Pang Panpan

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Medal record
Competitor for China
Artistic Gymnastics
World Championships
Gold	2006 Aarhus	Team
Silver	2007 Stuttgart	Team competition

Pang Panpan (simplified Chinese: 庞盼盼; b. 1988) is a Chinese gymnast born in the city of Shijiazhuang, Hebei on June 7. Nicknamed "Oriental Beauty", she is known for her exceptional elegance and style in performance. She got selected and started gymnastic training in 1997 when she was in primary school and then she entered the Shijiazhuang Amateur Sports School. In the month of January 2001, she got a chance of competitive gymnastic on being selected by Huang Jian, the leader of the Hebei Gymnastics Team, to be a part of the team. After four months of joining the team, she took part in the "Li Ning's Cup", a National Children's Gymnastics Competition in May 2001. In the first round of the competition, she got a score of AA(3)44.850, VT(1)9.150, BB(3)9.150. And in the final round of the competition, she got a score of AA(1)35.925, VT(1)9.000, BB(1)9.350, FX(1)9.250. Towards the end of the year 2002, she was selected for the National Gymnastics Team. She reported for training on January 1, 2003.

1 Gymnastics skills
2 Career
- 2.1 2006 World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Gymnastics skills

On floor exercise, she shows off her twisting capabilities and choreography. On the balance beam, she performs split jumps that more than meets the 180 degree requirement. She is also capable of the very difficult tucked barani (front somersault with a half turn). On Uneven Bars, she has made some improvement with her lines and execution, being careful not to bend her arms on swings. On this apparatus, she does a transition from the high bar to the low bar called the Ezhova] (named after a Russian gymnast) that is basically a layout barani. On vault, she is capable of performing the double-twisting yurchenko that has a 5.8 A-score in the 2006 Code of Points.

[edit] Career

Pang has competed at multiple World Cup events in the past, but her best overall performance (thus far) was at the 2006 Foshan Chinese National Championships where she won the all-around and floor exercise titles. This victory would earn her a spot to compete at the World Championships later that year- as long as she continues to show her grace at the Xiantao Nationals in autumn.

Though her performance at the Xiantao Nationals paled in comparison to her success in Foshan, she nonetheless was chosen to compete at the Worlds because she is still one of the most competitive athletes on the team. The time between the two national championships was not wasted. She was able to compete in other World Cup events and slowly gained some international reputation.

At the 2006 Shanghai World Cup, she claimed titles for the beam (15.600) and floor exercises (15.300).

Pang Panpan in action.

On July 16, 2006, in Shanghai, China, for the World Cup Olympics Panpan took gold in the women's beam while Cheng Fei took the gold medal in women's floor.

BALANCE BEAM 1. Pang Panpan CHN 15,600 2. Li Ya CHN 15,400 3. Anna Pavlova RUS 15,400

Women's FLOOR EXERCISES 1. Cheng Fei CHN 15,400 2. Pang Panpan CHN 15,300 3. Daria Joura AUS 15,075

[edit] 2006 World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark

Little-known Panpan has repeatedly been praised for her elegant and consistent performance on various apparatus. In October 2006, a series of blunders by China's Zhang Nan, Li Ya and Pang Panpan have kept reigning champions the United States on top after women's qualifying in the 2006 World Gymnastics Championships held in Denmark. Specifically, Pang fell on two apparatus that she was most capable of medaling: balance beam and floor. Because of the depth of the Chinese team, they were still able to hold on to second place despite the falls. They were also able to qualify two of their athletes (Cheng Fei and Zhang Nan) to three different apparatus event finals in first place. Though Pang was left out of a chance to compete for those medals, she helped contribute the team effort the next day. She and her teammates (Zhang Nan, Li Ya, Cheng Fei, Zhou Zhuoru, He Ning, and alternate Huang Lu made history as they became the first Chinese women's team to win a gold medal in the team event. Second place team USA was cursed with injuries and falls that would typically affect the Chinese performances.

Pang went on to compete in the all-around where she finished 12th in preliminaries. She was in the top three after the first rotation; but in the second rotation, she fell on her Yang Bo (a split jump with a back arch) that seemed to end all hope of a medal. She continued onto floor exercise where her sassy choreography and solid passes dazzled the crowd. She earned a 15.425; which, surprisingly, pushed her into first place. She was set to end on vault with a double-twisting Yurchenko, but incurred another disappointment when she landed so low that she stepped forward, to the side, and placed her hands on the mat (a 0.8 deduction). She scored 14.025 and ended up in 6th place.