Some more Chinese male specialists we may see in London…
Speaking of rivalries between Olympic champions and new stars…how about this matchup?
Yan Mingyong Rings 2009 Chinese National Games Prelims
Chen Yibing Rings 2009 Japan Cup
WOW…who is better? Chen’s routine is from the recent Japan Cup…apparently he took third at the recent National Games (supposedly was suffering from the flu), while Yan Mingyong won gold. This could be an incredible matchup, but as with pommel horse, the question will be whether there will be room for both of these gymnasts on the team. I would think that China will be trying to win as many events as possible.
Lu Bin Vault 2009 Chinese National Games EF
He was the champ here with a strong 16.125 average. Interesting technique on that first vault…the twist started kind of slow and then he sped it up on the second twist. And not a bad landing on either vault!
Huang Yuguo Vault 2009 Chinese National Games AA
WOW!!! This was from the AA, and this was one of the gymnasts we saw on floor. He stuck that exactly the way he stuck that first pass on floor – in a perfect position! How often do you see a Kasamatsu 1 ½ stuck perfectly???
Feng Zhe PB 2009 Chinese National Games EF
He was the winner with a 15.5. I was amazed they actually deducted 1.4 from this routine…that is INSANE! It seems like overall the scores at these Chinese National Games have been incredibly harsh on both the men’s and women’s sides…in contrast to what we saw happening leading up to the Olympics last year, where their scores at home competitions seemed somewhat inflated.
Wang Quanyin PB 2009 Chinese National Games EF
He was second with a 15.475 – they deducted 1.525 from this one! A front uprise-diamidov has been in the code for a long time, but we almost NEVER see it. He makes it look pretty easy, and does in combination with a front uprise-double back – awesome!
Zou Kai HB 2009 Chinese National Games EF
He won here with a 15.25 (7.0 D-score), but I’ll be honest, he is NOT my favorite gymnast to watch on high bar. He’s lacking in lines and seriously lacking in toe point, and I think that’s one of the reasons I felt Jonathan Horton should have won the gold in Beijing. As we saw on floor, Zou Kai is not exactly the most artistic gymnast around.
Guo Weiyang HB 2009 Chinese National Games EF
Nice set! It’s funny though…we are starting to see high bar routines that are almost compulsory. Nearly all of the top routines have the same sequences – a Takamoto-full to Yamawaki, an attempted Takamoto-half into a layout Tcatchev, a couple of other D-skills like an endo-full, a stalder-half-Higgins, and/or a Rybalko, and a double-double dismount. This guy’s Takamoto-full did look a little more stylish than most, I will admit.
Zhou Sixiong HB 2009 Chinese National Games EF
There’s a different one…never seen that combo before – endo full to elgrip to immediate layout Yaeger with a full twist! It actually looked like he may have been planning to connect that Rybalko into a release as well (maybe a layout Yaeger) before he fell off. Pretty cool to see at least some of the Chinese starting to take some risk with some of their high bar routines – they’ve typically always done the boring combinations without anything spectacular.
So there’s a look at many of the gymnasts in contention for their world team. Who’s going to make it? Well, you’d have to think that Zou Kai is probably a lock, given he has established himself as China’s best on two out of the six events. I think they may end up ditching any medal opportunities on vault and focusing on the other five events, but we’ll have to see. The question may be whether they even put any all-arounders on the team or simply go for individual event medals. Teng Haibin was the all-around champ at these National Games, for example.