Chinese News... and Some AYOF Videos You May Have Missed

We have a lot of Chinese news to catch up on, and we expect to have enough time over the next few weeks to post most of it. But before we dig into the older stuff we somehow didn't get around to posting before, here's some recent news...

Chen Yibing and He Wenna dating?
Lately the Chinese gymnastics headlines have been dominated by Olympic still rings champion Chen Yibing's presumed relationship with Olympic trampolining champion He Wenna. Chen and He have been spotted and photographed together on several occasions, having dinner, doing some window-shopping, attending a concert, and generally looking quite close (watch this video for images of them together), leading some to believe there is more between them than mere friendship. According to Sina, Chen Yibing is quite upset about the constant speculation about him and He, saying that people should focus on his sporting achievements rather than his private life. A few days ago the ring specialist told the Chinese press: "It is said on the Internet that we are in love, which I will neither confirm nor deny. We are friends, so it's normal that we should share a meal every now and then. I've haven't done anything to feel guilty about. I don't want to give an explanation, nor should I have to. I don't want to pay any attention to this sort of thing." For her part, He Wenna is supposedly laughing the whole thing off, saying she finds the hullabaloo about her supposed relationship with Chen Yibing "pretty ridiculous." We'll keep an eye on the situation...


Chen Yibing and He Wenna: an item?
(Photos: Matt Dunham/AP Photo (left) and Reuters (right))

Jiang Yuyuan wants to receive more applause...
In women's team news, Jiang Yuyuan was reportedly very surprised to hear that her province, Zhejiang, had nominated her for the provincial Athlete of the Year Award despite her failure to medal in the Olympic all-around competition. It seems Jiang is determined to do better in 2009. According to Sina, her goal for 2009 is "to show myself and receive more applause." We don't know about you, but we like the sound of that!


Jiang Yuyuan, keen to "show herself" in 2009 (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Finally, some more videos from the Australian Youth Olympic Festival...
We never got to finish our AYOF coverage last month, partly because of other demands on our time, and partly because we were waiting for those who attended and filmed the competition to upload their videos of the final day of competition. Well, by now all the women's finalists' routines and a few men's routines have been uploaded, and just in case you hadn't discovered them for yourselves, we thought we'd link to some more videos of the young Chinese stars who wowed the crowd in Sydney.

This is Wu Liufang's winning routine in the balance beam final (score: 15.600). As far as we're concerned, Wu needs to learn to work a bit faster, but the style and skills are all very much there. We can't get over how gorgeous Wu's Yang Bo jump is. She is quite promising on bars and floor as well, although she will need significant upgrades on both events to become a serious contender for medals.


New Chinese star Tan Sixin at the AYOF (photo: Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Secondly, this is the reason why our new favorite beam worker Tan Sixin didn't win the AYOF beam final: she had two major balance checks (punch front, sheep jump) and landed her dismount on her head. Her dismount looked pretty scary in prelims as well, so that's obviously something she needs to work on. Still, outstanding work from the young gymnast from Shanghai; it's obvious why she won the silver in Sydney despite the mistakes. Just look at the way she works in relevé (on her toes)! We can't wait to see more of this girl...

Finally, this is Cui Jie's gold-medal-winning 14.825 floor routine. The dance obviously needs some work (there are far too many breaks in the routine), but the tumbling has a lovely effortless quality. Give the girl a couple of years and she'll be a beautiful floor worker.


Cui Jie on the podium after winning the AYOF floor final
(Photo: Matt King/Getty Images)

And for the sake of completeness, here are two Chinese men's vaults from the AYOF, a nice double twist from Liu Zhanteng and an OK single twist from Wang Yongchao. Wang's floor exercise can also be viewed on YouTube. He'll need to upgrade the difficulty, but there's definitely some potential there.

More Chinese news to follow soon...

