Beijing’s enormous, new
National Indoor Stadium
passed its pre-Olympic
test, and the host team
claimed most of the
gold medals
By Dwight Normile
Photos by
Thomas Schreyer
THE customary Olympic test event is designed as a dress rehearsal
for venues and support staffs, a chance to iron out any organiza-
tional wrinkles a year before the big event itself. The actual compe-
tition is secondary in importance, so the “Good Luck Beijing”
2007 International Invitational, held in the new National Indoor Stadium from Nov.
28-Dec. 3, was a far cry from what we can expect next August. That’s when the
very best teams and gymnasts will battle for Olympic glory. The meet, which fea-
tured a men’s team competition but no all-around — and vice versa for the women
— revealed little in the way of predictions for next summer. But it did show which
teams lacked the depth to send a B team, such as Korea, which competed the same
six men it used at the 2007 Stuttgart World Championships. And even though the
world champion Chinese men’s team was completely absent, the hosts competed
their biggest female star, Cheng Fei, who won every event she entered (vault, beam,
floor). Cheng also dismissed any notion that she would do all four events in the
Olympics. “As far as the all-around is concerned, I have decided to give it up,” she
told
Xinhua News Agency
. “The time leading up to the Beijing Olympics is short,
and many Chinese gymnasts are capable of challenging in the all-around.”
Cover
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