ATHENS: In a week, Teng Haibin has gone from hell to heaven.

Before the pommel horse final at the Athens Olympics on Sunday, he was still the sinner of the Chinese men's gymnastic team: The 18-year-old from Beijing made three huge mistakes during the team final on August 16, including dropping from pommel horse and horizontal bar, costing China, the reigning Olympic champion, a team title which it saw as a sure gold.

A week later, the Chinese team was still clouded by a dismal atmosphere without winning a gold medal in the preceding several days when Teng came to the pommel horse and executed a perfect routine to become an Olympic champion.

The distance between melancholy and exhilaration was so short that Teng couldn't find the right mood to taste the sweetness of his newfound gold.

"I have experienced deep lows and lofty highs in such a short time. And now all I have is a mixed feeling," said a perplexed Teng without a trace of happiness.

"All of those 'goods' and 'bads' happened so quickly... I have not figured out a way to accept them.

"It's just complicated."

For the past week, agony had been a constant companion to Teng, a rising star in the Chinese squad who had already established himself with a pommel horse world title at last year's Anaheim World Championships.

Fielding Olympic champions Li Xiaopeng, Yang Wei, Huang Xu and new talents Xiao Qin and Teng, China went into the team final with an absolute advantage, especially with five world titles and an Olympic title.

But it suffered an untimely low in Athens when its stars could not handle the pressure and made uncharacteristic errors in turn on the various apparatuses.

Teng's was the worst among them - he slipped down from the pommel horse, failed the parallel bars routine and dropped from the horizontal bar. He made erratic errors on three of the four events he entered.

The Chinese finished a humiliating fifth place as arch rival Japan, bronze medal winner at Anaheim, won the gold medal, followed by the United States and Romania.

"I wanted to have a big cry after the team final," recalled Teng. "I just felt guilty, shameful."

All of his teammates came to hug Teng, however, but that was not enough to comfort him. "I am deeply sorry for them because it was because of me that they could not win the gold or even any medal."

The agony became almost unbearable as his teammates fell one by one in the later competitions: with a lead after five apparatuses, Yang dropped from the horizontal bar in the men's all-round and lost the gold in the last minute.

Then, the women's gymnastics team had an error-prone performance and ranked a low seventh place in their team final.

As the gymnastic competition was reaching the final stage, China - a strong traditional power in the sport and winner of five gold medals in Anaheim -was almost empty-handed except a bronze from Zhang Nan in the women's all-around.

Teng had to compete in such an atmosphere - and what made things worse is that another Chinese gymnast Wang Tiantian ranked only second to last on women's vault final right before his competition.

"I didn't expect that I could win the gold before the match," said Teng. "I thought I didn't have enough power to square up with all the other competitors although I am the reigning world pommel horse champion."

The actually battle was even more intense than he expected - six of the seven athletes before him scored more than 9.7, including a seemingly unbeatable 9.825 from defending Olympic champion and two-time world champion Daniel Marius Urzica from Romania.

"I didn't even have hopes for a medal," he said. "I just wanted to come out to do my best."

After a hug from his coach, Teng came to the apparatus and completed a flawless routine. Suddenly, a stunning 9.837 flashed onto the screen and Teng yelled and punched fists into air in celebration. The crowd in the venue erupted into a massive ovation.

"I just want to thank all my teammates for their support."

There is too much now for the young Teng to remember. He is one of the young hopefuls who it is believed will shine four years from now in Beijing.

"I will remember the feeling, the blood and guts of this Olympics, including success and defeat," said Teng. "I hope I can learn a lesson from it all so I can be prepared for the Beijing Games."

(China Daily 08/24/2004 page16)