AYOF: One More Video, Plus the British Response

We were hoping to be able to give you a Chinese response to the Sydney action by now (or, failing that, some nice pictures of Cui Jie, Tan Sixin, and Wu Liufang), but the Chinese media aren't being very obliging - yet. We hope there will be more news and/or photos once the AYOF is over.

The only picture of a Chinese AYOF gymnast we've been able to find so far. Come on, Mark Nolan of Getty Images, we know you can do better than that!

For their part, the Australians aren't providing us with any interesting news or quotes either, but then we guess they don't have an awful lot to be excited about. Yet.

We did, however, find this: a video with quick glimpses of the women's team competition, courtesy of the AYOF site. It features footage of Cui Jie's new Yurchenko-1.5 as well as snippets of an interview with Australia's Britt Greeley. Here's hoping the AYOF site will post some more videos like this at some point...

The AYOF site also has a weirdish little radio interview with an Australian gymnast. They say it's Mary-Anne Monckton, but then they go on about her competition, and Monckton didn't actually compete, so we're not sure who's doing the talking here.

Also, the British team is getting plenty of media coverage. The British AYOF site is doing a terrific job of keeping its readers updated on Team GB's successes. This is what the Brits had to say after yesterday's all-around competitions...

Team GB’s male artistic gymnasts continued exactly where they left off yesterday by winning all three medals in the individual all-around competition and creating much excitement for the British contingent in the Sydney Olympic Park crowd.

Ashley Watson (Leeds) took top honours with a score of 82.800. His achievement was all the more remarkable given the fact that he fell during his pommel horse routine and was trailing in fifth place after half of the six apparatus competition had been completed.

Britain's three all-around medalists. From left to right: Reiss Beckford, Ashley Watson, and Max Whitlock (photo: British AYOF site)

Compatriots Reiss Beckford (Enfield) and Max Whitlock (Hemel Hempstead) took the silver and bronze medals with scores of 82.033 and 82.000 respectively. Team-mate Sam Oldham (Nottingham), who was forced to watch from the stands as he rested an injury, was impressed with what he saw, “I’m proud and pleased for them. They did really well today, especially beating the Chinese.” Oldham confirmed he will compete in the pommel horse and rings individual apparatus competitions tomorrow.

Russian Head Coach Andrei Popov was understandably chuffed, “I’m over the moon. Yesterday was a surprise for us but today we just carried on. I’m particularly pleased with the parallel bars and high bar performances, especially Ashley. He showed he can now compete with the best gymnasts in the world on the parallel bars.”

Watson was overjoyed with the victory, “I’m happy, especially after falling off the pommel, as it meant I had to keep fighting hard all the way to the end.” Commenting on the spirit within the group he said, “We’re a good team, we all work well together, helping each other when we’re feeling down.” Looking ahead he added, “Hopefully I’m going to excel on the parallel bars and high bar in the individual apparatus competitions.”

Beckford was also happy, “It was really good, apart from a little mishap on high bar when I missed a move. I was pleased with floor, vault and parallel bars. It feels really great to be competing in a multi-sport event and having a medal with the Olympic rings on it around my neck. Ashley and I are really good friends, we’re team-mates and rivals at the same time. Well done to him.”

Whitlock enjoyed the atmosphere in the arena, “It was a really good day and I was especially pleased with my pommel horse result. The crowd was amazing; they were really cheering for us.”

The British girls' team. From left to right: Danusia Francis, Nicole Watson, Jennifer Pinches, and Nicole Hibbert (photo: British AYOF site)

In the women’s event 14-year-old Nicole Hibbert was the top-placed Briton in fifth position with 54.775 points. Danusia Francis was close behind in sixth with 54.300 points and Nicole Watson came 11^th with 51.425 points. Jennifer Pinches was forced to sit out the competition through injury.

Anyone know what Jennifer Pinches's injury is?

More Sydney Goodness - Updated!

Flippingymkid just posted Tan Sixin's 15.85 beam routine from the team competition, and it's gorgeous. Tan does Li Shanshan's combination of ff-ff-whip-Korbut, and the whip just floats. It's beautiful. Her form on her other elements is exquisite as well, and she works on her toes, which is great. The dismount is a bit scary, but still, WOW.

