Beijing 2008 pain has finally started to dull as gymnast Cheng Fei starts new life
China star can finally be philosophical about 2008 disappointment
She's been retired for nearly two years, but Cheng Fei, the three-time consecutive world champion (2005-2007) in the women's vault and a Beijing Olympics gold medallist, still gets excited when she talks about the famous move to which she gave her name.
Now a teacher at Wuhan Sports Institute in her native Hubei province, Cheng, 26 in May, is fully committed to her work with the students. But she still lights up when she recalls how the 'Cheng vault' came to be.
"We returned from the Athens Olympic Games with huge disappointment and wondered what we could do when the next Games was to be held in our homeland for the first time," says Cheng, in Hong Kong this week for an exchange programme with Baptist University.
We returned from the Athens Olympic Games with huge disappointment and wondered what we could do when the next Games was to be held in our homeland for the first time
"During the winter training camp that year, the coaches faced a big challenge - how to create something sensational for the Chinese women's team so that they could become a dominant force in the next couple of years until the Beijing Olympics.
"Eventually we had a major breakthrough by coming up with the Cheng vault."
Chinese women won only one bronze medal from the six team and individual events in artistic gymnastics in Athens; the entire gymnastics team finished eighth in the medal table out of 15 nations.
But Cheng, only 15 and a last minute call-up because another gymnast was injured, showed her immense potential by finishing fourth in the floor exercise.