At the 1996 World Gymnastics Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico, fifteen-year-old Kui Yuanyuan stepped onto the floor exercise as an unlikely candidate for gold. Not considered a core member of China’s women’s team, she had nonetheless turned heads in the semifinals with a second-place finish — and then, in the final, delivered a routine that would define her young career. The following profile, published in People’s Daily on April 22, 1996, captures that remarkable night through the eyes of staff reporter Miao Lu.
Kui Yuanyuan’s San Juan triumph was the beginning of a decorated international career. She would go on to help China claim the team bronze at the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne and earn individual bronze on balance beam at that same competition. She was also a member of the 2000 Olympic team that was stripped of its bronze medal.
But was she really 15 in 1996? The answer—drawn from the People’s Daily itself—is most likely no. Six months after describing her as 15 in San Juan, the same newspaper covered the 1996 National Championships, where Kui won the all-around, and referred to her as “not yet 15.” The contradiction is telling. With her birthday reportedly in June, an athlete who was “not yet 15” in October 1996 could not have been born in 1981. Which means she could not have been 15 at the World Championships in April or the Olympics in July—and could not have been 16 at the 1997 Worlds, either.
But was she still delightful to watch? Yes. So, enjoy these articles and videos of Kui.
April 1996: San Juan
Ten Years of Tempering the Blade — The Story of Kui Yuanyuan’s Championship
By Staff Reporter Miao Lu
At 8:30 p.m. Puerto Rico time on the evening of the 20th, fifteen-year-old Kui Yuanyuan took the floor. As the final competitor in the final event of the 32nd World Gymnastics Championships, she would sound the last note of the competition—and write the final line of China’s results at this world meet.
Within the Chinese women’s gymnastics team, Kui Yuanyuan was not considered a mainstay. Yet once the competition began, her performance far exceeded expectations. In the semifinals, she astonishingly placed second. The coaches were both delighted and anxious: delighted because they suddenly recognized in the young gymnast the fundamental qualities of a top-level athlete; anxious because the difficulty of her existing routines was insufficient to reach the maximum start value required for the final.
Her head coach phoned from China, suggesting that her difficulty be increased. The coaches traveling with the team had already been considering the same move. As a result, a D-level element—a handspring to a full-twisting front layout—was added to her routine, raising the start value from 9.9 to a full 10.0. Could young Yuanyuan pull off this hastily improvised addition?
Kui Yuanyuan, the cherished daughter of a Beijing taxi driver, delivered the finest performance of her ten years of training and three years of international competition in the brief ninety seconds of the final. She completed an entire set of high-difficulty elements she had never before performed in competition. In the end, she stood atop the podium alongside the already famous Gogean, sharing the highest honor of the world championships.
After the competition, Qian Kui repeatedly praised her to reporters: “This child Yuanyuan is something special.” Zhang Jian, head of the Chinese gymnastics delegation, carefully wrote down two names in the reporter’s notebook—Liu Qunlin and Lu Shanzhen—and said that they were Yuanyuan’s coaches.
(People’s Daily, San Juan, April 20)
People’s Daily
April 22, 1996, Page 8
十年磨一剑——奎媛媛夺冠记
本报记者缪鲁
波多黎各时间２０日晚８时３０分，１５岁的奎媛媛出场了。作为第３２届世界体操锦标赛最后一项决赛的最后一位出场者，她将为本届大赛奏响最后一个音符，也将为中国队的战报画上句号。
在中国体操女队，奎媛媛并非主力。可开赛后，媛媛的表现大出人们的预料。半决赛，她居然位居第二。教练们为她高兴，也为她着急。高兴的是从小媛媛身上一下子发现了作为优秀选手的基本素质，着急的是她现有的成套动作难度不够，达不到决赛规定的最高起评分的标准。
她的主管教练从国内打来电话，建议给她增加动作难度，而随队出征的教练们也正有此意，于是，在媛媛原有的套路中加进了一个“手翻直体前空翻三百六十度”的Ｄ组动作，使其起评分由９．９分增加到１０分。小媛媛能完成这一“急就章”吗？
奎媛媛，北京一名出租车司机的掌上明珠，在决赛中的短短一分半钟时间里，做了自己学艺十载、出道三年以来最出色的一次表演，完成了自己此前在赛场上从未做过的一套高难动作。最后，她和成名已久的高基安并肩登上了世界大赛最高一层领奖台。
赛后，钱奎对记者连连赞道：“媛媛这孩子不简单。”而中国体操代表团团长张健在记者的笔记本上，一笔一画地写下“刘群琳、陆善真”后说，他们是小媛媛的教练。（本报圣胡安４月２０日电）
October 1996: Tianjin
Beijing Gymnasts Shine Again at the National Championships
Kui Yuanyuan Claims Women’s All-Around Title
Tianjin, October 24 (People’s Daily) — On the second day of competition at the “Delta Cup” National Gymnastics Championships, the battle for titles continued to unfold among national team athletes. World champion Kui Yuanyuan, whose routines featured both high difficulty and consistent execution, claimed the women’s all-around gold medal with a total score of 38.762. Following Zhang Jinjing’s victory in the men’s all-around, Beijing once again added a women’s all-around title to its medal tally.
China’s top women’s gymnast Mo Huilan, having recently returned from a star exhibition tour in the United States, is still in a recovery period and appeared today only as a spectator. Former world championship silver medalists Ji Liya and Liu Xuan also did not compete, as they were either participating in overseas events or preparing for retirement.
