Johnson Claims Third Silver; Liukin, a Bronze
Romania's Sandra Izbasa denied American Shawn Johnson the gold medal in the floor exercise Monday, performing the most difficult routine of the competition to take top honors with a score of 15.650.
Johnson took silver with 15.500 points. It was her third silver medal of the Beijing Games. Johnson, 16, led the U.S. women to the silver all-around medal and followed with silver in the individual all-around.
Liukin, the gold-medallist in the all-around, earned the night's highest marks for artistry on the floor. But her overall score was just shy of Johnson's because her routine lacked the same degree of difficulty. She finished with 15.425.
The result was a disappointment for China, with its two finalists on the floor finishing fourth (Jian Yuyuan) and seventh (Cheng Fei).
China's Zou Kai won gold on the men's floor exercise; his countryman Xio Qin took gold on the pommel horse.
Earlier in the evening, Americans Alicia Sacramone and Sasha Artemev finished out of the medals in the vault and on pommel horse, respectively.
Sacramone, 20, who fell twice during the women's team competition, finished fourth, stumbling sightly on her second vault.
North Korea's Hong Un Jong (15.650) of North Korea was the surprise gold-medal winner on vault. Oksana Chusovitina of Germany took silver (15.575). And Cheng Fei, a three-time world champion on the apparatus, settled for bronze (15.562)
Cheng had a near flawless first vault but under-rotated on her second vault and landed on her shins. The errors cost her nearly a 1.5-point deduction. But given her vaults' high degree of difficulty (6.5 on each), she salvaged a medal.
Russia's Anna Pavlova seemed well positioned for a medal after her first vault, which scored 15.625. But after a long delay, judges posted a score of 0.000 for her second vault, drawing whistles and jeers from the befuddled crowd. The reason: Pavlova violated the competition's rules by failing to perform two different types of vaults.
Artemev, 22, son of a former Russian champion, helped the U.S. men to a bronze team medal earlier in the week. He started strong on the pmmel horse, but flew off the apparatus with about 25 seconds remaining.
In the men's floor exercise, China's Zou scored 16.050 points for a difficult routine executed with minimal errors.
Gervasio Deferr of Spain (15.775) took silver, and Russia's Anton Golotsutskov claimed bronze. (15.725). No American men qualified for the finals in floor exercise.
By
Liz Clarke
|
August 17, 2008; 9:10 AM ET
| Category:
Gymnastics
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Posted by: gina | August 17, 2008 5:14 PM
check your facts re: pavlova.
Posted by: A | August 17, 2008 8:10 PM
+1 for the "check your facts" comment. That is NOT why she received the score of 0.000
Posted by: Matt | August 17, 2008 9:27 PM
Pavlova did not wait for the green light...she 'thought' she saw it, but in reality it was still red.
Posted by: Jen | August 17, 2008 9:30 PM
Nope - not the reason Pavlova got a zero. If you were watching the telecast, you'd know that!! The commentators made it very clear that the reason was that she failed to wait for the green light from the judges. You should check your facts before reporting incorrect facts!
Posted by: Bar | August 18, 2008 1:42 AM
I am trying to understand why Sandra Izbasa received a 6.5 degree of difficuty score vs Shawn Johnson's 6.4 (I believe that was their scoring in that department.
I appreciate that Izbasa's routine was elegantly performed without mistakes, but I didn't see where she earned higher marks for difficulty. Indeed, while I don't completely understand the scoring rules, I though Johnson's routine was at least as difficult as Izbasa'z.
Some enlightenment in this dept would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Posted by: wenz02@aol.com | August 18, 2008 3:15 AM
These olympic scoring systems are a joke. Every last one of them is arbitary and subjective.
Posted by: Mattsoundworld | August 18, 2008 2:15 PM
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woooo go nast!!