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OLYMPIC SPECIAL CHINADAILY FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2012 chinadaily.com.cn Issue No 10 £1 Gabby vaults TWO RECORDS, NO GOLD to new Chinese duo smashes world mark twice, but ends up with silver after violation in fi nal against Germany heights By AGENCIES in London German riders and ended up with gold in the Olympic women’s By CLARE FALLON in London team on Th ursday aft er origi- Reuters nal winner was relegated to second for a takeover infringement having earlier broken two Smiling 16-year-old Gabby world records. Douglas took the Olympic Hosts and medal hopeful Britain had been Games by storm on Th ursday disqualifi ed in the fi rst round for another illegal when she won the gymnastics changeover. all-around gold medal ahead of and Russian Victoria Komova. sped round the London Olympic Komova was reduced to velodrome like lightning in the tears for the second time in qualifying and fi rst round, notch- three days when ing world best times of 32.447 and American Doug- 32.422 seconds. las pipped her to Th ey were slower in the fi nal, but it was still the title by 0.259 good enough to beat Germany until officials of a point after stepped in some minutes aft er the end of the producing the day’s best per- race to say Guo had made a mistake on the formances on the vault and the changeover. beam. “It’s weird. We told ourselves aft er the fi nish, Aliya Mustafina, who with “Silver is the silver. Not bad”, Vogel said. Komova was disappointed to “It’s the first time a women’s from take team silver behind the Germany wins the gold. I just cannot describe Americans on Tuesday, clung that. We thought that luck could not come to on for bronze despite a fall from us,” she said. the beam. She and Douglas’ “Th e Chinese are so fast. Aft er they disqualifi ed, compatriot, Aly Raisman, fi n- I said to Guo: “Th is wasn’t the way we wanted to ished with the same total but win. I am so sorry for that”. Welte said. the Russian won the medal on “But rule is the rule. We did not make mistake the tiebreak rule. in the change and won that. When we were told Douglas, dubbed the “Flying to win the gold. We looked at each other (and just Squirrel” for the shape she pro- could not believe that).” duces on the bars, was watched “I feel regretful. Th ings were changed in a very from the stands by teammate short time but it’s sport and you have to accept and world champion Jordyn it,” Gong Jinjie said. Wieber, who had come into the “We knew that rule before the preparation. Games touted as the favorite for I did very well in the fi rst two rounds and also Th ursday’s honors but failed to broke the world record. I made the small mistake qualify for the fi nal. in the fi nal because the speed was just too fast. Rules and regulations seem “ Th e world record showed our strength in this to be plaguing the Americans event. We made a mistake but the world record here. Wieber fi nished fourth in will not be denied. We still have confi dence and qualifying for the all-around but will fi ght one as such an incident will be a driven missed the cut since each nation force for our following events,” Guo said. is allowed only two women in Australia took bronze by beating Ukraine and the fi nal. by the time of the medals ceremony, the Chinese As Douglas and Raisman duo had calmed down and accepted the warm ranked above her in the prelimi- applause of the slightly bemused crowd before naries, Wieber was demoted to Germany’s gold medals were handed out. the role of spectator at the North Britain was not aff orded the luxury of being Greenwich Arena . dropped a position as and Raisman lost out on bronze Jessica Varnish were disqualified altogether in despite finishing off with the the fi rst round for individual Olympic champion second-best fl oor routine of the Pendleton’s error in taking the lead over too soon. evening under the rule which “We’re talking about one hundredth of a sec- separates equally placed contes- ond of a mistake there,” Pendleton told reporters. tants by totting up the totals of “Jess moved up a fraction too early and I just their three best apparatus. saw the door and went for it, because that’s my Douglas, though, was beyond cue to try to squeeze underneath her as quickly the reach of such concerns, as possible. leading from the first of the “It’s one of those things that happens.” four rotations when she was the Also on Th ursday, Britain retained its men’s opener on the vault. Olympic track cycling title when A slight hop sideways on they beat France again in world record time giv- landing could have cost her, but ing his fi ft h Games gold medal. all her rivals fl uff ed their land- Philip Hindes, and Hoy were ings, with Komova stumbling ahead from the start and clocked 42.600 sec to sideways right off the mat. CUI MENG / CHINA DAILY slash 0.147 off the record they had set in the fi rst China’s Gong Jinjie (right) leads Guo Shang during the women’s track team sprint event on Thursday. They won silver while Gemern riders Miriam round. SEE “VAULT” PAGE 4 Welte and Kristina Vogel claimed gold. REUTERS—CHINA DAILY

In this issue NEWS ...... 2,8,9,11,12 players seek net gains from star trainers OLYMPICS ...... 3-6 COMMENT ...... 7 used to competition.” sive right-hand drive. COVER STORY ...... 10 ‘Young guns’ get advice from old Th anks to a deep talent pool, In preparation for a potential BUSINESS ...... 13-17 practice partners can emulate match with a rare “chop” play- LIFE ...... 18-21 hands for Olympic showdown the style of potential opponents. er, the training team has two WORLD ...... 22-24 Th e World No 1, , “choppers” — Liu Yi and Fan By SUN XIAOCHEN in London als and world titles than most has been practicing with Ying — for the men and women Contacts [email protected] countries and they head a since the team arrived at its to warm up against. LONDON: team of nine trainers giving pre-Olympic camp at Leeds Just about everything is on Phone +44 (0)207 398 8270 Table tennis “young guns” the Olympians a harder time University one week before the the training menu. Fax +44 (0)207 398 8260 are getting a helping hand from than most opponents they will Games. “We can see a lot of ‘oppo- Feedback [email protected] Circulation & Advertising more experienced “shooters” face across the net. Chen, left-handed, boasts nents’ on our own team,” said [email protected] who know what it is like to face Th is helps make China the strong forehand loops and Zhang, the reigning world : an Olympic showdown. best team in the world, Wang reminds Zhang of one of his champion. News (86-10) 6491-8366 If you want to be the best, you Hao, the Beijing Olympic men’s main rivals, German fourth Meanwhile, the B team’s Subscription (86) 400-699-0203 have to play with the best and singles runner-up told China seed , also a left -hand- experience could be crucial for Advertisement (86-10) 6491-8631 table tennis, with its rapid-fi re Daily aft er his 4-1 third-round er who deploys top-spin loops. some fi rst-time Olympians. E-mail [email protected] action, proves the point more victory over Austrian veteran China’s other singles favor- Th e 24-year-old Zhang, who iPhone app chinadaily.com.cn/iphone than most, according to elite Werner Schlager on Monday. ite, world No 2 Wang, has is making his Olympic debut, practice partners who have “We always have a group been getting a taste of what credited Ma for sharing his big- been putting the Olympic play- coming to major tourna- it will be like to face semifi nal game experience and tips on ers through their paces. ments together. Anyone not opponent Chuang Chih-yuan opponents. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY , and Guo playing will serve as a prac- of Chinese Taipei. Teammate Table tennis veteran Ma Lin catches the action on Monday in Yan have more Olympic med- tice partner to help us get has the same aggres- SEE “GAMES” PAGE 2 London. 国际标准编号 :ISSN0253-9543