China’s male gymnasts are poised to dominate in front of their home fans at the Beijing Olympics if they can maintain an awesome run of form that has rivals likening them to machines.
China has a strong record at the gymnastics world championships but has struggled to convert it into Olympic success, where the US, Russia and defending champions Japan are the traditional superpowers.
But with the US missing injured star Paul Hamm and Japan struggling since the Athens Games in 2004, experts believe the sleeping giant will finally stir in Beijing.
Romania’s Nadia Comaneci, who put gymnastics on the map with her perfect 10 score at the 1976 Montreal Games, has strongly backed the team that won four of the eight golds on offer at the world championships in Stuttgart last year.
“The Chinese team is very, very good,” she said. “In the men’s competition, I don’t think any other team could be better than them.”
The Chinese men won the team gold for the first time at the Sydney Games in 2000, but failed to build on the achievement in Athens.
The Japanese, who dominated men’s gymnastics in the 1960s and 1970s, will be hoping to continue their Athens success in Beijing and usher in a new golden era.
Paul Hamm, the men’s all-round champion four years ago, won’t be defending his title after withdrawing last month because of a broken hand.
Comaneci has picked out China’s Yang Wei as the man to beat in Beijing. He won the all-around in Stuttgart, as well as was part of the men’s team that won at the Sydney Olympics.
US gymnast Jonathan Horton admitted it was hard not be intimidated by the form of the Chinese but was hoping his team could spring a surprise.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later