Chinese shine up their résumés

STUTTGART, Germany - Nastia Liukin fell short of an individual gold medal again. Maybe the Chinese can give her one of theirs.

China won three of the five event finals at the world gymnastics championships yesterday, bringing their stash of gold to five - and there's still another day.

Cheng Fei won her second straight title on vault, Chen Yibing repeated on rings, and Xiao Qin won a third on pommel horse.

Liukin, meanwhile, was edged by teeny Ksenia Semenova of Russia on uneven bars, a day after a fall off the balance beam spoiled any chance she had of winning the all-around title. Semenova won the gold by .05 points, forcing the American to settle for silver for a second straight year.

"A medal's always great. Gold obviously would have been a lot better, but I had a step on the landing, so that cost me the gold," said Liukin, who now has eight medals from the world championships, all since 2005. "But I'm happy with my performance and just being able to come back from last night. It was a little difficult, especially after the fall and being out of the medals last night. But to come back and get a medal for the US and myself, it's a good thing."

Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., took bronze on the vault, adding to the silver she won last year.

The American men built on their solid showing at worlds, with fourth-place finishes by Kevin Tan on rings and Guillermo Alvarez on floor. Sasha Artemev was sixth on pommel horse.

"Going into Beijing next year, we're definitely shooting for that podium," Tan said. "Being in fourth place puts us in a good position to be noticed next year."

Cheng started the heavy-medal barrage yesterday. While she packs more power into her vaults than anyone else, soaring high above the apparatus, what sets her apart are her catlike reflexes. There's no wiggling or wriggling when she lands.

Hong Su Jong of North Korea got the silver, and Sacramone the bronze.

"I was just a little bit upset that I didn't make the landing [on my second vault] the way I wanted to. But I still got one of the medals, so I'm happy," Sacramone said.

"I'm happy I even came home with a medal in vault because it was such a high-level competition this year."

Brazil's Diego Hypolito won the other event final, regaining his title on floor. Hypolito won gold on floor in 2005, but finished second to Romania's Marian Dragulescu last year. Both Dragulescu (back) and Olympic floor champ Kyle Shewfelt (broken tibias) missed worlds. Even if they were healthy, topping Hypolito would have been tough.

When he finished, he hugged his coach and sat along the sidelines, nervously eyeing the scoreboard. When he saw he was the winner, there were more hugs - and congratulations from big sister and fellow gymnast, Daniele, who turned 23 yesterday. Diego gave his sister the flowers he got as a present.

"I will buy her something," he said, "but I couldn't go out from the hotel."

The Chinese could open their own flower store with all the bouquets they've gotten here. They won a record eight golds last year, including a sweep of the team titles. But improving upon or even matching that mark wasn't the concern this time around. They've got their eye on next summer, when China hosts its first Olympics. The joke is that the Chinese want to win all of the gold medals in gymnastics.

And with what they're doing here, it might not be such a joke.

The men breezed to their third straight team title, and Yang Wei became the first man since 1926 to repeat as the all-around champ.

"They're going to be formidable, there's no question about it," said Ron Brant, coordinator of the US men's team.