"I Cried Until My Soul Had Completely Left My Body"

As we all know, Cheng Fei had a rocky Olympics. She was on cloud nine after the team competition, only to swallow a bitter pill during the individual event finals, an experience she likened to "a trip from Heaven to Hell."

According to this Sina article, Cheng cried all night after her disappointing performances on vault and floor. "I cried until my soul had completely left my body," Cheng was quoted as saying.


Cheng Fei after her ordeal at the Olympics (photo: Amy Sancetta/AP Photo)

She felt empty and wasn't sure whether she wanted to go on competing. But her coaches felt she should, to exorcize the demons that were haunting her. Said coach Lu Shanzhen, "We're letting Cheng Fei continue to take part in competitions both at home and abroad to help her to find that competitive spirit, and to dispel the shadow of the mistakes she made at the Beijing Olympics. Unexpectedly [given her lack of systematic training], she's performing better at each competition. Her beam and floor are already close to her peak level."

But Cheng is definitely being granted the opportunity to let her hair down.

According to Sina, the national team coaches allowed the girls to spend a few days on the beach after the national championships, held in the coastal city of Qingdao. The break did Cheng a world of good. She's making a conscious effort now to be more relaxed and open-hearted.

"Now that the Olympics are over, I don't have so many worries," Cheng was quoted as saying in another Sina story. " I'm gradually trying to change myself. I'm allowing myself to be happier and to do things I haven't done before."

Such as treating herself to nice things apparently. Chinese journalists are making much of the fact that Cheng Fei has begun to wear earrings, a sign that she's opening up to the more frivolous aspects of life. But it's not as if Cheng's life is suddenly going to revolve around fun. While she's still focusing mainly on her training, she's also studying at Wuhan University. When the competitive season is over, she hopes to "take the opportunity to study a little, learn a few things."



She's not sure what the future will bring competitionwise. "Right now I'm preparing for the World Cup Final and the National Games. I can't confirm now whether I'll compete at the London Olympics."

She thinks it may be hard to work herself up to such a big competition again. "I'm not sure I can go on training like that. I trained so hard and was in such good shape, yet I still made mistakes. Will I be in the same kind of shape at the next Olympics? And even if I am, who's to say what might happen?"

Nobody can guarantee that Cheng will do well in London, but all the same, the Chinese press is doing its best to persuade her to go on. In one of the two Sina articles from which the above quotes were taken, the journalist ends up reminding readers that Yang Wei (who, like Cheng Fei, hails from Hubei Province) also suffered a great disappointment at the (2004) Olympics, only to rebound in silence and make his dreams come true four years later.

We'll have to wait and see if Cheng can pull off a Yang.

Cheng Fei's Father Becomes a Coach

When Cheng Fei became a star, stories began surfacing about the way her father, Cheng Ligao, had trained her as a young child. Reportedly, Mr. Cheng used to drill her like a soldier, letting her follow him and shouting, "One, two, one, two..."

It appears now that he did more than that. According to this Sina article, Mr. Cheng often accompanied his daughter to the gym, where he soon developed an eye for what she was doing. He also built her an impromptu gym in the house, and at night helped her to do the things with which he knew she had struggled during her workouts, thus effectively becoming her private coach (although he didn't actually hold a coaching degree). Later, when Cheng Fei was enrolled in the national sports program at the far-away Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, her father would often visit her, watching her train for hours on end.

Now he's been granted an opportunity to put all that passive experience into practice. After watching his daughter train for 17 years, 45-year-old Cheng Ligao has become a coach at his daughter's former club, the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education.

"Old Cheng came to the gym almost every month, wanting to help some young kids out with their basics," said Zhao Hanhua, the club's head coach. "After the Beijing Olympics, there was a tremendous increase in the number of kids practicing gymnastics. There weren't enough qualified coaches, so we invited Old Cheng to become a coach."


Cheng Fei in Beijing (photo: Getty Images)

On October 18, 2008, Mr. Cheng received a Level 1 coaching diploma. For 元3000 ($440) per month, Cheng Fei's father will teach small kids the basics of the sport in which his daughter became a star, at a club which has a huge poster of his daughter on the wall to inspire younger gymnasts.

