And regarding Choussovitina - yes she is amazing and a great example to all the younger athletes out there. She`s still going strong even though she did not compete at the tri-meet because of problems with her achilles tendons. I hope it was just for prevention and she will be fine in Beijing!!!
BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Yang Wei has the most decorated record in Asian Games gymnastic history and is now looking to leave his Athens heartbreak behind him and deliver the home crowd an all around gold medal of the Beijing Olympics this August.
All eyes will be on him, the best men's all-around gymnast in the last two world championships, as the hosts are expected to make the most of their home advantage in Beijing against challenges from the sport's superpowers the United States, Japan, Russia and Romania.
He will be on the same level of Paul Hamm of the United States, Hiroyuki Tomita of Japan, and Fabian Hambuechen of Germany - all looking to make the biggest runs at the most-coveted individual title in Beijing.
With the home crowd's backing, Yang is confident to banish his Olympic disappointment and top the podium.
"To compete on home turf, you surely have great pressure, and I think I can turn the pressure into the motivation. Whatever happens, I'm going for the gold in Beijing," said Yang.
The 28-year-old veteran has eight world championship golds under his belt and was part of the men's team that won at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 but has struggled to produce an Olympic individual gold.
He was so near yet so far to the all-around title in the 2004 Games, leading the field after five apparatus but suddenly crashing out of medal contention with a fall from the final apparatus high bar.
Yang finished seventh and Hamm was handed a dramatic victory due to a judge's miscalculation.
Hamm, coming back after two-and-a-half year out of the sport, is coping with his hand injury sustained in May and 2005 world champion Tomita has been struggling to find his form, while Yang declared his comeback in the past two years.
He reached the peak in 2006 as he claimed the parallel, all-around and men's team titles in the Arhus Championship. And the next year, Yang overcame another spectacular fall from the high bar to win a second straight world all-around title in Stuttgart.
"The parallel gold medal in 2006 is the first world title I won in individual events," said Yang. "It was more than a gold medal. It gave me great confidence when I am facing the Olympics in Beijing."
The multiple world champion started his winning ways in 1998 when he took gold in the floor at the Asian Games, going on to take an individual silver at Sydney in 2000.
Exista unii oameni care reusesc sa aibe succes chiar si atunci cand nimeni nu crede in ei, dar niciodata
nu va avea succes unul care nici el nu crede in el insusi.
There were many moments in Sandra Izbasa's life that nearly steered her away from gymnastics that she is amazed to be spearheading Romania's defence of the team gold at the Beijing Olympics.
"Honestly, I never thought I'd be here," she told Reuters in an interview. "I had many failures, I wanted to quit many times, but my parents and my coaches advised me to continue."
She started playing tennis at the age of four in her hometown, Bucharest. She abandoned it for fencing, but did not like that either.
"In the same sports complex there was a gymnastics hall and I was very impressed with the girls there, so I stuck with that," the 18-year-old said.
Three years later she wanted to quit gymnastics too.
"I was hurt and I thought this sport was too difficult," she said. "I overcame that unhappy period and here I am."
But not before another twist. Having won a Romanian junior national title at handball, she briefly considered focusing on that sport.
"My parents told me it was better in gymnastics because in handball you have to rely on the team," the 1.64-metre Izbasa said with a smile. "Not that you don't in gymnastics, but in gymnastics I can also compete individually."
Izbasa spends all but one week a year practising seven hours a day at the national team training centre in Deva, 400 km away from her family in Bucharest. Romanian Olympic champions like Lavinia Milosovici or Catalina Ponor honed their skills there but Izbasa is not that interested in heroes from the past.
"I want to be my own role model," said the European floor champion.
"I rely on floor, vault and beam to compensate for my asymmetric bars routine.
"Ever since I was little I didn't like the bars but now I'm trying hard because I want to compete in the all-round. In the team competition, I hope to get the highest marks in floor and beam to lift us up."
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS
The Romanian women won four gold medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, including team gold. Then a revamped team missed the podium for the first time in 25 years at the 2006 world championships, fuelling talk of gymnastics being in a state of crisis in the land of Nadia Comaneci.
But Izbasa and team mate Steliana Nistor led Romania to victory in the European championships in April.
