Five-time Olympic champion Zou Kai wants more golds at Rio 2016

Zou Kai

Incheon, Sep 24 (IANS)

Five-time Olympic gymnastics champion Zou Kai said on Wednesday that he was yearning for more gold medals at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Zou, 26, clinched the men's floor exercise gold medal at the 17th Asian Games with 15.533 points, followed by teammate Huang Yuguo (15.300) and Japanese youngster Yuya Kamoto (14.933).

"I'm not very satisfied with my performance today," said Zou who won the event at both the Beijing and London Olympics. "I could have been done better, but I'm a little bit nervous. Whatever, I managed to nail it and I shouldn't ask for more."

Zou also grabbed the gold medal in the 2006 Doha Asian Games but missed the chance to defend it at Guangzhou as he wasn't called up by the Chinese team four year ago.

The veteran also failed to qualify for China's squad for the World Championships next month, but said he would keep training hard for earning a berth at the Olympics two years later.

"I know it's hard for me to make achievement at Rio. I feel the time for preparation is not enough," said Zou, who didn't train regularly until the second half of the year as he got married last November. "But I think the obstacles can make me stronger."

"Since I decided to hang on, I need to be ambitious," said the most prolific Chinese Olympian. "I'm looking forward to winning the sixth or even the seventh Olympic gold medal."

However, Zou admitted that he is less dominant in floor exercise and he has to be better than what he was in London if he wants to remain competitive.

"Besides, the damage to the body is the most difficult thing I need to face," said Zou. "I have to be wiser during training," said Zou, who has the chance to add another gold in the horizontal bar Thursday.