"I've been given a rare opportunity to become a gymnastics coach," said Mr. Cheng. "I've watched my daughter train for a long time. I couldn't just leave gymnastics."

We'll be interested to see the next generation of gymnasts to come out of Wuhan.

Junior Watch (Again)

While the seniors were battling it out in Stuttgart, Tokyo, and Doha last weekend, a French junior squad from which nearly all of the members of the silver-medal-winning 2008 Junior European squad were missing traveled to Ponzano Veneto, Italy, to take on the Italian juniors.

As it happened, the hosts were clearly superior, beating the French, 224.350-211.000. In fact, the French were not just beaten by the "official" Italian junior team, but by the Italian junior-junior team (consisting solely of girls born in 1996). Sounds like Italy has a fair bit of depth, doesn't it?

Our favorite Italian junior, 13-year-old Carlotta Ferlito, only finished 3rd in Ponzano Veneto (55.100), mainly because she only had a 3.9 start value on bars (not sure what happened there). She did, however, post the highest scores on beam (15.000) and floor (14.350), where she does some very good turns and original stuff on her toes. Watch out for Ferlito - she could be another Vanessa Ferrari in the making.


Serena Licchetta (photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner)

With Ferlito underachieving on bars, the AA title went to Serena Licchetta (56.300), who does a promising floor exercise to Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" (here's hoping she'll learn to connect that front double twist and Korbut flip one day!) and mounts bars with a kip to Comaneci. You've got to hand it to the Italians: They do try to come up with original stuff.

Placing 2nd in Ponzano Veneto was 13-year-old Andrea Foti, who hails from the same club as Ferlito (G.A.L. Lissone) and has a very pretty beam exercise with a serious attempt at choreography. Watch her arms - they're nice.

The highest AA score of the day, 56.700, was amassed by 12-year-old Erika Fasana, who competed in the 1996 division. Fasana needs to watch her form, but if she ever learns to point her toes and keep her knees straight, she'll definitely be one to watch. Click here to see a beam routine she did half a year ago.

The top French competitors were Justine Crosato and Marine Brevet (the only member of France's successful 2008 Junior European team to make the trip to Ponzano Veneto). Both scored over 4 points less than the top-ranking Italians.

Full results of the ITA-FRA meet can be found here.

Flamengo Talk

After all that stuff about the DTB Cup and injuries, we feel it's incumbent on us to resume our reporting on the Brazilian team. Because, you know, they have injuries too!

The latter sentence would probably be funny if it weren't so hideously true. But unfortunately it's all too true.

Let's start with Jade Barbosa, shall we? According to Globoesporte, Jade didn't recover from her "renal crisis" (read: kidney stones) last week, so the scheduled MRI of her hand didn't happen. She's now scheduled to have it tomorrow. We hope she can actually undergo the examination this time, and that the results won't be too depressing.


Jade Barbosa (photo: Reuters)
Meanwhile, some rather alarming news has reached us concerning the anti-inflammatory drug with which Jade claims the Federation overdosed her during the Olympics and the preceding months, Prexige. Our reader D informed us that Prexige was banned in Brazil a while ago for causing serious liver damage. So we looked into it, and it turns out it has actually been banned in a lot of places. See, for instance, this notice by the Australian government, released over a year ago (!). It's an urgent medicine recall in which Prexige is listed as a Class I drug, which means that its defects are "potentially life-threatening" or could cause "a serious risk to health." Prexige comes in three formulations: 100mg, 200mg, and 400mg. Jade claims she took two or three 400mg tablets a day for several months. She's obviously still alive, but we shudder to think what damage the medicine might have done to her liver.

Try to put yourself in Jade Barbosa's shoes now. You're suffering from a potentially career-threatening hand injury, a foot injury, and kidney stones, and on top of that you have to wonder whether the pills your team doctor prescribed to you might have damaged your liver...? It's all a bit much, really. We haven't always been fans of Jade, but right now we're sending good vibes her way like you wouldn't believe. She obviously needs them harder than Ksenia Semyonova and Anna Pavlova combined. And we're saying that with all the love in our Ksenia-and-Anna-adoring hearts.