And here, courtesy of krrustygym, is Cui Jie's 16.10 beam routine from the all-around competition. Yep, she hit the roundoff-whip combo all right!

We don't know about you, but we're very excited about this new crop of Chinese girls. They're just beautiful. China just keeps on producing these stunning gymnasts...

AYOF Videos - Updated!

Flippingymkid is uploading videos of yesterday's action in Sydney. There is still no video of Tan Sixin's 15.85 beam routine, but some other gems and not-quite-gems are beginning to pop up. Here are a few...

This is Natsumi Sasada's beam routine, featuring a beautiful layout Garrison mount (!) as well as a lovely combination of switch leap, scale and back tuck. Aside from the mount, it's not a terribly difficult routine, but even so it's obvious that Sasada is the completely package on beam. She can turn, twist and tumble and has good flexibility and extension too. Anyone know when she's turning senior?

And this is Natsumi Sasada again, this time on floor. Her presentation needs a little more maturity and conviction, but the tumbling and dance skills are definitely there. Also, she spends refreshingly little time standing in corners doing nothing. This girl has heaps of potential!

This is Yukimi Ueda's beam routine. Ueda still lacks a bit of sophistication (her arms look bad), but it's great to see the Japanese actually make an attempt at beam choreography, however clumsy. Good switch leap-piked back combo too.

This is Sakura Noda's uneven bar routine, which has a few problems (bent knees on the bail-half, non-vertical casts to handstand, late turns) but is promising nonetheless.

This is Wu Liufang's beam routine. Wu is a gorgeous beam worker. She has the best Yang Bo jump since Yang Bo herself, and if she ever hits that switch Yang, it will be gorgeous too. Keep an eye on this girl - she could just be China's new beam star!

This is Cui Jie's lovely beam routine. She falls on a roundoff-whip combo (a new pass for her, we think), but her power on her tumbling is impressive (great piked front), and she has great form as always, except on the sheep jump.

And this is Cui Jie's floor exercise. The video takes an awfully long time to load, but it's worth it to see Cui's nice and tidy double Arabian. We trust her choreography, which is not very fluid at present, will improve when she moves to Beijing.

This is Britain's Jennifer Pinches on bars. She needs to learn how to keep those hips straight, but her toepoint is impressive, and she has a pretty big dismount.

And this is Jennifer Pinches on floor. She has great tumbling for a junior and has a nice way of expressing music. Definitely a gymnast to watch!

This is Australia's Emily Little on beam. Little has plenty of difficulty and pretty good form throughout (except on the front aerial), but something is missing. A bit more attention for the non-counting elements would be nice. And yes, that includes the mount. God, we're sick of those tuck jump mounts.

This is Emily Little again, this time on bars. She obviously needs to work on her low-to-high transitions.

And finally, this is Natalia Joura's meltdown on bars. Yep, she makes many, many mistakes, but her form is reminiscent of her older sister's, and we mean that in the best possible way.

We're wondering if the bars might have been too close to each other when the Aussies were performing, since both Joura and Little seemed to misjudge their distance to the high bar on their shoots from low to high and the rest of the team had plenty of problems on bars as well...

Keep checking back - we're sure there are lots of good videos still to come!

Spotlight: Chinese Juniors

On Thursday, January 15, the 2009 competitive season kicks off with the Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) in Sydney, featuring teams from Australia, China, Great Britain, Japan, Malaysia, and New Zealand. (The list of competing athletes can be found here.)

We were hoping to do a nice writeup on the two Australian teams in the competition, one of which includes Dasha Joura's younger sister, Natalia. Unfortunately we had too many other pressing demands on our time to get around to it. We did, however, get JW to do a great writeup on the Chinese girls competing in Sydney, replete with photos and YouTube videos. The story focuses mainly on China's most famous junior, Cui Jie, but there is some material on the three other girls as well. Enjoy!