"We are a different team with more experience now," Izbasa said. "But a European championship doesn't compare with the Olympic Games. We hope to finish third in the team competition.
"There is a lot of pressure, many people want us to win gold, but we have to be realistic and know what we can do right now. It's better to have reduced expectations and get a pleasant surprise."
As for her individual medal hopes, she refuses to make predictions. "Naturally, I want to win badly, every child who knows how much she works in the gym does.
"But I just want to do my job. The rest will come by itself."
is our team scared???cause this reveals the statement of sandra
Exista unii oameni care reusesc sa aibe succes chiar si atunci cand nimeni nu crede in ei, dar niciodata
nu va avea succes unul care nici el nu crede in el insusi.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/190720...ics-squad.html articol cu shawn din eurosport
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olym...cs/7519806.stm i would like to see competing beth, what a pity if she takes the decision of retirement
Last edited by mikeyy; 27th July 2008 at 15:43.
Exista unii oameni care reusesc sa aibe succes chiar si atunci cand nimeni nu crede in ei, dar niciodata
nu va avea succes unul care nici el nu crede in el insusi.
Moderator
21mai - thanks so much for publishing that article on Sandra - it`s really interesting and I enjoyed reading it. It is good to know they hope for team bronze. It is the only possible team medal they could reach probably......it all depends on Russia and if they hit.....
China's gymnasts tipped to excel before home crowd
BEIJING (AFP) - China's gymnastics team is expected to make the most of its home advantage at the Beijing Games and challenge the sport's traditional Olympic superpowers the United States, Russia and Romania.
One of the most keenly watched Olympic sports, gymnastics' defining moment at the Games came in 1976 in Montreal when Nadia Comaneci of Romania broke new ground by scoring a perfect 10 points.
Comaneci, now a US resident, has tipped China as the team to beat in Beijing, saying the home crowd will be urging on their gymnasts and expectations will be high.
"The Chinese team is very, very good," she said earlier this year. "In the men's competition, I don't think any other team could be better than them.
"The women's competition will be very close. Of course the best will win but it's a great advantage to have the Olympics in your country. You have a lot of support, which is great.
"It would be difficult for everybody else to get a hand on the medals."
China has a strong record at the gymnastics world championships but has struggled to reproduce its success on the Olympic stage.
The Chinese men won the team gold for the first time at the Sydney Games in 2000, but failed to build on the achievement in Athens, losing the title to arch-rival Japan.
They bounced back at the world gymnastics championships in Stuttgart last year, winning five golds, a performance that would provide a record haul for China if it could be repeated in Beijing.
The Japanese, who dominated men's gymnastics in the 1960s and 1970s, will be hoping to continue their Athens success in Beijing and usher in a new golden era.
Paul Hamm of the United States, the men's all-round champion four years ago, won't be defending his title after withdrawing last month because of a broken hand he sustained in May at the US Championships.
But his brother Morgan will be in Beijing having merely been warned, rather than banned after testing positive for a physician-prescribed anti-inflammatory medication without first seeking a therapeutic use exemption as required by global anti-doping rules.
Comaneci has picked out China's Yang Wei as the man to beat in Beijing and also highlighted the potential of US teenager Shawn Johnson in the women's competition.
Yang has seven world championship golds and was part of the men's team that won at the Sydney Olympics.
"Yang Wei is the favorite. He's the guy to beat," Paul Hamm said. "If Yang Wei has his most spectacular day, it's going to be very difficult to beat him."
Johnson, 16, is competing at her first Olympics after winning three golds at the world championships in Stuttgart.
Romania are again expected to be a major force after topping the overall medal tally in gymnastics in Athens.
All Romania's wins came from the women, but they will be without dual gold medallist Catalina Polor after she retired last year.
Russia, Ukraine and Germany are set to be in the running for medals.
Regardless of who takes the honours, changes to the scoring system introduced since Athens means there will be no perfect 10s like those pioneered by Comaneci.
Instead, gymnasts receive two scores -- one an open-ended mark measuring the difficulty of the routine, the other a mark out of 10 for how well it was executed.
In artistic gymnastics, men participate in six apparatus -- floor exercises, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.
Women participate in four apparatus -- vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercises.
On eurosport
Exista unii oameni care reusesc sa aibe succes chiar si atunci cand nimeni nu crede in ei, dar niciodata
nu va avea succes unul care nici el nu crede in el insusi.
