Mo Huilan

Mo Huilan
— Gymnast —
Full name	Mo Huilan
Nickname(s)	"China's Little Angel" "Mighty Mo"
Country represented	China
Born	1979 Guilin, Guangxi
Height	148 cm (4 ft 10 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Club	Guilin Gym. School
Head coach(es)	Zijuan Yuan
Eponymous skills	Mo Salto (uneven bars)
Retired	1997
Medal record Women's gymnastics Representing  China Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta Vault World Championships 1995 Sabae Balance Beam 1995 Sabae Team 1995 Sabae Uneven Bars 1997 Lausanne Team Asian Games 1994 Hiroshima Team 1994 Hiroshima Vault 1994 Hiroshima Uneven Bars 1994 Hiroshima Balance Beam 1994 Hiroshima Floor Exercise 1994 Hiroshima All-Around

"China's Little Angel"

Mo Huilan (simplified Chinese: 莫慧兰; traditional Chinese: 莫慧蘭; pinyin: Mò Huìlán; born 1979 in Guilin, Guangxi) is a retired Chinese gymnast who competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She was one of China's most successful gymnasts in the 1990s. She was known for performing routines of exceptional difficulty and technique, but also for inconsistency.

Her birth date has been reported in various events as July 19 and November 7; it is unclear which is correct. She is a fraternal twin; her sister Mo Huifang was also a gymnast.

Both Huilan and Huifang began gymnastics in 1985 in Guangxi. In 1990, they were invited to attend a camp in Beijing to test for admission to the Chinese national training center. Huifang was accepted; Huilan was not. However, showing the determination that would serve her well in her competitive career, Huilan talked the coaches into allowing her to remain in Beijing with her sister. Eventually, Huifang was injured and retired from gymnastics; Huilan, in contrast, thrived and improved.

Mo made her international debut at the 1993 Cottbus Cup, where she placed a modest sixth in the all-around. The next year at the Asian Games, however, she nearly swept the competition with gold medals in the team, balance beam, uneven bars, and vault and a bronze in the all-around.

She came to the attention of the international gymnastics community at the 1994 World Championships in Brisbane, Australia, where she achieved a seventh-place finish in the all-around final, the highest of any Chinese gymnast. Although she placed out of the medals on floor exercise, her routine, which was choreographed to Leroy Anderson's "Typewriter Song", was a hit with the audience. Her performance on the uneven bars, where she debuted her own version of the Gaylord salto, also gained recognition and appreciation. Mo was the first female to perform this skill, a front tuck over the bar to recatch.

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