Meet China’s AYOF team

China’s WAG contingent includes the talented Cui Jie, already a favorite among international fans, and three newcomers: Fu Bo, Tan Sixin, and Wu Liufang. The team selection appears to have been determined in large part by results from the 2008 Junior Nationals, held in Dali (Yunnan Province) last September, where Wu Liufang and Cui Jie placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the “A” age group, and Tan Sixin and Fu Bo claimed gold and bronze in the “B” division and led their Shanghai team to victory.

Here, Tan (front row, on the right) and Fu (back row, but not sure which girl) appear with the rest of the winning Shanghai team:


(photo: SH Sports)

And here, Tan Sixin performs on FX:


(photo: SH Sports)

(The A-division winner in Dali, Chen Chuyan, is now a senior and thus ineligible for AYOF, while Fu Bo is apparently a last-minute replacement for B-division runner-up, Wang Anqi.)

Wu Liufang represents Guangdong Province, the powerhouse team behind such current and past stars as Yang Yilin, Li Shanshan, Peng Sha, Huang Mandan, and Li Li. She placed 16th AA at the 2007 Intercity Games (a multi-sport national competition for young athletes). In September 2008 she participated in the Guangdong Junior Championships, where Loo_Winnie, a fan from Hong Kong, caught her in action (photo and video both used with Winnie’s express permission):

Wu Liufang on beam - check out those leaps!


Wu Liufang (photo: Loo_Winnie)

And here, she poses on beam:


Wu Liufang (photo: Li Xiang)

Cui Jie is by far the best known of this quartet. At 4’2” (give or take), the teen from Changsha (Hunan Province) is one of the smallest gymnasts on the international scene, but her diminutive stature belies a presence and polish beyond her years. She already shows an impressive level of difficulty and good execution on every event, and with proper training and pacing, she could emerge as China’s next star. A fixture at national competitions since 2006, she achieved her first major breakthrough at the 2007 Intercity Games. Her sixth-place finish in the all-around was tops for any provincial-level (i.e. non-national team) gymnast, and the five girls who placed ahead of her (Yang Yilin, Xiao Sha, Li Shanshan, Deng Linlin, and Sui Lu) would eventually be named to China’s Olympic training squad. Cui also qualified to three event finals, placing third on BB, fourth on FX, and fifth on UB. Her outstanding performance earned her a coveted spot on the junior national Team in Beijing.

2008 brought Cui Jie’s much-anticipated international debut. In March, she traveled to the U.S. for the Pacific Rim Championships in San Jose, California. As a warm-up for Pac Rim, she competed at the little-publicized Houston International Invitational, where she grabbed first all-around and scored an impressive 16.15 on beam. In San Jose, a nasty fall on her UB dismount dropped her to seventh all-around in the junior division, but she rallied in event finals to share the beam title with USA junior standout Rebecca Bross.


Cui Jie, mid-twist at the 2008 Individual National Championships in Qingdao (photo: Sina)

Cui maintained a busy competitive schedule throughout 2008. In May, she headed to Tianjin for Chinese Nationals. Although she didn’t win any medals, she performed well enough to finish 11th AA (the only junior in the top 12), sixth on beam, and fifth on FX. A heavy favorite to win the “A”-division all-around title at Junior Nationals, she found herself in third place after a sub-par performance on beam. Competing at the Individual Nationals in Qingdao several weeks later, she placed in the top-5 AA and qualified to BB and FX finals.

Cui returned to the Hunan Provincial Team for a brief period last fall but reported back to the National Training Center in Beijing earlier this month to prepare for AYOF. According to Chinese blogger Xiao Jun, Cui will remain on the national team after AYOF, training alongside Olympians Jiang Yuyuan and Deng Linlin in the coaching group headed by Xiong Jingbin and Zhang Xia. Xiong also coached Lu Li to UB gold at the 1992 Olympics. Given Xiong’s impressive resume and his new pupil’s considerable talents, this seems like an excellent match, and it will be exciting to see what the future holds for Cui Jie.

