Olympic Test Event Concludes

Claiming a third of the medals up for grabs, home country China stole the show at the Good Luck Beijing International Tournament. Featuring women’s competition in the all-around and individual events, and men’s competition in team and individual events, the competition was a test event for artistic gymnastics for the 2008 Olympic Games. Held at the National Indoor Stadium, the event gave each country an opportunity to see the Olympic competition venue in action.

China’s gold medal haul was led by superstar Cheng Fei, who took titles on vault, beam and floor. Jiang Yuyuan captured the women’s all-around title and China’s men’s team prevailed with gold as well. Four of the six men’s individual events were also won by China. (See medal recap below.)

Japan was the second most-winning country at the event, with five while the United States and Korea tied with four.

2007 U.S. world team alternate Bridget Sloan continued her break-out year success, claiming bronze in the all-around and silver on floor.

"This is my first time to China and this is an amazing place,” Sloan said of the atmosphere. “It's fantastic here because you can feel the crowds. We always like big and cheering crowds. China is really a great place."

2005 World Champ Chellsie Memmel of the U.S. was successful in her return to competition, with a pair of bronze medals on beam and floor. She finished in fifth in all-around competition. On the comeback trail from a shoulder injury, Memmel has not added her full difficulty back to her routines.

The U.S. men’s team finished eighth place. The team included David Durante of Garwood, N.J.; Sean Golden of Camden, N.J.; Sho Nakamori of Albany, Calif.; David Sender of Arlington Heights, Ill.; Clay Strother of Jasper, Texas; and Todd Thornton of Houston, Texas.

Look for a photo gallery from Inside Gymnastics photographer Grace Chiu here at www.insidegymnastics.com on Wednesday.

Women’s all-around finals

1. Jiang Yuyuan, China, 61.225

2. Daria Joura, Australia, 59.800

3. Bridget Sloan, USA, 59.225

Other U.S. finish

5. Chellsie Memmel, USA, 57.425

Men’s team finals

1. China, 275.925

2. Japan, 272.875

3. Korea, 271.300

U.S. finish

8. USA, 261.275

Women’s vault

1. Cheng Fei, China, 15.150

2. Hong Sujong, North Korea, 14.450

3. Marissa King, Great Britain, 14.187

Women’s  uneven bars

1.Daria Zgoba, Ukraine, 15.725

2. Jiang Yuyuan, 15.525

3. Daria Joura, 15.250

Women’s balance beam

1. Cheng Fei, China, 15.725

2. Lauren Mitchell, Australia, 15.600

3. Chellsie Memmel, USA, 15.300

4. Bridget Sloan, USA, 14.925

Women’s floor exercise

1. Cheng Fei, China, 15.275

2. Bridget Sloan, USA, 14.925

3. Chellsie Memmel, USA, 14.725

Men’s floor exercise

1. Makoto Okiguchi, Japan, 15.800

2. Brandon O’Neill, Canada, 15.800

3. Fabian Hambuechen, Germany, 15.750

U.S. finish

8. David Sender, USA, 14.650

Men’s pommel horse

1. Lu Bin, China, 15.575

2. Kim Soomyun, Korea, 15.100

3. Ilie Daniel Popescu, Romania, 15.050

Men’s still rings

1.Lu Bin, China, 16.000

2.Yan Mingyong, China 15.900

3.Rodrigues Pinheiro, France, 15.700

Men’s vault

1.Lu Bin, China, 16.525

2.Flavius Koczi, Romania, 16.187

3.Makoto Okiguchi, Japan, 16.087

Men’s parallel bars

1. Liang Mingsheng, China, 15.800

2. Feng Zhe, China, 15.775

3. Yang Taeyoung, Korea, 15.750

Men’s horizontal bar

1. Kim Jihoon, Korea, 15.425

2. Yosuke Hoshi, Japan, 15.150

3. Kazuhito Tanaka, Japan, 15.000