Yang Bo (gymnast)

Yang Bo (simplified Chinese: 杨波; traditional Chinese: 楊波; pinyin: Yáng Bō; born July 8, 1973 in Ningbo, Zhejiang) is a Chinese gymnast. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest gymnasts ever on the balance beam, for which she created a move known as the "Yang Bo", which is rated as a D element in the Code of Points. Although widely renowned for her work on beam, Yang often had difficulty landing her dismounts which prevented her from medalling at several major competitions. She competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics, placing 25th in the all-around and 7th on the beam. She won the 1990 World Cup Final on Balance Beam and won the bronze medal with her team at the 1989 World Championship.

At the 1989 World Championships in Stuttgart, Yang performed an innovative beam routine during the team and individual all-round competitions, where she placed 5th. In the event finals, she under-rotated her dismount and placed 7th.

In 1990, she competed at the Asian Games in Beijing, finishing 6th in the All-Around, 3rd on beam, and won the team all-around gold. Later that year, she won the beam title at the World Cup Final in Brussels. At the 1991 World Championships, she placed 5th in the balance beam with a score of 9.887.

Yang was on the Chinese 1992 Summer Olympic team. She fell off the balance beam in the event finals, though was able to stick the landing of her dismount. She placed 7th in that event with a score of 9.300.

Yang retired from gymnastics in 1993 and pursued her university studies in journalism. She went on to enter show business and has been seen in TV shows with singing and acting performances in the 2000s.

External links

• Yang Bo at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Whatever Happened to Yang Bo?
• Animation of Yang Bo performing the move, named after her