QUOTE
China stuns U.S. women, sweeps gymnastics golds
AARHUS, Denmark -- The only team with an outside chance to topple the Americans did just that.
The Chinese women pulled off a stunner Wednesday, getting a second straight great performance from Zhang Nan to win their first world gymnastics title and give their country a sweep of the team gold. The men won Tuesday. Not a bad way to set the stage with 22 months until the Olympics in Beijing.
Although the men's win could have been expected, this one certainly wasn't.
The U.S. brought a stack of medals from last year's individual worlds with them to Denmark. Even with their national champion, Nastia Liukin, limited to one event, the Americans crushed everyone -- including China -- in preliminaries.
In that part of the competition, though, teams are allowed to throw away their worst score. In finals, every score counts. So does every mistake, and the Americans made too many.
They had major errors on three of their 12 routines and finished with 181.35 points, 0.85 fewer than the Chinese. Russia, rebuilding after winning bronze in Athens, finished third.
``I guess that's why they call it sport,'' said Kathy Kelly, senior director of the American women's program. ``Totally unexpected. But you can't take anything away from China.''
It was a great day for the Chinese, who finished seventh at the Athens Olympics. They haven't won a medal at worlds since 1999 and in 2003, they infamously gave away the bronze when an athlete was penalized for warming up for her beam routine on the podium near the beam, which wasn't allowed.
There were no such mistakes this time. In fact, not many mistakes at all, to speak of.
The Chinese women wrapped it up on floor where Zhang, their steadiest competitor through most of this rebuilding phase, put in an error-free routine that had the audience clapping. She didn't wait for her score -- a 14.8 -- to be posted before she was on the sideline hugging, high-fiving and celebrating with her teammates.
The United States still had to compete on floor, where they had defending world champion Alicia Sacramone and all-around champion Chellsie Memmel waiting, but the deficit was too steep.
The table had been set for an upset much earlier. On the first routine, Jana Bieger barely kept herself from falling on her backside on the vault landing, earning a score of 13.95.
Then came an even bigger stunner, when Memmel couldn't make the grab on a release move on the uneven bars. She made a thump when she hit the mat, drowned out milliseconds later by a huge gasp from the crowd.
Indeed, nobody expected this.
"But that's the name of the game in finals, when it's three up, three count," Kelly said. "It's 'stay on,' and we didn't stay on."
AARHUS, Denmark -- The only team with an outside chance to topple the Americans did just that.
The Chinese women pulled off a stunner Wednesday, getting a second straight great performance from Zhang Nan to win their first world gymnastics title and give their country a sweep of the team gold. The men won Tuesday. Not a bad way to set the stage with 22 months until the Olympics in Beijing.
Although the men's win could have been expected, this one certainly wasn't.
The U.S. brought a stack of medals from last year's individual worlds with them to Denmark. Even with their national champion, Nastia Liukin, limited to one event, the Americans crushed everyone -- including China -- in preliminaries.
In that part of the competition, though, teams are allowed to throw away their worst score. In finals, every score counts. So does every mistake, and the Americans made too many.
They had major errors on three of their 12 routines and finished with 181.35 points, 0.85 fewer than the Chinese. Russia, rebuilding after winning bronze in Athens, finished third.
``I guess that's why they call it sport,'' said Kathy Kelly, senior director of the American women's program. ``Totally unexpected. But you can't take anything away from China.''
It was a great day for the Chinese, who finished seventh at the Athens Olympics. They haven't won a medal at worlds since 1999 and in 2003, they infamously gave away the bronze when an athlete was penalized for warming up for her beam routine on the podium near the beam, which wasn't allowed.
There were no such mistakes this time. In fact, not many mistakes at all, to speak of.
The Chinese women wrapped it up on floor where Zhang, their steadiest competitor through most of this rebuilding phase, put in an error-free routine that had the audience clapping. She didn't wait for her score -- a 14.8 -- to be posted before she was on the sideline hugging, high-fiving and celebrating with her teammates.
The United States still had to compete on floor, where they had defending world champion Alicia Sacramone and all-around champion Chellsie Memmel waiting, but the deficit was too steep.
The table had been set for an upset much earlier. On the first routine, Jana Bieger barely kept herself from falling on her backside on the vault landing, earning a score of 13.95.
Then came an even bigger stunner, when Memmel couldn't make the grab on a release move on the uneven bars. She made a thump when she hit the mat, drowned out milliseconds later by a huge gasp from the crowd.
Indeed, nobody expected this.
"But that's the name of the game in finals, when it's three up, three count," Kelly said. "It's 'stay on,' and we didn't stay on."
Can't wait till 2008.