Some of Cui Jie’s better performances from 2007 and 2008:

Vault from 2007 Chinese Nationals (she has apparently upgraded to a Yurchenko-1.5, but we haven’t been able to find a video)

Bars from a competition in May 2007

Beam: bronze-medal-winning performance at the 2007 Intercity Games

Beam: 2008 Pac Rim prelims

Floor: 2008 Chinese Nationals

This article was based on the following sources: Dali Daily, SH Sports, and Xiaojun Gym.

Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You… NOT!

Here at the Triple Full headquarters we can't wait till it's 2009. Not just because that's when the new code comes into effect (cue one HUGE sigh of relief on our collective parts), but also because it will be interesting to see which juniors-turned-seniors will enrich the sport with their presence.

Among the more interesting juniors we think will turn senior in 2009 (some confirmation would be nice) are Tatiana Nabieva, Tatiana Solovyeva, Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Samantha Shapiro, Rebecca Bross, Peng-Peng Lee, and Charlotte Mackie. We can't wait to see these girls take on this year's crop of champions.


The young Russian we most look forward to seeing in 2009: Tatiana Solovyeva

However, this post is not about them. It's about the juniors you won't be seeing on the senior stage next year because they'll still be under age. And boy, are you missing out on something good.

Our top-5 of sadly age-ineligible budding stars:

Cui Jie
China's tiny Cui Jie gets our vote for the Most-Promising-Junior-You're-Not-Likely-to-See-in-a-Senior Competition-Any-Time-Soon Award. She's basically a younger Cheng Fei – not terribly impressive on bars (by Chinese standards, that is), but excellent on the other events. Check out the floor exercise she did as a 13-year-old (featuring a gorgeous double Arabian) and you'll see why we're excited about her. Her beam also has future greatness written all over it. Watch those arms – they're beautiful. If she ever learns to connect that front tuck-Rueda combination, we'll love her all the way to a stack of gold medals.

Aliya Mustafina
We're not sure whether the mature Aliya Mustafina will live up to the promise of her extremely precocious 11-year-old self (best seen here), but we still enjoy watching her a lot. She has beautiful lines and extension, some original dance and pirouettes, and a bit of that old Soviet elegance that is all too rarely encountered in the sport these days. She's a rhythmic gymnast among acrobats, and the new code should work in her favor. Pencil her in for a few medals over the next quad. And her younger sister Nailya for the quad after that.


Aliya Mustafina (Photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox)

Larisa Iordache
Larisa Iordache is Romania's national junior champion in her age category. The girl is twelve and has a fair bit of presence for one so young, not to mention some impressive skills. She hails from the same club that produced Aurelia Dobre, Dinamo Bucharest, and her coaches are quick to compare her to Aurelia, saying, "Larisa is exactly like Aurelia was twenty years ago." We don't know about you, but we like the sound of that. Click here to see an 11-year-old Larisa rock the floor in 2007!


Larisa Iordache (Photo: Ayako Murao)

Viktoria Komova
Viktoria Komova has good genes. She's Vera Kolesnikova's daughter and she's clearly inherited her mother's talent. She mounts floor with a 1.5 twist through to a double Arabian (check it out here), and while her dance is nothing to write home about yet, her form and general liveliness indicate that she could become a decent dancer given some more time and a good choreographer. Plus she's working on a ff-layout stepout-Arabian combo and a double Arabian dismount on beam (yes, really). Madness, we tell you. Madness. Of a kind we highly appreciate.

Jordyn Wieber
If there's one thing all three of us agree on, it's that we dislike Jordyn Wieber's hands. However, if someone tells the kid to stop flexing those wrists, she'll have a bright future ahead of her. Especially if those rumors about her Amanar vault are true. Because that would be awesome.

Here's hoping these girls won't go the Nadezhda Ivanova / Irina Isayeva way…