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August 1, 2014

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Gymnast Zhong gets into rhythm as sport host

IT was in 2005, her career peak, that Zhong Ling called a stop to her profession as an established rhythmic gymnast.

It surprised a lot of people, but for her, end meant a new beginning.

And she’s never left the sport. As one of the best Chinese rhythmic gymnasts of her generation, Zhong coached in different places of China, set up her own club four years ago in Beijing and launched Zhong Ling Cup in 2012, the first of its kind in the country. For her, promoting the sport to a general public is a lifelong mission.

Last weekend, the third Zhong Ling Cup was held at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. More than 60 gymnasts from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Thailand competed in the two-day tournament in different age groups — from child to senior.

Talking about how she started this annual event, Zhong is in tears when she recalls hosting it for the first time back in her hometown, Liuzhou, in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

“For the first competition, the dream was bigger than the reality,” the 31-year-old tells Shanghai Daily. “When it ended, I was exhausted.”

Winning the all-around gold at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, as well as ninth at the 2001 world championships in Madrid and 17th at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Zhong made her own name in this sport dominated mainly by Eastern European countries like Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Belarus.

After official retirement, she coached in Taiwan and had invitations from Japan and South Korea. But she chose to stay in China.

“What I thought about was that I left my home when I was 10 to get trained in Beijing and lived here for 20 years. I wanted to be closer to my parents, who live in Guangxi,” she explains.

After several years of coaching in different places and getting involved in a stage show, Zhong founded her own club in Beijing to make the sport more accessible for everyone. Now the club has six coaches and 30 students.

“It was an idea I had from more than 10 years ago, but I didn’t bring it up on my schedule because I wanted to take a break after my retirement,” she says.

She brought her students to competitions and training camps abroad in Asia, Europe and the US, where she saw how competitions at the club level were organized.

“There were people asking me if we have this kind of competition in China, that they’d like to come and participate, and I asked them ‘if I invite you, would you come?’ And they said of course,” Zhong recalls.

She immediately started to plan the first competition.

“I didn’t expect it to be a hard thing to do,” she says. “When we went overseas for competitions, it’s just about renting a hall, like in a school, and it didn’t have to be as complicated as the competitions I used to compete in.”

But there were much more complicated situations and challenges, because in China this kind of competition is not officially hosted by the state. Getting visas for gymnasts from other countries to come to China was difficult too.

“They questioned who invited them, what is Zhong Ling Club and what kind of organization it is,” Zhong says. “So I didn’t think the first competition could actually happen.”

Liuzhou, her hometown, is a small city, which has both advantages and disadvantages. The cost was much lower than that in a big city, but it lacks the necessary resources like Russian interpreters. Back then, it wasn’t a big event, as the hall was half the size of this year’s competition. With the first event successfully held, the second and third could follow more easily.

“I’m really grateful for the two Russian coaches, Alla Mishenina and Anastasia Mishenina, who helped me invite the Russian teams and stars as well as gave me advice for running my own club and hosting my competition,” she says.

Being the organizer as well as coach of her club, Zhong was the busiest person at the competition. The club-level competition for rhythmic gymnastics is the first and only one in China, where this graceful sport for girls gets little public attention.

Since hosting the first competition in 2012, Zhong has been inviting elite coaches and world champions to come to China, such as world champion Olga Kapranova and Olympic silver medalist Daria Dmitireva from Russia, among many others.

This year, 2007 all-around world champion and two-time Olympic bronze medalist Anna Bessonova from Ukraine came to Beijing as a guest and performed a gala.

“I wish one day I can perform with the stars like Alina Kabaeva and Irina Tchachina whom I competed with back in the days as an athlete,” Zhong says. “My biggest dream now is to have the chance to revisit the cities and countries where I competed. Seeing them performing here is like revisiting the memories.”

She actually planned to pick up training for a few months before this year’s competition and perform a gala with Bessonova, but she became pregnant.

“It’s OK because we still have a long road in the future,” Zhong says. “I chose this path, and I think it’s the best for me.”

What is rhythmic gymnastics?

It is a sport only for females and combines elements of ballet, gymnastics, dance and apparatus manipulation.

Competitive rhythmic gymnastics started in the 1940s in the former Soviet Union, and is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnatique since being recognized in 1961. The first world championship was held in 1963 in Budapest. The individual competition became a Summer Olympic sport in 1984 in Los Angeles and the group discipline was added in 1996 in Atlanta.

Gymnasts perform with apparatus: hoop, ball, ribbon, clubs and rope Ñ rope was dropped from senior individual and group competition in 2011). Individual gymnasts perform four routines while group gymnasts perform with multiple apparatus with a maximum of two types.

The score is given by a panel of judges and are based on leaps, balance, pivots, apparatus handling and execution. The gymnasts must possess strong physical abilities as well as artistic expression.

Russia is the strongest nation in rhythmic gymnastics, winning all the gold medals in individual and group since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

 




 

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