The consequences of the new code:
LAURA JONES has today pulled out of Britain's gymnastics team for the Beijing Olympics and been replaced by Imogen Cairns (pictured), an 18-year-old from Bristol.
Jones, a 16-year-old from Nottingham, has been forced to pull out of the team because of a slipped disc in her back.
Matthew Greenwood, British Gymnastics performance director, said: “It is desperately sad that Laura has had to be withdrawn as she was such a strong member of the team.
"Having worked so hard and being selected to the team this must be a bitter blow just a few days before departure to Macau.
"We wish her all the very best for a swift recovery.”
Adrian Stan, the women’s artistic technical director said: “Having been unfortunately forced to make this change due to injury we had to replace Laura with someone of the same caliber and we feel that Imogen is an ideal replacement, this is a great indication of the strength and depth in the squad.”
Hannah Clowes will now take the place of the second reserve gymnast.
Exista unii oameni care reusesc sa aibe succes chiar si atunci cand nimeni nu crede in ei, dar niciodata
nu va avea succes unul care nici el nu crede in el insusi.
OMG!!!!!I just feel I will hate gymnastics after the Europeans this year and the 2008 Olympics because of sooo many injuries
Don`t forget , that there is an english thread opened in the OG area !
If you want to express your point of view about the Olympic Games: http://www.onlinesport.ro/forum/showthread.php?t=301877
Last edited by mikeyy; 17th August 2008 at 23:47.
www.fangymnastics.com
sport legend
If you haven't done it yet, please visit http://fangymnastics.com
It is a remarkable work done by 4 of our colleagues: (alphabetical order): cata10, crisloregym, ioanavol and mikeyy.
That site is awesome - wonderful work!I have checked it out before, and you are all doing a wonderful job creating this site and providing all the information.
thanks a lot, MartinaOriginally Posted by MartinaE
That site is awesome - wonderful work!
it was pretty crowdy the last days, though, and we couldn't write much in English, but soon we'll come back with the two language news
Oh that`s awesome!
I really love that site! Thank you. And congratulations Romania for the 2 wonderful medals in Beijing
I would have liked not to update this section of the forum.... bad news http://www.prosport.ro/alte-sporturi...in-nou-3122966 Cerasela Patrascu had the second surgery on her right knee. "Cerasela will join the other Romanian gymnasts to their camp at seaside, and after that we'll see..." - Forminte said. The camp starts on Thursday.
For the one of you who didn't know that Steliana Nistor wants to retire here's a link with more informations. http://steliananistor.wordpress.com/...eliana-nistor/
Unfortunatelly, sad news
Lavinia Milosovici's daughter, Denisa Florentina, passed away this morning. We would like to transmit all our support to Milo and her family. May God rest Denisa in peace
Awwww only bad news lately....really.....
I felt so sorry about every single one....though I can understand Steliana decided to retire. For her health it really is the best probably. Nevertheless I will miss her!!!
I also hope Cerasela will fully recover from her injury and will not go down the same way Aluissa did.....
On a positive note Sandra is going to compete at the Swiss Cup.
Does anyone know if Romania plans to send out gymnasts to more events?
Usually some gymnasts from Deva go to the Alpen Adria Cup in Austria in November
Alin Jivan and Marius Berbecar went to Glasgow last week. Marius Berbecar was 5th in the parallel bars final, with 15.125, which is a pretty good score for us. Unfortunately, Alin Jivan didn't compete too well, he got surprisingly low scores at vault - qualification and didn't make it into the final
[COLOR="DimGray"]~ [B]STELA NISTOR[/B] ~~~ [B]ALIN JIVAN[/B] ~[/COLOR]
[B][COLOR="Red"]Game.[/COLOR][COLOR="Yellow"]Set.[/COLOR][COLOR="Blue"]Match.[/COLOR][/B] [COLOR="DimGray"]ANDREI PAVEL
Steaua [SIZE="3"]noastra[/SIZE], nu a [SIZE="1"]voastra[/SIZE]! [/COLOR][url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TiUirrZ4nY#t=2m29s[/url]
And I really hope that some will come to the Gym gala in December, as that will be in Eindhoven
Do you still want to come, Tessa?
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