29. November 2007  
Beijing / CHINA  
Artistic Gymnastics

GOOD LUCK B E I J I N G INVITATIONAL 2007:- Also second Gold went to Host China

JIANG, Yuyuan (CHN)
- winning her first big title

The 2007 "Pre-Olympic competition" started with the women's and men's qualification round in the Olympic city of Beijing. The so called "Good Luck Beijing Invitational" are a test for the athletes, the Olympic host and all the the equipments to check all the conditions in preparation of next year's big event in August 2008.

<<  Best of women's all-around Final was the third placed in qualification, the Chinese JIANG, Yuyuan and second was the Australian Daria JOURA and the American Bridget SLOAN ranked on third place.

>> The second gold medal went to the Chinese men's team in front of Japan and Korea....

... a complete Set of J&F Apparatuses


* Supported by the well-known Dutch company "Janssen-Fritsen" the European Gymnastics Service GYMmedia INTERNATIONAL will inform about all artistic gymnastics events, which will be held from now on in the Olympic city of Beijing.

 ... TRADITION and QUALITY
... that's the philosophy of the global label  "J&F" since 40 years as a partner of the Olympic Games, of Worlds and European championships, in addition of the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, too!

>> BEIJING 2008 with a complete set of J&F apparatuses


"GODD LUCK BEIJING INVITATIONAL 2007"
 - Artistic Gymnastics -
* Beijing, November 28 - December 03 -

The Beijing National Indoor Stadium' - next year's Olympic competition hall for the artistic and trampoline gymnastics events;
(- the rhythmic events will held at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium)

Pre-Olympic Test event with a big Resonance

The F.I.G. informed that the organisers are announcing record audience participation for this test event.
>> With the national network CCTV broadcasting 4 days of the Artistic finals live, the press grandstands of the national Indoor Stadium are bursting at the seams with no less than 740 journalists.
Record numbers across the board for Olympic disciplines participating in large-scale test events.

Participation
The tournament brings together 88 athletes from 26 nations, that means
- 106 gymnasts for Artistic,
- 66 for Rhythmic and
- 16 for Trampoline gymnastics.

The events will be followed by approval testsin January 2008, a final laboratory analysis, before the F.I.G. organisers and the IOC give an unanimous go ahead.

JIANG, Yuyuan (CHN)

Thursday, November 29
* WOMEN's AA-AROUND FINAL
Third placed after the qualification round the Chinese JIANG, Yuyuan won  the women's all-around final held Thursday at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium and so her first big international title.
Leading after qualification the Daria JOURA from Australia finished second in front of  Bridget SLOAN from USA.

The second Australian Laura MITCHELL ranked on fourth place, followed by  Chellsie MEMMEL on fifth. She posted a 14.55 on uneven bars and a 14.7 on balance beam, but barely cracked 14s on floor and vault, where she competed a watered down Yurchenko full.
Canadian national champion Kristina Vaculik, Russian veteran Svetlana Klyukina, Great Britain’s Marissa King, Dutch standout Verona van der Leur and Romanian Andreea Grigore rounded out the top 10.

>> Detailed AA Final Results

Daria JOURA (AUS)

Wednesday, November 28
* WOMEN's QUALIFICATION ROUND
The Australian Daria Joura is leading after the all-around qualification,which was the first of the artistic gymnastics events of these Pre-Olympic competitions.
“To come here and to see what will it be in 9 months time is truly amazing", said Joura. "We are very impressed by the venue, the architecture of the Olympic facilities and everything that is surrounding us”, said Joura.
On second place Bridget Sloan (USA), followed by the Chinese host Jiang Yuyuan while Cheng Fei (CHN) was leading after the first two apparatuses but she did not perform on the uneven bars.
Daria Zgoba of Ukraine and former all-around world champion (2005, Debrecen) Chellsie Memmel of the United States were first in the uneven bars and balance beam respectively and ranked on fifth place in all-around!

“This was my first international event in over a year and I feel very happy with my comeback to the competition floor! It would be great to compete here next year again”, said Memmel who had had a shoulder injury during the 2006 World Championships in Aarhus (DEN).

>> Women's qualification results

>> ... Apparatus Qualifiers

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>>  M E N's C O M P E T I T I O N S
Asian Men dominate the world!

The Olympic Venue in Beijing for Artistic and Trampoline Gymnastics at the pre-Olympics but also in August next year.

Men's team final, victory ceremony

Thursday, November 29
* MEN's T E A M   FINAL
Not surprisngly the gold medal of the men's team decision at the Beijing Olympic Indor Stadium went to the Chinese men's team, which scored 275,925 points, winning on rings (47,950) and parallel bars (47,350).
The Chinese seemed to be in trouble at the very beginning of the competition, on floor, where they lost the challenge against Japan (44.700 vs.45.550), but gradually recovered, took the lead in the third rotation, and managed to keep it until the end,

>> Silvermedal was won by JAPAN with a differentce of more than 3 points (272,875).
>> The Bronze medal won the Team of KOREA, which scored 271,875 points and were the best on floor.
>> Team ROMANIA ranked on fourth place (268,825), with the best sores on pommel horse (44.800) and vault (48,900),m but a bad result on high bar - 47,500 (7.). >> The bronze medallist of the 2007 worlds in Stuttgart, GERMANY got the best high bar result (46,300), indebted by the 15.950 of wirld champion Fabian Hambuechen, and the total result at the end (267,825) brought the 5th place.

FRANCE ranked on sixth place with 267,750, in front of  RUSSIA (263,675) and USA (261,275).

>> Detailed TEAM Results

LU, Bin (CHN)
- best qualifier on vault

Wednesday, November 28

* MEN's QUALIFICATION ROUND
A slightly different competition format is being applied on the men’s side, with team finals on Thursday, 29 November replacing the individual all-around final.
Of all the top 12 teams who won their Olympic 2008 berth in Stuttgart  - only Italy (10th) did not turn up with a full team.

>> CHINA stood atop the men's team qualification standings with 363.625, while JAPAN (361,550) and KOREA (361.350)settled for second and third respectively.
Germany ranks on fourth place, followed by Russia and Romania.

>> In leading all-around position is the German vice world champion Fabian HAMBUECHEN  (91.275); unfortunately for him, this event format does not include an Individual Men’s ranking!
HAMBUECHEN  scored also the top results on high bar with 15.900 points and on floor with 15.825.
Second placed in all-around is the Korean YOUNG, Tea-Yong (90.900), followed by LU, Bin (CHN; 90,600) and KIM, Soomyun (KOR; 89,800).

>> Top scorer of the day were the Romanian Flavius KOCZI and the Chinese LU, Bin, both on vault, with 16.475 points.
>> Men's TEAM qualification results

>> Three Chinese gymnasts are standig on top at the list of qualifiers:
- still rings:           YAN, Minyong   (16.400)
- vault:                   LU, Bin              (16,462) and at
- parallel bars:    FENG, Zhe         (16.200)
... but no Chinese reached the final at floor and at high bar!!

>> ... Apparatus Qualifiers