The best parallel bars routine in the world?

By Andrew Thornton

As you may have read in previous blogs, the Chinese men’s team has showed no signs of slowing down as they’re preparing to win Olympic gold in their own back yard this summer.  If these guys hit, the battle will most likely be for the silver and bronze.  After winning last year’s worlds by almost five points over the Japanese, the Chinese have recently added a new secret weapon to their arsenal…multiple world and Olympic champion Li Xiaopeng, who disappeared for a couple of years due to injuries and recently made a spectacular appearance at the Cottbus Cup.  Below is a video of Xiaopeng’s gold medal routine on the parallel bars from that competition.  This is the event in which his track record may be one of the most impressive of all time…Olympic gold in 2000, world gold in 2002 and 2003, Olympic bronze in 2004, and world silver in 2005.  We haven’t seen much from him since the 2005 worlds, but his comeback this year indicates he will most likely be a part of the powerful Chinese squad in Beijing.

The routine below is from the event finals of the Cottbus Cup, where he scored a 16.25, with an A-score of 7.1.  This would have tied the highest parallel bars score at last year’s worlds, but Xiaopeng actually scored even higher the first day of the Cottbus Cup – a 16.5.  This routine is just one example of how dominant the Chinese are right now, and how difficult it’s going to be for countries like Japan and the U.S. to catch them.  I would say that right now this is the best parallel bars routine in the world.  He throws five different skills that land on his upper arms, along with a beautiful peach full turn, a high-flying Tippelt, and a rarely seen healy to double front pike combination.  Though his teammate Huang Xu actually throws six skills to his upper arms (same A-score of 7.1), in my opinion this routine looks a bit nicer.  Look for Xiaopeng to be in contention for another Olympic gold medal on parallel bars in Beijing.