特別推薦：奧運英語專題

蹦床在2000年悉尼奧運會才被列為奧運會比賽項目，中國在這個項目方面的專業(yè)訓練起步也不到十年。但是作為體操和跳水強國，中國蹦床選手的優(yōu)勢是不容忽視的。由此，蹦床也自然成為了中國隊的奪金點之一。

Huang Shanshan Trampoline is a newcomer to the Olympics, as it became an Olympic sport just eight years ago in Sydney. China is also a newcomer to the sport, with a professional history of less than a decade. However, many have predicted that it is possible for Chinese trampoline athletes to shine at the Beijing Olympics. The national trampoline squad was set up only in 2002 but, relying on its experience in artistic gymnastics, China saw a rapid progress in the discipline. Huang Shanshan, then 18, participated in the Athens Games, and won a bronze with acrobatic flips and twists. It was the first Olympic trampoline medal of China, and Huang continued to improve after the Games, despite facing challenges of China’s upstarts. She has raised her routine’s difficulty to 14.7 since last year, the same as that of Russia’s Irina Karavaeva, who won the inaugural Olympic event in 2000. In the men’s individual, Ye Shai and Dong Dong have also begun to show the potential to capture an Olympic medal for China. They took gold and silver respectively in last year’s Trampoline/Tumbling World Championships in Quebec, Canada. Zhao Jiawei, official from the gymnastics center of the General Administration of Sport of China, said: “Whoever can make better use of his or her potential to stage a perfect performance, he or she will be rewarded the gold.” Karavaeva is the main challenger to Huang’s bid for the Olympic title, while Canada’s Karen Cockburn, a two-time Olympic trampoline medalist. In the men’s individual, defending Olympic champion Yuri Nikitin of Ukraine, veteran gymnast Henrik Stelik from Germany who was 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and Japan’s Yauhiro Ueyama are competitive challengers of the Chinese athletes. (Xinhua) （英語點津 Helen 編輯）