A look at some of the specialists in contention for the Chinese men’s world team…
The Chinese National Games took place just a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve got tons of videos for you from some of the Chinese men’s stars – both past and present. We’ll go through each event here and see who their top guns currently are. Which of these gymnasts will we see in London in less than two weeks?
Zou Kai FX 2009 Chinese National Games EF
Well the 2008 Olympic floor champion hasn’t changed much since last year…he’s still got an absolutely loaded routine and makes some of the toughest combinations in the world look effortless, yet still has THE WORSE CORNER TRANSITIONS of just about any gymnast in the world! I can’t believe they have not worked on this guy’s presentation! The crazy thing is there really isn’t anywhere in the men’s code that can deduct for this. Then again, he did lose 1.15 in execution on this routine, so maybe they are deducting? That would be a great statement if they were, because moping around out there without any regard for posture and doing a dozen peter pan jumps with his head down and back leg bent is simply inexcusable.
Huang Yuguo FX 2009 Chinese National Games EF
Love that mount! Notice on the double front in the first pass and on the Arabian double front on the last past, he had his knees together and toes pointed! This guy placed 2nd to Zou Kai by 0.125, and although he had a little less difficulty, I MUCH prefer this guy’s presentation. He actually looked sharp in between his passes. He obviously didn’t mean to do two rudi’s…he did one after the 2 ½ and one after the 1 ½ - maybe the second one was supposed to be a double full.
Liang Fuliang FX 2009 Chinese National Games EF
This guy was one of the stars that got bumped off the Olympic team in Beijing when former world champion Li Xiaopeng made a comeback. Nice to see him still around! It’s great seeing a laid-out double-double from a Chinese guy too…just as we’ve seen on high bar, they’ve had a tendency in recent years to resort to combinations rather than big skills.
Zhang Hongtao PH 2009 Chinese National Games Prelims
AS GOOD AS IT GETS!!! This guy continues to blow me away. When I first saw him last year, I was convinced he was going to take over the reigns from multiple world and 2008 Olympic champion Xiao Qin…that is, until I realized that Xiao Qin HAS NOT RETIRED!!! Apparently, Xiao Qin actually BEAT Hongtao in the event finals of this competition, although I don’t have his whole routine yet:
News footage of Xiao Qin’s gold medal at 2009 Chinese National Games
I wish I had both of those routines! Although I don’t understand Chinese, it looks to me like Hongtao and Xiao Qin actually tied with a 16.3, but since Xiao Qin’s execution score was higher (9.6 vs. 9.4), he was given the gold. The question is, will both of these gymnasts be placed on the world team? I hope so, because that could be one of the best battles for gold in the history of pommel horse! Although there are other great pommel horse workers from China, you’d have to think these two would be the most likely candidates for the world team on this event, given they are unquestionably the top two pommel horse workers in the world. One problem they may run into when picking this team is whether to go for two gold medal favorites on a single event like this one, versus guys who can do multiple events or even the all-around.
Next, we’ll take a look at a similar rivalry from two of the strongest guys in the world on rings – both in contention for the Chinese world team!