Cheng Fei

Cheng Fei





Cheng Fei ( Chéng Fēi; born May 29, 1988 in Huangshi, Hubei) is a Chinese gymnast. She is a three-time World Champion on the vault (2005-2007) and 2006 World Champion on floor exercise. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese teams for the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. She was also a member of the silver medal-winning Chinese team for the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

Cheng fulfilled her goal of competing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China as the captain to the Chinese team. She led the team to win China's first-ever women's gymnastics Olympic team championship. However, she faltered during the individual events and cried after the unfortunate Vault and Floors finals. She led the qualifications in both the Vault and Floor categories, also entering Beam finals with a ranking 5. She was one of the only three gymnasts to have entered 3 Olympic Finals (Nastia Liukin and Anna Pavlova). Individually, she won a bronze medal on vault (even after falling on her own "Cheng Fei vault") and another bronze medal on balance beam and placing 7th in the floor exercise event final, after an uncharacteristic fall. After the Olympics, she said that she cried about her failure to capture the two golds she wanted most until she could cry no more. However, she received great support from both her fellow countrymen and the international gymnastics community, who acknowledged her talents and abilities as an exceptional gymnast. In a show of respect she gave the winner of the balance beam final Shawn Johnson of USA a small box with silk inside it. After the Olympics Games, she competed in various competitions. She won three gold medals on vault, floor exercise and balance beam at the DTG World Cup in Stuttgart. Her last 2008 competition was the 14th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Madrid where she won two gold medals on vault and floor exercise. She is now recovering from a leg injury and has expressed hopes to compete again at the London 2012 Olympics