By Veronique Bury FIG Editor.

TALENT AND CLASS

Beijing (CHN) NIS FIG Office, August 19, 2008: Eight years after taking the Silver medal at the Sydney Olympic Games, Chinese Yang Wei finally reached an Olympic Gold in Beijing. Better yet, he's leaving the city with two additional medals under his belt: the team Gold and the Silver at rings. Make no mistake; Yang Wei is the man of the 2008 Games!

Yang Wei delivered on his home turf here in Beijing, unlike his compatriot Cheng Fei who was unsuccessful in her attempts to take home either of the two titles she'd come for (vault and floor). Eight years after his Silver all-around victory, where he placed second only to Russian Alexeï Nemov, the 28 year old Chinese gymnast excelled in the all-around after helping his team take the Olympic title from the Japanese, relegated to second place.

Refusing to stop there, he claimed a third medal Monday, a Silver at the rings just behind his compatriot Chen Yibing. And to think that this Xiantao native from the province of Hubei had nearly brought an end to his career the day after the Sydney Olympic Games, so satisfied was he with his results! 'I wasn't aiming for the Olympic Gold in Sydney,' explained Yang Wei. 'I was really excited about the Silver I had just won. It's a glorious thing to take 2nd place in the individual all-around competition at the Olympic Games.'

Even so, Yang Wei re-enlisted for another four years, encouraged by his coach Huang Yubin.

At the Olympic Games in Athens, he fell from the horizontal bar, his very last apparatus, and watched as his dream for an Olympic title slipped through his fingers. Disappointed, unhappy, nearly depressed, Yang Wei wondered if he wouldn't do well to hang up his gloves; to leave the hall and the long months of rigorous training behind him; to forget about the dream that seemed to be slipping farther from him at every turn. 'After Athens, I didn't believe in myself anymore,' he admitted. 'I didn't think I could go on.'

Fortunately for Yang Wei, his coach convinced him to persevere, to participate in yet one more Olympiad. After all, he'd already claimed five Chinese junior champion titles!

This would be it.

Absent from the international circuit in 2005, Yang Wei made a comeback in 2006 at the worlds in Aarhus where he took the world all-around competition title. One year after that, he did it again at the worlds in Stuttgart, qualifying for the Olympic Games. A favourite in Beijing, Yang Wei knew his fans were expecting him. He didn't disappoint them. Though he made a tiny mistake at the horizontal bar, his overall difficulty level was so high it placed him far ahead of his adversaries. Placing second on Monday at the rings, he leaves the National Indoor Stadium with pride and a sense of accomplishment. 'I am very proud, and now that I've finished up all my competitions for these Olympic Games, I want to make my biggest dream come true,' which is to marry former Chinese champion, Yang Yun (2000 Olympic Bronze medallist), and start a family.

Even in the midst of such excitement, Yang Wei's thoughts were never far from his compatriots, especially those recently hit by natural disaster in Sichuan. 'I plan to sell my Silver medal and make a donation to the province of Sichuan. It is the greatest honour,' declared the gymnast Monday before taking his leave.

The mark of a great champion.