Jiang snags 1st gold at Invitational

Jiang Yuyuan of China competes in the women's individual all-around final at the International Invitational Tournament held at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing yesterday. Xinhua

In the newly built National Indoor Stadium, the venue of the 2008 Olympic gymnastics competitions, Jiang stood atop the podium with a gold medal hanging around her neck. The national flag was hoisted and the whole audience was standing, giving her an ovation.

Minutes earlier, the 15-year-old defeated a strong field of gymnasts from around the world - including returning 2005 all-around world champion Chellsie Memmel of the US - to win the women's all-around with 61.225 total points at the 2007 Gymnastics International Invitational Tournament. This was the opening event of the tournament, making Jiang the first-ever gold-medal winner at this venue, which was completed only a week ago.

In the night competition, Chinese male gymnasts added a second gold for the host in the men's team final.

"The feeling is so good," said China's newest gymnastic discovery and a medal prospect for the Beijing Games. "I am very excited that I can win the first gold, and I feel happier when it comes from the all-around event."

The tournament, an Olympic test event, gave her a taste of what it takes to win, and served as a good lesson that will help her seven months from now in this same 18,000-seat stadium - if she wants to win, she needs to be tough.

Jiang made a major mistake in Wednesday's qualification round, falling twice from the beam. The error did not prevent her from qualifying for the final with strong performances on three other apparatuses, including 15.725 points on uneven bars, the best score of the day. But her poor performance on the beam cast doubts over her gold prospects for the final.

Due to a lingering foot injury, Jiang had not competed on the beam internationally for almost a year. In the 2007 Stuttgart World Championships the injury kept her off the beam, though she still helped China win a team silver medal.

But the Zhejiang native is no slouch on the beam and, with a potential 7.1 degree of difficulty, she performs one of the most difficult beam routines at the tournament.

"One of the goals here is to test her depth on the beam," said her coach Xiong Jingbin.

It was not difficult to see how nervous Jiang was as she approached the apparatus as the early leader after two events in the final round yesterday.

Standing on the side of the arena, she bowed her head, closed her eyes and stood still for several minutes before being interrupted by a TV cameraman.

"I was just trying to review the whole routine," Jiang recalled.

She appeared a little bit sloppy after a few movements on the beam and struggled to land some of her jumps. After skillfully regaining her balance at one crucial moment, Jiang held on to finish the routine and earned a score of 15.4, the highest among all the competitors.

"I was equally nervous when I watched her doing her routine," Xiong said. "She did a good job, better than I expected despite some flaws."

After her beam routine, Jiang had no problem sealing the gold after another strong performance on the floor.

Australian Daria Joura finished in a distant second with 59.8 total points and American Bridget Sloan came in third with 59.225. Memmel finished fifth with 57.425.

Jiang's coach believes the victory will help the teenager secure an Olympic ticket with the star-studded Chinese women's team. "It makes her more competitive and puts her in front of the line in the race for the 2008 team," Xiong said.

After making to the national team at age 10, Jiang has established herself as one of the world's best female gymnasts in only three international appearances, including yesterday's event.

In her first international competition at the Shanghai World Cup in July, Jiang stunned the field by winning two gold medals, including one on the floor where she upset then-reigning world champion Cheng. She also won a sliver with the team at the Stuttgart Worlds in September, and just missed a medal on the floor by finishing fourth.

But Jiang would rather consider herself an all-around gymnast, and is ready to challenge the US athletes who have dominated the event over the past few years.

"I will give my best no matter how good they are," she said.

(China Daily 11/30/2007 page22)