Women

China’s Cheng Fei enters the first day of apparatus finals as the leading lady of qualifications on vault and floor exercise. In the apparatus finals, Cheng’s status as training or former world champion on both events make her the favorite for a pair of gold medals here.

Floor exercise should prove to be a crowd-pleasing challenge among three of the tournament’s most graceful gymnasts.

The Chinese ladies could dominate the event, as they did in qualifications, where Cheng Fei placed first and Jiang Yuyuan placed second. Cheng, the 2006 world champion on floor exercise, performed more difficult tumbling elements than Jiang did, but both gymnasts danced with charisma and flair.

Australia’s Daria Joura, the all-around silver medalist here, is another candidates for top honors on floor exercise. Equally proficient as a tumbler and a dancer, the Russian-born Joura finished third in qualifications on the event.

On vault, Cheng has won the past three consecutive world titles. She performs some of the most difficult vault in this tournament, so safe landings of each of her two attempts in the finals should keep her at the top of the standings.

Offering Cheng her toughest challenge on vault is North Korea’s Hong Su Jong. Like Cheng, Hong performs one of the most difficult vaults ever attempted by a female gymnast. After tumbling onto the board, she pushes off the vaulting table and does a back somersault with 900 degrees.

Chen was the first female gymnast to perform this vault (technically called a "Yurchenko with 1-1/2 twists") in a competition, so it will be interesting to compare Hong's effort to Cheng's. Hong placed seventh on vault at the 2006 World Championships.

Third in the vault qualifications, Marissa King of Great Britain represents the powerful acrobatic style that has made the British team one of the world's most improved teams.

King, the daughter of a Thai mother and a British father, is aiming to win her country's first medal of the tournament.

Men

Two champions are guaranteed in today's apparatus finals on floor exercise and pommel horse, since no male gymnast has qualified for both events. The variety of competitors should results in an unpredictable but exciting competition.

Germany's Fabian Hambuechen led the qualifications on floor exercise, but he will need to beat his best in the final to maintain the top position. Hambuechen faces two of the tournament's most daring gymnasts on the event.

Canada's Brandon O'Nell, who placed second in qualifications, is known for his intricate, difficult tumbling passes. He won the silver medal on floor exercise at the 2005 World Championships.

Third in qualifications, Makoto Okiguchi of Japan can also challenge Hambuechen and O'Neill for the gold medal. Okiguchi, who has already won a team silver medal in the tournament, takes extra risks by performing two or more difficult acrobatic elements in succession.

On pommel horse, Romania enters the final with the top two qualifiers. Ilie Daniel Popescu led in qualifications, and teammate Flavius Koczi placed second. Koczi can also rely on his credentials as a finalist on the event at the 2006 World Championships for added confidence.

The top Asian qualifier, Kim Soomyun, is the only Korean male gymnast performing in today's events. He placed third on pommel horse in qualifications, and could again be the European competitors' top opponent in the final.

The Chinese men did not qualify any gymnasts for the final on floor exercise, but they have two excellent prospects for medals in the final on pommel horse.

China's Lu Bin and Lu Bo placed fourth and fifth respectively in the pommel horse qualifications. Because the level of the finalists is fairly even, Lu and Lu have strong chances to win positions on the medal podium.

Lu and Lu come to the pommel horse final with an additional psychological advantage: each has already won a gold medal here. In the men's team final held on 29 November, they helped China win the title./JC