Veteran gymnast Shang feels little pressure ahead of first Olympics

There will be no doubt that Shang Chunsong is going to compete at the Olympic Games for the first time this year as she showed her consistency at the National Gymnastics Championships here on Thursday.

The 20-year-old said that she felt little pressure and just needed to be confident.

Shang was close to be included in the squad of the 2012 London Olympics with her capacity in all-around but finally missed the Games due to unstableness in competitions and lack of experience.

Four years later, when Yao Jinnan, the only Olympian of the Chinese women's team was troubled by injuries, Shang stepped herself out as a reliable veteran.

She led Hunan to win the women's team event with an advantage of more than four points and topped the women's all-around qualification on Thursday.

"My performance was not bad," said a cool-headed Shang, who was a member of the team to collect the silver medal of the team event at last year's World Championships.

"I could not say that I felt no pressure but it's only a little," said Shang.

Shang collected the highest marks in uneven bars as well as beam, and was ranked second in floor exercise.

She believed that as long as she could keep confident and try her best to have fun in the competition, she would not have bad performances in all of the four events. Endit