China's Yang Wei celebrates on the podium his gold medal won at the parallel bars during the apparatus finals at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, October 21, 2006. [Reuters]

The talented but somewhat unfortunate two-time world individual all-round runner-up, finally showed his dominance at the worlds in Denmark by pocketing three gold medals on men's team, individual all-round and parallel bars.

The performance was an unexpected surprise for the 26-year-old veteran, who was only on the brink of retirement two years ago. This week's win has boosted his confidence in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics.

"The success over the past few days is like a fairytale for me, it is a dream come true, but I have a bigger dream in my heart - to win the all-round gold medal at the Beijing Games," said Yang. "That's the ultimate goal of my life, I see the World Championships as a stimulant for it.

"It's not the time for the last celebration, this is a new beginning for myself and also the whole team," he added

Despite being one of the world's elite all-round gymnasts, Yang Wei considered retirement in 2004 after failing to win an individual title at major tournaments in his career.

He finished runner-up twice in the all-round competition before the Aarhus meet, once at worlds in 2003 and the other at the Athens Olympics two years ago.

But the gymnast from Xiantao City of Hubei Province, a place dubbed "the city of gymnastics" because of its extraordinary gymnastic talent pool, sounded his comeback in a dramatic fashion by dominating the stage in Aarhus.

"I didn't know what I was going to do if I retired after the Athens Games," he said. "I am so fortunate that I didn't give up. I think it is my family who help me stay."

Yang said he has learnt how to find a winning way from the Aarhus success.

"This world championship helped me realize that the last moment is the most important. Your attitude is also important. You should be calm."

Yang Yun, Yang Wei's girlfriend and former captain of the women's national team, believed the returning champion had every chance to win the gold in Beijing.

"I was overwhelmed watching him perform so great at the worlds," she said. "He is an incredible athlete and also a great man with great determination and motivation. I am confident that he is able to stand on the top podium at Beijing Olympics."

The national team laid a fantastic groundwork for the Beijing Games in Denmark by wrapping up a staggering eight gold medals. That's more than half the 14 golds awarded over nine-day event - a reclaim of dominance for the upcoming host of the Olympics.

Alongside the men's squad headed by Yang Wei, women's team upstaged favourites the United States to storm to their first women's team title in history with Cheng Fei seizing another three golds.

"The team has begun to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and we will learn lessons from this competition and try to be the best in 2008," said Yang Wei. "We showed our power to the world, the achievement is definitely undisputed."

Plagued with injuries, China fielded a men's team made up mostly of teenagers, six of whom have not yet competed internationally. But their performances show signs of a bright future.

"Some young players put on amazing performances in their first major competitions. It is a good chance to gain experience and improve skills," Huang Yubin, head coach of the national team.

The biggest surprise came from rookie Chen Yibing. The 22-year-old from Tianjin helped elevate the men's team out of the dismal caused by a disappointing fifth finish at the 2004 Athens Games. Chen then seized his second gold on the highly-competitive competition on rings.

"I am now aiming at the Beijing Olympics and I hope to play even better in 2008," said Chen

Women's young gymnasts Pang Panpan, Li Ya, He Ning and Zhou Zhuoru are also in the spotlight while making their championships debut.

Improvements needed

Despite the encouraging results, Huang voices concern.

"Actually, some of the best athlete didn't come, including Paul Hamm and his brother Morgan of the United States. Besides, the Olympics and the World Championships are different," he said.

China also proves to be a quick adapter to the new system of marking came under the microscope during event at Aarhus. The maximum 10 score has been scrapped and replaced by a new accumulative points system, which credits the routine's content, difficulty and execution.

"We get used to the new scoring system a bit earlier than other countries but they are also improving very fast and try to understand the new system."

Huang asked his players to keep composure and make extra efforts to improve.

"We made some mistakes during the competition," he said. "We used very difficult moves this time in Denmark to win a higher starting points from referees, but that requires higher techniques and very challenging. We need to polish our skills after the event and work more on keeping stability."

(China Daily 10/27/2006 page15)