Yang Wei's aura of invincibility will count for nothing if he does not win the all-around Olympic gold in front of his home fans at the Beijing Games.
Since a new scoring system was introduced in gymnastics in 2006, the Chinese has remained undefeated in the all-around competitions.
He could have prevented one of the biggest controversies in Athens, had he not lost his grip on the horizontal bar during the last rotation of the men's all-around final.
His error sparked a chain of events that eventually allowed Paul Hamm to scoop the gold medal owing to a judging error. The American was then drawn into a legal wrangle to be allowed to keep his prize.
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Yang Wei doing the rings routine during National Gymnastics Championships in Tianjin May 8 2008. [Xinhua] |
Fast forward four years and Yang, now 28, is again the favorite for the individual crown, and this is likely to be his last chance to become the second Chinese man to win gymnastics' most coveted individual prize.
"To compete on home turf, you surely have great pressure, and I think I can turn pressure into motivation," said Yang.
Hamm has not competed internationally since his Olympic ordeal, and suffered a serious setback two months ago when he broke a metacarpal on his right hand.
He had surgery to insert a plate and nine screws to hasten the healing.
The 25-year-old proved his fitness only last weekend and wasted little time in declaring: "I guess Yang Wei should be a little worried, too. He was probably counting on me being out."
Hiroyuki Tomita, a member of the gold-winning Japanese team in 2004 and world all-round champion in 2005, and German dynamo Fabian Hambuechen will also fancy their chances.
But the title is Yang's to lose, and with the crowd on his side, he is likely to fulfill his golden dreams.
(China Daily August 4, 2008)