As for the MRI, we'll keep you posted.


Jade Barbosa (photo: Reuters)
Meanwhile, Jade's teammates at Flamengo, Diego and Daniele Hypolito, aren't exactly leading dull lives either. They were at the DTB Cup last weekend, baffling spectators and critics alike by being, well, less than stellar. Heidemarie even gave Diego a tongue-lashing for throwing a simple double twist dismount on floor after a press to handstand had gone awry, thus ruining his chances of a gold medal.

Turns out poor Diego actually had an excuse. He is - you've guessed it - injured. He's suffering a bad backache, and only went to Stuttgart because he wanted to make sure he'd qualify to the World Cup Final. He scored just enough points to do so on both floor and vault, but it wasn't easy. "In my floor exercise I tried to do a compulsory strength and balance element called an 'inverted cross,'" said the 2005 and 2007 world champion. "I didn't manage the first time around because it hurt so much, but my second attempt was successful."

And here we were giving him a hard time for throwing a double twist after that. Our apologies, Diego.


The coolest picture of Diego Hypolito you'll ever find
Meanwhile, Diego's sister Daniele (who just competed in her first individual final since the 2007 Pan-American Games) is busy making plans for the future. Although she's 24, she's by no means ready to retire yet. We're guessing that means that she, for one, is not nursing any serious injuries. Knock on wood.

According to Daniele, she wasn't planning to go to Germany last week, but when the other girls withdrew from the competition, she decided to make it part of her plans for - yes, we're getting to it - London 2012.

"After four years and all the effort I put into going to the Beijing Olympics, I didn't expect to be in great shape now. I decided, pretty much at the last minute, to compete here in Stuttgart to show everyone, especially myself, that I am an active gymnast and that I can still be competitive in the sport."


Daniele Hypolito (photo: Reuters)
She's thinking of changing the way she trains, though. "Until Beijing, I always strove to be a complete gymnast, to do the all-around, to do all four events. Now I believe I'll only be able to do that for one or two more years, tops. For 2012, I'll do my best to become a specialist, to prioritize one or two events."

She's not sure yet what those one or two events will be, but she's sure specializing is the way to go. "I'm old, so I'll have to be very good on one apparatus and secure on another one if I'm to help the team," Daniele said last weekend.

Interestingly, Daniele doesn't seem to be involved in the row that her teammates Jade, Daiane, and Lais are having with the Brazilian Gymnastics Federation. "I'm training with Jade at Flamengo, but I'm staying out of this dispute between the Federation and the girls," Daniele said last weekend. "I don't even want to get involved in the election of the new president of the Federation [in December]. I only want to show people my gymnastics."

According to certain sources, Daniele has actually reprehended her teammate Jade for criticizing the Federation. This is all the more remarkable since Daniele has been reported to have had a few clashes with the Federation herself over the last ten years.


Daniele and Jade at the Beijing Olympics (photo: Reuters)
Next up: a post about the Sao Paulo girls, Daiane dos Santos and Lais Souza. Because they're injured too, and because Daiane's injury is actually kind of interesting. Stay tuned.

DTB - Champions' Trophy

This year the organizers of the DTB Cup tried something new. In addition to the well-known event finals, they held the so-called Champions' Trophy competition, a men's all-around competition endowed with €50,000 ($62,850) prize money. Of course all-around competitions are hardly a new idea. In fact, until 1993, the DTB Cup was an all-around competition, one of the best around. But in this age of ongoing specialization, all-around competitions are few and far between, and more and more people are beginning to miss them. With Fabian Hambüchen being the AA star he is, the DTB organizers thought they'd give him an extra opportunity to shine by holding an AA competition in his own backyard. So they invited 7 all-arounders to take on "Fabi," and came up with an interesting format in which all athletes would compete on the same event, and competing order would be determined by ranking. After each rotation, scores would be tallied up, and whoever placed last would be the first to compete in the next rotation; the leader would compete last. Then the organizers sat back to see what would happen.


