2008 OLYMPIC CHAMPION
Zou Kai (China)
2007 WORLD CHAMPION
Diego Hypolito (Brazil)
PLENTY of talented tumblers will be in London, and all have rearranged their routines to satisfy the latest tweaks in the men’s
Code of Points. Two consecutive
passes on the same diagonal are
now the max, but such a toothless
rule will hardly hamper guys like
defending world champion Diego
Hypolito of Brazil. After his collapse
at the Olympics (he sat down an
Arabian double front), Hypolito
rebounded with the 2008 World Cup
Final title over Japan’s rising star,
Kohei Uchimura, who should be a
factor at worlds. Others to watch
and Olympic champ Zou Kai, European champ Fabian Hambüchen,
Eleftherios Kosmidis and Alexander
Shatilov, all of whom are frequent
floor finalists. American Steven
Legendre is also someone to watch,
but the safest bet here is to go with
the experienced Brazilian.
Defending champ Diego Hypolito (far left) will be hard to beat, but Eleftherios Kosmidis is one of several who could win too.
Louis Smith has a chance to become Great Britain’s first male world champion, but China’s Xiao Qin (right) has won the last three world titles on pommels.
2008 OLYMPIC CHAMPION
Xiao Qin (China)
2007 WORLD CHAMPION
Xiao Qin (China)
THOUGH he suffered some calamitous meltdowns early in his career, China’s Xiao Qin has
been money ever since 2005, when
he notched his first of three consecutive world titles. He also won his
first Olympic gold last year, but not
by much. One tenth behind Xiao in
Beijing were Croatia’s Filip Ude and
Great Britain’s Louis Smith, the latter losing the silver via tie-breaker.
Of the three, however, Smith’s 6. 7
D-score was . 30 higher than that of
both Xiao and Ude. The extra difficulty could come in handy in London for Smith, who will draw the
loudest cheers. If he can clean up
his form, he could make history.
Other medal contenders include
2008 World Cup Final champ Zhang
Hongtao of China, Hungarian
Krisz-tian Berki, Aussie Prashanth Sella-thurai and Great Britain’s Daniel
Keatings.
2008 Olympic champion Xiao Qin,
winner of the last three world
titles on pommel horse, could be
pushed by home crowd favorite
Louis Smith of Great Britain.
