Teng wins China's first gymnastic gold
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-23 06:21

Teng Haibin, the youngest in the star-studded Chinese men's gymnastics team, jumped out of his black week and clinched the first Olympic gold medal for his team on pommel horse in Athens on Sunday night.

Teng's gold was so heavy as he had to beat not only the world-recognized pommel king, Marian Urzica from Romania, but also the great pressure exerted on him in the past week in Athens.

Teng, 19, the rising star in recent years who was expected to be the successor of the popular star Li Xiaopeng, suffered a string of heavy blows since the beginning of the Athens Olympic Games.

On August 14 in the qualification, Teng fell twice from the parallel bars, which is his strongest apparatus, getting the shameful score of only 6.775 points. The result not only deprived China of a gold-catching point on parallel bars, but also sent the Chinese men's team to the fourth place in the qualifiers of the final.

On August 16 in the team final, Teng sank into Waterloo as he tumbled on the floor, fell from the parallel bars and the high bar, scoring 8.662, 8.737 and 9.125 points respectively, which, to some extent, directly sent the Chinese team to the fifth place, the worst mark of the team in Olympics since 1984.

From then on, "inexperienced, too young", such words were tags from the Chinese coaches and analysts when they were asked to comment on Teng.

However, Teng made a brilliant return tonight, telling the world that he still has power to go ahead.

In the pommel horse final, Urzica, the top favorite for the gold who finished first on the event at the 2000 and 2001 worlds, and at the 2000 and 2002 World Cup finals, performed before Teng and scored the then highest points of 9.825.

As all the spectators expected Urzica to defend his Olympic title, Teng, the last one to perform, featured a series of dazzling movements and his stuck landing won huge applause.

"9.837", Teng became the winner and the hero of the gold-thirsty Chinese gymnastics team.

Teng said after the competition that he did not feel that greatfor taking the gold.

"I made too many mistakes in the team final. I felt deeply regretted for that. And I think today's gold can not offset my errors at that night." Teng said.

Huang Xu, the Chinese men's gymnastics team captain who finished fourth in tonight's pommel horse final with 9.775 points,told reporters, "As a teenager, Teng is so great that he jumped out of those failures in such a short time and get the first gold medal for our team in Athens."

Teng began the sport when he was five and joined the national team in 1998 at the age of 13. He won two gold medals at the 2003 World Championships where he sealed the team gold for China with his 9.725 on the high bar and won another world title on the pommel horse.

Chinese team head coach Huang Yubin has ever said, "Teng is very light. All his moves look like he is floating. He has a couple of tricks that have never been done on parallel bars -- a jam full-twisting -- and can do the same trick on the high bar. He is only 18 and he caught everybody's attention. People are predicting he will peak for the 2008 Olympics."