The fall that cost Fabian Hambüchen the gold (photo: AP)

It didn't quite pan out as they probably wished. Hambüchen only came 3rd, having had trouble on both pommels and high bar. But the competition itself, which remained open until the very last routine, was a hit. The crowd loved it, giving the 8 athletes a standing ovation afterwards. So we guess the Champions' Trophy will be back next year. Hopefully there will then be a women's event as well. The organizers did say this was a possibility if the men's competition were a success.

The competition was won by Russia's Maksim Devyatovsky, who was unspectacular on most events (well, he did attempt a handspring double front vault, with a deep landing and a hop) but managed to avoid large mistakes. In the end, being solid earned him the trophy and a very nice and tidy €15,000 ($18,860). The silver went to Japan's Hisashi Mizutori, who was doing very well until he fell, rather clumsily, on his PB mount. He came back spectacularly in the final rotation (full turn to Markelov, layout Kovacs, tucked Kovacs, Kolman, twisting one-arm giant, hop full, double-double dismount for a 16.025) but it wasn't enough to beat Devyatovsky.


AA winner Maksim Devyatovsky (photo: Getty Images)

Despite a fall from pommel horse, Fabian Hambüchen was the leader going into the final rotation. However, he stuffed up on high bar, coming off on a Kolman and barely hanging on after a layout Tkatchev. Nevertheless, the home crowd favorite said he'd relished the experience. "I'm not sad at all. I'm glad I could be here. I had tons of fun and it was a great competition," said the German.

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine, Hambüchen claimed he was so exhausted before his last event that he could barely lift his arms. Under the circumstances his fall didn't come as a great surprise. It certainly didn't upset him. "Today I'm not getting annoyed about anything," he said. He left the arena with a huge grin on his face.

We're guessing he had at that point seen the article in the Stuttgarter Zeitung, which on Saturday posted ten photos of Hambüchen under a headline that read, "This is what perfection looks like."

As to the other competitors, Romania's Flavius Koczi was the leader at the halfway stage, thanks mostly to an excellent PH set. However, things went downhill for him in the second half of the competition. He fell out of his double-twisting Kasamatsu vault, took a big step on his parallel bars dismount and heavily piked down his high bar dismount for 4th place.


Silver medalist Hisashi Mizutori (photo: Daniel Maurer/AP Photo)

The other competitors also had their share of trouble. Switzerland's Niki Böschenstein showed a very short pommel horse routine and fell on his hands on his handspring double front vault. Jordan Jovchev was brilliant as always on rings, but had major problems on a transition on pommels, was off center on his full-twisting Kasamatsu vault, and finished his floor routine with a mere double twist. Britain's Kristian Thomas started very well on floor, but had trouble on a Tong Fei on pommels, lacked impressive strength parts on rings and had some trouble getting into a handstand on PB. Finally, Germany's Philipp Boy showed an excellent double Arabian half out on floor, but had problems on all his other events, and ended the competition crashing his high bar dismount into the mat, landing on all fours. He's a promising gymnast though - proof that there's more to German men's gymnastics than Fabian Hambüchen.

1. Maksim Devyatovsky RUS 92.000
2. Hisashi Mizutori JPN 91.700
3. Fabian Hambüchen GER 91.550
4. Flavius Koczi ROM 90.125
5. Niki Böschenstein SUI 88.800
6. Jordan Jovtchev BUL 88.625
7. Kristian Thomas GBR 88.400
8. Philipp Boy GER 87.750

As before, the above notes and scores came courtesy of the DTB site, whose live updates (in German) were a very welcome addition to the competition itself.

DTB - Men's Competition

We promised to provide you with some details on the men's competition in Stuttgart. Well, as far as the German media were concerned, it was all a great Fabian Hambüchen fest ("The Hambüchen festival goes on," read the headline of the Frankfurter Allgemeine, Germany's largest newspaper). This was all the more remarkable since Hambüchen was - you've guessed it - injured. Reportedly the injury in the little finger on his left hand which caused him such trouble in Beijing has flared up again, causing him to skip vault in Stuttgart (although he will reportedly do vault in today's all-around competition). He will undergo more medical examinations in a few days to determine whether the finger needs surgery.

