15. März 2008  
Beijing / China  
Artistic Gymnastics

Olympic Wild Cards to Yemen and Vietnam

The US gymnastics magazine "International Gymnast" reports, that
the final remaining berths for the 2008 Olympic Games have been awarded to a female from Vietnam and a male from Yemen:
Vietnam's Thuong Di Thi Ngan (19) and Yemen's Nashwan Al-Hazari are the reported recipients of the Wild Card berths selected by a tripartite commission.
The commission consists of the International Olympic Committee, the International Gymnastics Federation and the Association of National Olympic Committees. Geographic representation at the Olympics is one of the factors for designating Wild Card berths.
Vietnam's Thuong, 19, finished 110th at the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart. She competed three events at the 2007 World Cup in Ghent, Belgium.

YEMEN's Al-Harazi competed five events at the 2007 Worlds, finishing 176th in preliminaries.

SLOVENIA had organized an international campaign in support of a Wild Card for four-time world medalist Aljaz Pegan.

The MEXICAN government had similarly supported a Wild Card bid for star Elsa Garcia.

* Source: International Gymnast