneficial. "Many of us start gymnastics at a very young age and although we may lack international exposure compared to athletes from other countries, we are under no pressure and can always mount strong challenges," she said. Unfortunately, China lost by a fraction of a point to Russia in Tuesday's women's team artistic gymnastics competition final, and had to settle for bronze. The loss comes as a disappointment to China, with Russians acquiring a score of 176.188 compared to China's 176.003. The unstoppable US Team walked away with the gold. Mao's blunder on her floor rotation cost the team a silver medal, as Mao said through teary eyes, "I think the problem is myself." Moving on to individual qualifications, neither Fan (who was expected to qualify for uneven bars) or Shang (balance beam) placed in their individual events. Team manager Ye Zhennan accused judges of treating his team unfairly, explaining that logically it made no sense that they failed to qualify for their individual events, SCMP reports. "We made two major mistakes in the final but how come our score was still higher than the qualification where we only had one major blunder," Ye said. "It proved our qualification score was purposefully suppressed by the judges." Whether you believe Ye or not, it's hard not feel sorry for these girls, especially considering the severe rigidity of the training programs they must go through from an early age.
Age Is Just a Number for Chinese Gymnastic Team
The girls of China's 2008 gymnastics team made up perhaps the most controversial team at the Beijing Olympics with their "oh no, they cannot be 16 years old" faces and physiques. Four years later, the Chinese team heading to the London games are, in gymnast terms, basically elderly.
Chinese girls claim first Olympic gymnastics team crown
BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women gymnasts won their first ever Olympic team gold medal in Wednesday's final of the Beijing Olympic Games, making a historic breakthrough expected by China for decades. Chinese claimed their first world women's team title in the 2006 World Championships in Arhus, Denmark. The Olympic team title on Wednesday was unprecedented since the Chinese team was set up more than 50 years ago. With deafening cheers and applause, leading Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei finished her routine in the last event of floor exercise in 15.450 points, nailing the gold for the hosts who totaled 188.900. The silver went to the United States which collected 186.525 points. Defending Olympic champion Romania took the bronze with 181.525 points. "Claiming the gold in Beijing is very exciting. China is the strongest team in the world," said Lu Shanzhen, head coach of the Chinese women's team. The U.S. team, who dethroned the Chinese contingent in the World Championships last year, had been tipped to repeat the glory in Beijing. "The performance of the Chinese team is remarkable. Today's China's day. After we made two mistakes, it was really hard for us to catch up," said U.S. head coach Qiao Liang. The competition kicked off at 10:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in the National Indoor Stadium. China's Cheng fell from the beam when she was the first to compete, inviting a chorus of sighs from spectators. Cheng's teammate Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan went through the tough psychological test and enabled the Chinese team to surpass the United States by one point before the fourth rotation. Their routines' difficulty in the beam was higher than the U.S. members, giving them an advantage to claim the gold. With the tremendous support of home fans, the Chinese team put an end to the duel in the floor exercise with three next-to-perfect routines, extending the lead to 2.375. In a sharp contrast, the United States failed to pulled the last efforts. As the first one to represent the United States in balance beam and floor exercise, Alicia Sacramone made two fatal mistakes in the events, ruining their hopes for gold. The 20-year-old girl dropped from the beam from the very beginning of her routine. In floor exercise, she rolled backward and landed on her bottom after a series of somersaults. Although the United States sent Nastia Liukin and world all-around queen Shawn Johnson to catch up, both of them failed the mission in landing. Floor exercise is the specialty of Johnson and Liukin. The United States has been beset with injuries as Samantha Peszek sprained her left ankle in warm-up, one more blow to the team after Chellsie Memmel was injured in ankle too in training. As the final requires just three athletes from each country to compete in one event and every score counts, the United States had get rid of the short-handed problem in the final.
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1 BEIJING — After the Chinese women’s gymnastics team won its first-ever Olympic gold medal on Wednesday, its diminutive gymnasts celebrated on the arena floor, hopping and hugging and mugging for the cameras.
2 In the end, China's women's gymnastics team prevailed in the team final, capturing the gold, with the Americans taking silver and the Romanians rounding it out with a bronze.
3 China has secured a spot in the women's gymnastics team competition at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games after finishing fourth at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on Saturday. Read more: http://en.yibada.com/articles/78549/20151027/chinese-womens-gymnastics-team-qualifies-rio.htm#ixzz4QRH9hOu9