China's squad one of world's best despite inexperience
Trampoline has quickly gained popularity in China having only been introduced to the country 10 years ago, and the national team is hoping for a good performance at the Beijing Olympic Games next year.
"At present, China's men's trampoline team is among the world's top teams and the women's is even stronger, and with fewer opponents," said Chen Qilin, coach of China's trampoline team.
The sport began in the US after World War II and spread to Europe in the 1950s, coming to China in the late 1990s.
The State General Administration of Sports first considered trampoline a competitive event in 1997 and China's national team was formed in 2002.
Chen was one of the first trampoline coaches in China. Like many of his peers, he turned to it from gymnastics. His student, Ye Shuai, the 2007 men's trampoline world champion, is also one of China's first athletes specially trained for trampoline.
"Most of the Chinese coaches and athletes for trampoline are turned from gymnastics and sports acrobatics, in which the trampoline is a traditional auxiliary training tool," said Chen, who has worked with trampoline essentially from its introduction into China.
"From the very beginning, we had to learn from invited foreign experts and watching competition videos.
"But since it is a sport requiring great agility, which is always considered an advantage for Chinese athletes, it is suitable for the Chinese."
Indeed, China took to the trampoline quickly.
In 2003, the Chinese trampoline team won the silver medal at its first World Championships appearance.
At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, where the Chinese trampoline team made its Olympic debut, China's Huang Shanshan claimed the bronze medal in the women's singles competition.
At the World Championships the following year, both the Chinese men's and women's teams stepped atop of the podiums by winning gold medals in team events. Huang continued her rise to the top by winning the world championship title in 2006.
The 2007 World Championships, held in November in Quebec, Canada, witnessed the Chinese team's continued progress in individual trampoline events.
Ye and teammate Dong Dong finished first and second, respectively, for the men and Huang and her young teammate He Wenna finished second and fourth, respectively, on the women's side.
The team also won four tickets to next year's Olympic Games.
"After all of those achievements, an Olympic gold medal is what we are lacking," said Zhao Jiawei, director of China's Trampoline Department.
"It is no doubt that we have the power for a gold, but since we still have some strong opponents and the sport is full of accidents, it is hard to say. But, we will try our best to perform at our best forms."
(China Daily 12/14/2007 page22)