This year’s World Championships floor exercise gold medalist in Puerto Rico, Beijing’s young standout Kui Yuanyuan, who is not yet 15 years old, demonstrated excellent mental composure. She maintained high-quality execution across all four apparatus and secured the gold medal. Bi Wenjing of Shandong, the Olympic uneven bars silver medalist, finished second with 38.425 points, while Zhou Duan of Liaoning placed third with a score of 38.300.
On the 25th, the National Gymnastics Championships will proceed with competition in all ten individual events.
Zhang Ke
People’s Daily, October 25, 1996
体操冠军赛北京选手再逞威
奎媛媛女子全能笑傲群芳
本报天津10月24日电在今天“德塔杯”全国体操冠军赛第二天角逐中，冠军争夺仍在国家队选手之间展开。世界冠军奎媛媛动作难度、发挥稳定性均属上乘，最终以38．762分夺魁。继张津京男子全能称雄后又将女子全能金牌收入北京队帐中。
中国女子体操头号选手莫慧兰由于前不久赴美国参加明星巡回赛，尚处于休整期，今天只在场边充当观众。曾获世界锦标赛银牌的吉丽雅、刘璇因出国参赛或准备退役，也未参与今天的竞争。今年波多黎各世界锦标赛自由体操冠军、不到15岁的北京小将奎媛媛以其出色的心理素质，保证了4个单项整套动作的完成质量，夺走金牌。奥运会高低杠亚军、山东选手毕文静以38．425分获得亚军，辽宁队周端名列第三，成绩为38．300分。
25日，全国体操冠军赛将进行全部10个单项争夺。（张可）
More on the 1996 National Championships
National Gymnastics Championships Conclude
Beijing Women Stand Out, Men’s Events Fiercely Contested
Tianjin, October 25 (People’s Daily) — Today marked the final day of competition at the “Delta Cup” National Gymnastics Championships. With finals held in all ten individual events and featuring many of the country’s top gymnasts, the meet attracted large crowds of spectators.
The Tianjin team, which in recent years has rarely produced eye-catching results, delivered an outstanding performance in today’s finals. Nineteen-year-old Dong Zhen captivated the arena in the men’s rings competition with his high difficulty, precision, and stability, winning the gold medal for Tianjin with a score of 9.8.
Although athletes across the board unveiled their signature skills in the finals, the rate of errors was unusually high compared with previous editions of the championships. In the men’s floor exercise final, seven of the eight competitors made landing mistakes. The only clean performance came from young Hubei gymnast Zhao Zhe, who claimed the title with 9.65 points.
In the remaining men’s events:
- Cheng Liang of Zhejiang won the high bar with 9.725 in the most suspenseful final of the meet;
- Huang Xu of Jiangsu captured the parallel bars gold with 9.7;
- Chen Feng of Shanxi took first place on pommel horse with 9.735;
- Zhang Jun of Yunnan and Lu Yufu of Guangdong shared the vault title, each scoring 9.537.
In contrast to the men’s six events—where gold medals were split among seven teams—the women’s individual finals saw Beijing dominate. Beijing gymnasts won three of the four women’s titles.
World champion Kui Yuanyuan drew thunderous applause with an almost flawless balance beam routine, winning decisively with 9.8 points. Meng Fei’s floor exercise included a major out-of-bounds error, but with other competitors performing even more poorly, she narrowly captured the gold with 9.65. Meanwhile, 14-year-old rising star Wen Jing delivered a brilliant uneven bars routine, defeating a field of top contenders to claim the title with 9.875.
Liaoning standout Zhou Duan “snatched victory from the tiger’s jaws,” upsetting Kui Yuanyuan—widely seen as the favorite—to win the vault title with 9.687, preventing Beijing from sweeping all women’s events.
Zhang Ke
People’s Daily, October 26, 1996
全国体操冠军赛落幕
北京女队独秀男队众强争雄
本报天津10月25日电今天是“德塔杯”全国体操冠军赛最后一天赛事，由于10个单项决赛云集了众多国内高手，吸引了大批观众前往欣赏。
近年少有惊人之举的天津队，在今天决赛中水平发挥上乘。19岁的董震在男子吊环争夺中以动作的高难度、规范性、稳定性征服全场。并以9．8分为天津队夺得这枚金牌。
各路选手在决赛中纷纷拿出绝活，但失误率之高却在历届比赛中颇为罕见。男子自由体操8名出场选手中7人落地动作出现闪失，唯一成功的湖北小将赵喆以9．65分登上冠军领奖台。
其余男子单项角逐，浙江队程亮以9．725分在最为惊险的单杠中称雄；江苏队黄旭以9．7分夺走双杠金牌；山西陈锋以9．735分获得鞍马第一名；云南张军、广东卢裕富并列跳马冠军，成绩皆为9．537分。
与男子6个单项7支队伍瓜分金牌相反，北京队在女子单项中群芳争妍，夺得4个项目中的3枚金牌：世界冠军奎媛媛一套近乎完美的平衡木表演赢得满堂喝彩，以9．8分的绝对优势夺冠；孟菲的自由体操虽有出界的较大失误，但其他选手更“惨不忍睹”，孟菲以9．65分侥幸捧走金牌；14岁的小将温静在高低杠上发挥淋漓尽致，以9．875分战胜众多名手夺魁。辽宁名将周端“虎口夺食”，击败奎媛媛的有力竞争，以9．687分夺得跳马冠军，使北京队终未能包揽女子项目金牌。（张可）
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