Women's gymnastics: China finer than US silver
BEIJING - It was double happiness here today, as the Chinese women's gymnastics team matched the men by winning the Olympic gold medal - their first ever - by more than 2 points (188.900-186.525) ahead of the shaky Americans in the biggest US-China showdown of the Games.
After beating the Chinese for last year's world title on the final rotation, the US came apart there this time, as captain Alicia Sacramone made two big mistakes on floor exercise and Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson stepped out of bounds.
"The pressure of competition, it got the better of me today," said Sacramone, the Winchester, Mass., native and Brown student who was the heroine when the Americans won the world title last year.
The victory was sweet redemption for China, which had finished seventh in Athens and had won only two bronzes in six previous Olympics. "I feel very excited now because we sacrificed a lot to win this gold medal," said coach Lu Shanzhen, "and this is a direct competition between the Chinese team and the USA team and we are very proud we won."
It was the first time in Olympic history the US women's team had competed against an archrival in its own gym and the atmosphere was daunting, with 20,000 Chinese supporters waving red flags and chanting.
The Americans had far more experience than the Chinese and a decidedly more impressive global dossier. The US team had won 17 world medals to China's six, including two all-around titles (Johnson and Chellsie Memmel) and five apparatus golds. And at last year's world meet in Germany, the Americans had come from behind to win their first gold medal at an overseas championships.
After a shaky qualifying performance Sunday, when they finished second to the hosts, the Americans were convinced they would perform better in the final, where only three gymnasts go up on each of the four events and all of the scores count. "If we can do our stuff on three-up, three-count, it will be a different day," vowed team coordinator Martha Karolyi. "We will have a very good fight with the Chinese."
It began on vault, where China came with three-time global champion Cheng Fei. When her knees buckled on the landing, Cheng managed only a 16.000, which Johnson matched. And when Bridget Sloan posted a 15.200 on her only event of the day and Sacramone, running full-tilt and wearing her customary game face, stuck her vault for a 15.675, the US was up by .525 of a point (46.875-46.350) after the first rotation.
So it was on to the uneven bars, where the Americans featured a former world champion in Nastia Liukin, who had medaled at the last three global meets. Up first was Memmel, who'd had an untimely fall during the qualifying round.
This time, Memmel was glued on and stuck her landing with a right ankle that she'd sprained last weekend for a 15.725. Then, after Johnson contributed a solid 15.350, up went Liukin, all leggy and lithe, to hit a spectacular routine, hanging up a 16.900 which gave the US a 47.975 for the rotation.
So the dare was there for the Chinese, who'd won the event in the qualifying round and had two gymnasts whose start values equaled Liukin's lofty 7.7. They were more than up to it as Jiang Yuyuan set the table with a 15.975, Yang Yilin followed with a 16.800, and He Kexin, who'd fallen in qualifying, ripped off a 16.850 that tore the roof off the gym.
That gave the Chinese the lead by 1.125 points (95.975-94.850) midway through and put the squeeze on the Americans going into balance beam, their weakest event, which Karolyi's husband Bela, the longtime Romanian and US coach, calls 'the apparatus of the devil'. The US got a break, though, when Cheng fell off and was hung with a 15.150. But Deng (15.925) and specialist Li Shanshan (16.050) survived wobbly routines and the Chinese made it through.
The Americans got in trouble immediately, though, when Sacramone, after waiting unusually long to get the go-ahead, fell just after she'd mounted the beam and took a 15.150. "I just wanted to get the show on the road," she said, "but I let the nerves get the best of me, I guess."
Still, Liukin (15.975) and Johnson (16.175) were steady and ended up winning the rotation 47.250-47.125. And though the Chinese led by a point (143.100-142.100) going into the final rotation, Karolyi was optimistic. "We're OK," she told her girls. "We're doing well."
And then everything fell apart on the floor, which is where they'd won the title last year. Sacramone, a former world champion on the event, fell on one tumbling pass and stepped out of bounds on another, taking a 14.125 and burying her face in her hands after the score went up. "I don't know what happened on floor, either," she said. "I thought my feet were under me and the next thing I knew, I was on my back."
The Americans were finished then, and subsequent step-outs by Liukin and Johnson made sure of it. All the Chinese had to do was stay upright and in bounds and they did it easily, as Cheng finished with a 15.450 that had her teammates hugging and weeping in triumph.
John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com. 