From "Flash quotes after men's qualification
2007-12-01 00:53:00 Good Luck Beijing"
url =
http://www.gymnastics2007.org.cn/gt/en/news/2007-12-01/22528.html (Official Olympic Test Event website)
[quote]"I think there are mainly three reasons for the mistakes and accidents that happened to the athletes today. First reason: I think it's the podium. It's not stable and as men are more powerful than women, when men are landing, it moves and causes the problems. The second reason is the time for this competition. It is not long after the World Championships competition, so the athletes seem to be relaxed. So they were not well prepared for today's performance. The third is: there is no warm-up. We wanted to do a warm-up but we are not allowed because of the regulation. It should be changed. It's good for the audience to enjoy the performance, but bad for our athletes to prepare and get ready for competing. We know how important warm-up is for the athletes, as a coach. We do hope that in 2008 in the Olympics there will be the warm-up for trampoline." [/quote]
-Ross Dave (CAN) - Head Coach
Warm-up is so important for the athlete's safety in all the gymnastics disciplines. Perhaps from the test event they will decide to have warm-ups. China's head coach remarks on the importance of warm-ups but plans on getting his athletes used to it:
[quote]About the Chinese team's performance:
"Just so-so. The competition format is different from other competitions. There was no warm-up period and the athletes have no time to feel the trampoline. But it's the way of the Olympic Games and all the athletes face the same problem, so we will arrange more training in this format in the future. Furthermore, the two trampolines' hardness is different. This also influences the athletes' performance. Anyway, Ye Shuai made the final. This result is not bad." [/quote]
-Chen Qilin (CHN) - Head Coach
Different equipment:
[quote]...The bed is harder than the bed we used in Japan, which influenced the rhythm of my routine...[/quote]
-Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN)
Who didn't finish their routines in men's trampline prelims:
[quote]China's Dong Dong and Lu Chunlong, Japan's Tetsuya Sotomura, Russia's Sergey Chumak, France's Gregoire Pennes and Ukraine's Yuriy Nikitin all fell to victim of the Olympic test. [/quote]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/30/content_7177158.htm