After his victory on high bar, Hambüchen raised a victorious fist to the crowd and proudly accepted the "Fabi, Fabi" cheers. "I did well and enjoyed the atmosphere, so I allowed myself to get a little emotional," the German was quoted as saying by the Stuttgarter Zeitung. "I was having fun again." What a change from Beijing, where he had tears in his eyes after the high bar final...


Fabian Hambüchen (photo: Reuters)

China's new stars also did well, claiming half of the men's titles between them: pommel horse (Zhang Hongtao), parallel bars (Feng Zhe) and still rings (Yan Mingyong).

By now the complete results have been posted on IG. We're just going to add a few notes, courtesy (once more) of the DTB site.

Floor
Fabian Hambüchen stepped out of bounds on his layout double-double, but hit the rest of his difficult routine and so emerged victorious. Britain's Kristian Thomas was awarded the silver for a twist-abundant routine that started with a 2.5 twist to front-half and ended with a double Arabian. Alexander Shatilov had to settle for the bronze after taking steps on his second multiple twisting pass and triple twist dismount. Diego Hypolito faltered on his press to handstand, then threw in the towel, finishing with a simple double twist dismount. Way to give up, son.


Zhang Hongtao (photo: Daniel Maurer/AP Photo)

Pommel horse
Exciting new kid on the block Zhang Hongtao nailed a very hard routine: 6.8 start value, 9.500 for execution! It was the highest execution score in the entire competition. Australia's Prashanth Sellathurai was fast and clean for the silver, while Armenia's Harutyum Merdinyan took a surprise bronze.


Yan Mingyong (photo: Daniel Maurer/AP Photos)

Rings
China's Yan Mingyong and Holland's Yuri van Gelder tied for the gold with exactly the same start values and execution scores. Van Gelder hit his usual deep inverted crosses but piked down his layout full-in dismount; Yan hit his dismount for a share of the gold. Alexander Vorobyov showed excellent strength parts and a piked double front dismount for the bronze.


Thomas Bouhail (photo: Reuters)

Vault
Thomas Bouhail was unbeatable here (he's been doing very well for himself lately), hitting a powerful Tsukahara piked double back (small step backward) and a handspring double front. Holland's Jeffrey Wammes hit a 2.5-twisting Yurchenko with a step backward, then took a step on his handspring double-twisting front (silver). Germany's Matthias Fahrig, who had qualified in first place, sat down on his handspring piked double front but hit his 1.5-twisting Kasamatsu for the bronze. Diego Hypolito hit his 1.5-twisting Kasamatsu but was a bit off on his handspring 1.5-twisting front. The Hypolitos were disappointing in Stuttgart. Diego's sister Daniele wasn't very impressive either.


Feng Zhe (photo: Daniel Maurer/AP Photo)

Parallel bars
China's Feng Zhe took a clear step backward on his dismount, but his clean lines and 7.0 start value helped to offset that. Yann Cucherat showed a clean set, but had to settle for silver after taking a deep landing on his dismount. Fabian Hambüchen placed third after taking a few steps in his handstand after his Healy. For his part, Vasileios Tsolakidis hit a good piked double front for fourth, while Phil Rizzo, who was a bit off center on his piked Belle, placed fifth.


Fabian Hambüchen (photo: Reuters)

High bar
Fabian Hambüchen nailed his 7.1 routine: layout Kovacs, Kolman, Ribalko, Markelov, layout Tkatchev, rock-solid double-double dismount. Wow! Aljaz Pegan put up a good fight (good Pegan straight into 1.5 turn, triple back dismount) but came up short on a half turn and had to make do with the silver. Phil Rizzo hit his Markelov and Def, but took a step backward on his double-double (bronze). Epke Zonderland came off on his spectacular Kovacs-Kolman combo.

To be continued tomorrow with all-around results.

China Reigns Supreme in Stuttgart

Today's DTB finals saw China win all the women's events. Cheng Fei completely outscored the competition on vault, beam, and floor, while He Ning took the remaining gold medal (bars). Lauren Mitchell won two silver medals for Australia, Yang Yilin took two bronzes, and the German girls pleased the home crowd with two bronze medals of their own. Results and competition notes follow below, courtesy of the DTB site.

