China's Cheng Fei came won top gold in three out of five events to become the triple world gymnastics champion in Sunday's gymnastics world championship at Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The 19-year-old Cheng, who came in first in vaulting the previous day, also earned top spot for the balance beam and floor exercise. Two other Chinese competitors, Li Ya and Han Bing were second in balance beam and third in the women's floor exercise respectively.

Cheng and Li finished first and second in the women's balance beam, continuing China's tradition of dominating gymnastics. Cheng had an excellent start on the balance beam, with near perfect back and forward flips, leading to a first place score of 15.675. A French gymnast took third place with 14.200.

Cheng also dominated the floor exercise, earning a total of 13.475 to take her third individual gold medal and securing her title as the triple world champion. Teammate Han Bing, who was previously ranked fourth in the preliminary, jumped forward into the third place at the finals with 13.475.

"I am happy for Cheng Fei and Li Ya's performance since it has proved our winter training worked well. But we can't relax too long because our rivals didn't show up," said Lu Shenzhen, China's gymnastics women team's head coach.

The Chinese gymnastics squad earned a total of four gold, one silver, and four bronze.

(China Daily April 17, 2007)