The Chinese male gymnasts, who clinched the men's team golds in Sydney Olympics and last year's world championships, are ready to defend the title in Athens Olympics, Chinese team leader Gao Jian said here Monday.

"We have passed the tests of the time difference, hot weather, injuries, equipment and accomodation," Gao told Xinhua outside a training venue in Athens.

"Now, all the six athletes are in good form and are confident of repeating their glories in Athens," he added.

The Chinese team spent nine days training in France before arriving in Athens on August 6, two days earlier than the arrival of the majority of the Chinese delegation.

"The French tour and the earlier arrival help us to get used tothe time difference and weather in Europe," coach Chen Xiong said.

"And all our athletes are familiar with the equipment for competition here as we have performed on them many times in China," Chen said.

All the equipment for Athens Olympic gymnastics competition areprovided by the Netherlands' world-famous company Janssen-Fritsen,which are widely used in China.

"The only difference is the color of the equipment," Chen said,adding, "What we used in China are painted with red color, but this time they are in white."

"But it has little impact on us," he noted.

As to the accomodation, Chen said, "For us, it is much better than the Sydney Olympics where the rooms were crowdy and the food was not savory."

"It is a pity that Chinese food is not available in the dinninghall. But there is a section for Asian meal which is quite acceptable for our athletes," Chen said.

"Four years ago in Sydney, most of our athletes could not get used to the food there," he said.

 The gymnastics competition of the Athens Olympic Games will kick off on August 14 and its first gold medal (men's team) will be produced on August 16.

The Chinese line-up is Li Xiaopeng, Yang Wei, Xing Aowei, HuangXu, Teng Haibin and Xiao Qin, the same as that in last year's world championships.
 
(Xinhua News  Agency  August 10, 2004)