First, though, some other news. We have good news and bad news. Needless to say, both are about injuries.

Firstly, the bad news. Reportedly Anna Pavlova got injured on her beam dismount. She's believed to have torn the cruciate ligaments of her right knee - injury No. 12,694 of this year. Could it be that the Code is asking a little too much of the girls, and that the competitive season is lasting a little too long? We hope you're paying attention, FIG. We don't like our favorite gymnasts suffering career-threatening injuries.


Anna Pavlova, the latest injury victim (photo: Reuters)

On a brighter note, Oksana Chusovitina seems to be doing well. The Olympic silver medalist on vault, fresh from a successful Achilles tendon operation, was honored in Stuttgart for her Beijing achievements, and entered the arena walking on crutches. She told the audience she wanted to get back into training as soon as possible, then astounded everyone by leaving the arena walking without crutches! Is there anything the woman can't do?

Anyhow, on to the competition now...

For some strange reason the uneven bars final was contested before the vault final. The men's working order was even stranger: Floor, parallel bars, high bar, vault, pommel horse, rings. What's with all the order switching this year? The Olympic finals were a mess, and now the Germans (usually the world's greatest sticklers for rules) are changing the working order too. It's not right, we tell you. Not right!


He Ning (photo: Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

Uneven bars
1 HE Ning CHN 6.900 8.450 15.350
2 KOVAL Anastasia UKR 6.900 8.150 15.050
3 BRUNNER Jenny GER 6.500 7.650 14.150
4 KAESLIN Ariella SUI 5.900 7.925 13.825
5 BUI Kim GER 6.600 7.000 13.600
6 WEVERS Sanne NED 5.600 7.975 13.575
7 KOVACOVA Ivana SVK 6.000 7.225 13.225
8 PIHAN Marta POL 5.700 6.875 12.575

He Ning hit her inverts, Jaegers (straddled and piked), Pak and a very solid double layout dismount for the win here. Anastasia Koval was almost as good with a piked Hindorff, Stalder-full into high Tkatchev, good elgrip giants, and a double front dismount. Germany's Jenny Brunner's form left a bit to be desired, but she gave the home crowd something to cheer about with good inverts, a piked Jaeger, and a dismount the commentators on the DTB site described as a piked Endo straight into a layout front somersault with a half twist, although it used to be a Stalder into an underswing, half turn, layout back. Whichever dismount Brunner competed today, she ended up winning the bronze, which caused the commentators on the DTB site to use three exclamation points. Wow! Meanwhile, Slovakia's Ivana Kovacova hit a Comaneci salto and a Stalder-1.5 in elgrip, but fell on a Stalder-full on the low bar. What a pity - sounds like a cool routine.


Cheng Fei (photo: Reuters)

Vault
1 CHENG Fei CHN 14.900
5.80 9.325 15.125
5.60 9.075 14.675
2 VANWALLEGHEM Aagje BEL 14.275
5.50 8.975 14.475
5.20 8.875 14.075
3 PAVLOVA Anna RUS 14.050
5.80 8.900 14.700
5.60 7.800 13.400
4 KAESLIN Ariella SUI 14.012
6.30 7.875 14.175
5.00 8.850 13.850
5 BUI Kim GER 13.962
5.40 8.525 13.925
5.00 9.000 14.000
6 ZAMOLODCHIKOVA Elena RUS 13.825
5.80 8.825 14.625
5.20 7.825 13.025
7 KALASHNYK Anna UKR 13.512
5.50 7.850 13.350
5.00 8.675 13.675
8 BOCZOGO Dorina HUN 13.325
5.00 8.675 13.675
5.00 7.975 12.975

Cheng Fei didn't need full difficulty to win here, showing a double-twisting Yurchenko and a half on, layout front-half instead of her more difficult vaults. She took a small step on both landings, but had excellent height and form. Belgium's Aagje Vanwalleghem competed a Yurchenko-1.5 with a big hop and a very good half on, piked front-half for the silver. Anna Pavlova showed the same two vaults as did Cheng, hitting the Yurchenko but landing her second vault on one knee for third place. Ariella Kaeslin attempted the most difficult vault of the day, a layout rudi (start value 6.3!), but fell. Elena Zamolodchikova also attempted more difficult vaults than she did yesterday, but landed deep on her double-twisting Yurchenko and fell forward on her half on, layout front-half. Clearly Zamo isn't in the best of shapes.


