The team performed for Olympic gold medallist

Bike riding in Aarhus

Many of the gymnasts know him and he knows Denmark, in particularly Aarhus. The Olympic gold medallist saw the team’s performance and attended the reception, where some of the gymnasts had a chat with the winner about gymnastics in China and the gold medal he won at the World Championship in Aarhus.

Xiao Oin has been in Denmark twice, last time was the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, 2006.

“I really like Aarhus. After the competition I rode a bike around the city and I really enjoyed that. I would like to go back to Aarhus and Denamrk at some point”, says Xiao Oin

Chosen at the age of five

He was 18 years old when he won his first gold medal and started doing gymnastics very early in life:

“I’m born in Nanjiing and when I was five I was selected to attend a special gymnastics school. When I was nine I moved to Beijing to train”, says Xiao Oin.

He trains six to seven hours a day, four times a week and has practiced gymnastics for 21 years. He had never dreamed about participating in the Olympics, let alone winning a gold medal. Xiao Oin just wanted to train and improve his body. In his career he has won 14 gold medals, two of them at the Olympics.

The Chinese team can learn from the Danish gymnasts

He doesn’t know how long he will continue to do gymnastics at this high level, but he would like carry on many years from now.

What happens after his gymnastics career is still unknown. And when answering the question wheter he would like to become a coach, he quickly replies no:

“It’s a very hard job. And when I retire I want to do something completely different like studying at the university”, says Xiao Oin.

Danish gymnastics is not unfamiliar to Xiao Oin. He watched the opening show in Aarhus 2006. He really likes this kind of gymnastics and after the gymnasts’ show at the embassy he was very impressed by the team:

“The gymnasts have a fantastic force of personality and a confidence which really shows when they perform. Chinese teams could defiantly learn from this”, says Xiao Oin.