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China wins at gymnastics championships
2007-09-06
China powered their way to another men's gymnastics world championship Thursday, and now the questions are: Can anyone catch them in time for the Olympics in Beijing, and if so, how? Led by their champion, Yang Wei, China routed the competition for its third straight worlds gold medal -- and eighth overall -- scoring 281.9 points to beat silver medalist Japan by a whopping 4.875 and bronze medalist Germany by 8.375. "This competition strengthens the spirit very much in the team," Yang said. "Now we know where our strengths are and where we need to get better, as well." Most people thought Japan might challenge the Chinese for first, but instead, Hiroyuki Tomita and his team looked sluggish -- a disappointing setback for the world's other men's gymnastics superpower. But even the Japanese walked away knowing they had met a nearly unbeatable foe. "There was a difference of four points to the China team and we tried our best," Tomita said. "Back in Japan, we'll do our best to try to get back to the top." Also making that effort is the United States, which was in the mix, sitting in fourth place with two events to go and with decent hopes of completing what seemed like an impossible journey -- from 13th place to a bronze medal in the span of a year. But David Durante and Sasha Artemev each flopped off the high bar. They scored 13.575 and 13.750 to fall to sixth place, and their last rotation on floor turned into what they originally hoped it would be -- a nice learning experience, but nothing more. They did a nice job on those floor routines -- averaging an impressive 15.6 -- to get themselves back into fourth, in position to take the bronze if somebody on Germany's last rotation fell. But after Marcel Nguyen got through his routine cleanly, and with superstar Fabian Hambuechen still to go, American team coordinator Ron Brant was already standing in the portal clapping, telling his coaches "We got fourth." Impressive, really, for a team whose big goal at these worlds was simply to finish in the top 12 and earn a spot in the Beijing Olympics. They did so in style two days earlier with a fourth-place showing in qualifying. "Obviously we showed today we have talent," Durante said. "We're definitely not backups. We're definitely guys that can step out on the floor with anyone in the world." With Olympic champion Paul Hamm and his brother, Morgan, returning, maybe they can contend for second or third in China next year. First place already seems locked up. The rout at in this meet began early. China opened on the floor with Chen Yibing performing an amazing strength move, holding his body, flat as a board, above the mat -- a plank position with his hands about even with his hips. At pommel horse, it was that event's reigning champion, Xiao Qin, propelling himself by slapping his hands on the horse, then grabbing the handles and kicking his legs higher than anyone in the meet, the crowd getting louder with every helicopter-like scissors kick he added. Later in the meet -- with the Chinese going on parallel bars while the Germans were next to them on high bar -- Yang, Xiao and Huang Xu overcame a rather tacky distraction from the public-address operator, who blared loud music each time the Germans were done but while the Chinese were still in the middle of their sets. Barely mattered. Even with Yang getting a little crooked on one of his handstands and taking two baby steps backward on his dismount, his show -- and score of 16.1 -- was still better than what most of the guys were doing without any errors. It's why he's the reigning champion in that event. The arena was loud thanks to Germany's success. The bronze was the country's first team gymnastics medal since 1991 worlds, shortly after the East and West reunited. "It was just an awesome feeling today," Hambuechen said. "We knew it would be very hard to get a medal. We're very happy things turned out the way we'd thought about." While Hambuechen was stepping down after his medal-clinching floor exercise, the crowd went wild. Meanwhile, the real show was still going on high bar, where Xiao was completing his team's final, precise routine on the sport's most nerve-racking event. It was no problem, and when he finished, he stepped off and traded high-fives with his teammates in the corner of the arena. Now that this team rout is over, the medal tally really begins. Last year, China's men won five golds. This year, they have a chance for more. Yang will be favored in the all-around and on parallel bars. Xiao is a good bet to repeat on pommel horse. Chen will have a chance for another gold on still rings. Zou Kai had the best score on floor in qualifying. And the list goes on. With this team, it always does. "We'll have to talk about that," Chinese coach Huang Yubin said when asked if this was the same team that would compete next year. "There are still a lot of great gymnasts left in China, as well."
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