Cheng Fei (photo: Matt Dunham/AP Photos)

Beam
1 CHENG Fei CHN 6.800 8.725 0.1 15.425
2 MITCHELL Lauren AUS 6.500 8.650 15.150
3 YANG Yilin CHN 6.400 8.675 15.075
4 WEVERS Sanne NED 6.300 8.575 14.875
5 PAVLOVA Anna RUS 6.000 8.750 14.750
6 LOZHECHKO Yulia RUS 6.000 8.575 14.575
7 SAJN Adela SLO 6.000 8.300 14.300
8 SAWA Sydney CAN 5.600 6.975 12.575

One more victory for Cheng Fei! She took small steps on her full twist and pike back, and a step sideways on her dismount, but hit a good sheep jump and front somi for the gold. Lauren Mitchell suffered a big wobble after her layout stepout, layout back combo, but got a lot of applause for her double squat turn, and a well-deserved silver medal too. Yang Yilin took a small step on her punch front and on her dismount, but was very clean elsewhere (good Onodi, ff, layout stepout combo) for the bronze. Sanne Wevers hit her double turn with raised leg, front aerial to Kochetkova, combination of two side aerials, and dismount, but somehow finished outside the medals. Anna Pavlova wobbled after her side somi and full turn, then injured herself on her dismount, while Yulia Lozhechko had balance checks on her front somi to scale and side somi. Adela Sajn lost her balance after a sheep jump and missed a connection, and Sydney Sawa came off on an Onodi and landed her dismount off the mat. Wevers, Sajn, Sawa, and Mitchell all hit double turns. That's a lot of double turns in one final!


Cheng Fei (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Floor
1 CHENG Fei CHN 6.200 9.050 15.250
2 MITCHELL Lauren AUS 6.000 8.775 0.1 14.675
3 YANG Yilin CHN 5.700 8.475 0.1 14.075
3 BUI Kim GER 5.600 8.475 14.075
5 BOCZOGO Dorina HUN 5.400 8.525 13.925
5 MOEBIUS Joeline GER 5.800 8.225 0.1 13.925
7 STAEMPFLI Linda SUI 5.500 8.125 13.625
8 HYPOLITO Daniele BRA 4.300 8.375 12.675

Cheng Fei hit all her tumbling (piked full-in, whip to triple twist, 1.5 twist to full, 2.5 twist) and showed good amplitude on her leaps for yet another victory. Lauren Mitchell went out of bounds on her piked full-in and fell out of her triple turn, but nailed her double Arabian and other passes for her second silver of the day. Yang Yilin came up short on her triple twist and landed her 2.5 twist out of bounds, but hit a very good triple turn for her second bronze of the day. She had to share her medal with Germany's Kim Bui, who took a step forward on her piked full-in, but hit her 2.5 twist, front-half combo, 1.5 twist forward and double pike, and seemed immensely pleased with her medal. Dorina Boczogo nailed some good tumbling passes: Double Arabian, double front and double pike. She tied the second German in the final, Joeline Moebius, who hit a piked full-in (out of bounds), 1.5 twist through to 2.5 twist, and double pike. Linda Staempfli showed a good double pike and a nice Li Li spin, but took a big step on her 2.5 twist. Daniele Hypolito underrotated her 2.5 twist and lacked the difficulty to challenge the other finalists.

And so the women's event finals of the DTB Cup ended with another very good day for Cheng Fei, who was clearly in a league of her own in Stuttgart. If only she could have ruled like that in Beijing...

Ah well. Better not go there.

Men's results and highlights will follow later. Yes, really.

Tomorrow some of the competitors will take part in an all-around competition. Stay tuned...