Spreading the Wealth : Chinese Olympic Gymnast Coaches Young Hopefuls in Santa Ana

SANTA ANA —  Gone are the adoring fans and menacing security detail. His cool nickname doesn’t quite fit anymore, and his image isn’t beamed around the world nearly as much as it used to be. In fact, not at all.

No longer is Li Xiao Ping an international man of mystery, and his opinion isn’t especially coveted these days. Unless, of course, you’re trying to break in a new pommel horse.

The former star Chinese Olympic gymnast, and Cal State Fullerton alumnus, isn’t making many headlines but he is developing talented gymnasts. Li owns and operates the South Coast Gymnastics Training Center in Santa Ana, where helping others gain attention is his top priority.

“This is very exciting for me, the thing that I love,” said Li, whose center opened a year ago. “I’m very into coaching and teaching my students what they must do to improve.

“[Competing was] very exciting and fun also, but I like this much more. Watching your students become better makes you feel very good as a teacher. Nothing feels as good as that.”

Li instructs his 50 students in every facet of the sport, from proper technique in individual events to maximizing their strength and endurance through exercise and nutrition. And Li has a top-notch assistant in his wife, Jia Wen. Also a former Olympic gymnast, Jia Wen coaches the girls’ team.

The center has members as young as 6 and as old as 18. Li said they come not only from Orange County, but also from every corner of the Southland.

“Gymnastics is kind of a big family, so I feel proud when my students grow and improve,” Li said. “You see it happening all the time.”

The center’s mission is to provide aspiring gymnasts the best training possible to enable them to be their best. Placing his students on national teams is Li’s ultimate goal.

“We have a lot of [students] who are very young, but they all work hard,” Li said. “You see they want to work hard and that makes you work hard.”

Li, 35, isn’t new to the coaching business. He has molded gymnasts as a coach for 10 years, but until recently only on an individual basis.

“Gymnastics is becoming more popular, especially in California, and people want good coaching and it’s hard [to find good coaches],” Li said. “I try to help them. I show them what I know.”

Which is more than most. Li was once among the world’s best gymnasts.

A seven-year veteran of the Chinese national team, Li was twice (1981 and ‘83) a pommel horse world champion. He received perfect scores of 10 on the pommel horse five times in international competition. Succinctly put, Li was revered in China and recognized throughout the world.

How renowned was he? His movement atop the pommel horse was so artistic, so flawless, that he was known in international gymnastic circles as the Great Traveler.

Already a huge figure in his native Shanghai, Li’s popularity soared higher than he could imagine in 1984. That year, Li was a member of the gymnastics team that won a silver medal for China at the Los Angeles Olympics. It was during the Olympics that Li fell in love with the Southland.

“That was very special,” Li said. “It was exciting meeting many different people and learning about [Southern California].”

Li’s California experience convinced him he wanted to attend college here. Hello, Fullerton.

He wound up with the Titans after a former Fullerton graduate student, also from Shanghai, asked Coach Dick Wolfe if he might be interested in offering a scholarship to a Chinese gymnast seeking an American education. Li enrolled at Fullerton in 1986 after almost a year of correspondence and political red tape between officials in China and the United States. He was the first Chinese gymnast to compete for a university in this country.

Wolfe hoped Li, 24 at the time, would transform the Titans into a national power and provide the program with a big-time drawing card. Li was as good as advertised, winning the NCAA individual championship in the parallel bars and being selected an All-American.

However, NCAA age rules limited Li’s eligibility to one season. The momentum surrounding Li’s presence helped the program but did not spark a new era. In 1992, Fullerton dropped men’s gymnastics and women’s volleyball.

Li remains grateful to Wolfe for helping him come to the United States. He enjoys living in Orange County and is eager to get back to the Olympics--as a coach.

“This is what is important to me, being with my students,” Li said. “I don’t think much about [being a champion] anymore. That’s for someone else now. I’m too old for that.”