China wins first ever women’s team gymnastics gold after USA self destructs
August 14, 2008
One advantage of being in Beijing during the Olympics is that they are going to show Chinese athletes on television in all the major events. Today I got to watch the women’s team final for artistic gymnastics in full without interuption.
It what was an exciting final turned out to be a showdown between USA the current world champions and China the 2006 world champions. The home crowd were hoping to see the women, or should I say girls, claim the first Olympic gold medal in the teams event.
The USA took the early lead following the vault rotation. The US scored 46.875 to China’s 46.350. Shawn Johnson for the US and China’s Cheng Fei both topped the scoring with 16 point vaults.
On the uneven bars the Chinese made their move. Two brilliant performances by He Kexin and Yang Yilin where they scored 16.85 and 16.80 respectively gave China the lead. USA edged closer on the beam. China’s Cheng Fei helped them out after falling from the beam during her routine. Alicia Sacramone gave back the advantage when she fell from the beam as she mounted the apparatus.
The floor was to be the deciding rotation as the US or China could still win. In the end the USA self destructed. First the unfortunate Sacramone fell at the end of a tumbling run and then to make matters worse she stepped out of the competition area. The end result was a shattering score of 14.125. Her teammates also had costly errors and this left China to claim the medal.
China put in solid routines to lay claim to the nation’s first gold in the women’s team event. The crowd were of course delighted as the gymnasts had sealed the double following yesterday’s team win by the men.
China won the gold medal with a total of 188.900 points from the United States with a total of 186.525 points and Romania won the bronze with a total score of 181.525 points.
Next up is the Men’s Individual All-Around Final to be held from 11am Beijing time on Thursday.
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