An optimistic view all around

Johnson, Liukin are looking ahead

BEIJING - Turn the page, United States women's team coordinator Martha Karolyi tells her gymnasts whenever they make a mistake. Move on to the next one. The Americans had a rough outing in yesterday's Olympic team final, falling apart on the floor exercise on the final rotation and losing by more than 2 points to the Chinese, who won their first gold medal.

But tomorrow will bring another chance for gold as world champion Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, who finished 1-2 in qualifying, compete for the all-around title, which the US won with Carly Patterson four years ago in Athens. Their chief rivals will be China's Yang Yilin and Russia's Ksenia Semenova and Anna Pavlova.

"We've been thinking about this the whole time we've been here," said Liukin. "The team is most important, but after getting this over with [yesterday], knowing the all-around is next, we're really excited."

While the Americans matched their best team finish at an overseas Games, they were hoping for more after coming in as world champions with a more experienced team than the Chinese, who were suspected of using several gymnasts under the 16-year-old limit. "I have no proof, so I cannot make an affirmation," said Karolyi. "But one little girl has a missing tooth."

Whatever their age, the Chinese performed superbly behind captain Cheng Fei, clinching the gold on floor after all three US gymnasts made costly mistakes there. "Martha makes jokes [about the Chinese] - 'Oh, the little ones' - but I respect them so much," said Liukin. "To be here in their own country, I can only imagine the pressure they were under [yesterday]. We had a little pressure on us going in as world champions, but with their being at home and expected to win . . . They worked hard for it, we worked hard for it, but it was their day."

Even with a less-flawed effort, the Americans would have had trouble overtaking the Chinese, whose total of 188.900 was 5 points higher than their score at last year's global meet, which the US won on the final rotation.

"The fight was very close," said Karolyi, whose squad actually scored more than 2 points higher (186.525) than it did at the world championships. "We fought equal to equal. We were two very strong teams and, unfortunately, we had this break."

Several breaks, actually. The first one came on balance beam, where captain Alicia Sacramone, the Winchester, Mass., native and Brown University student, fell off as soon as she got on after being distracted by a lengthy wait between rotations. Then she made two mistakes on her floor routine, falling on one tumbling pass and stepping out of bounds on another. When both Johnson and Liukin also stepped out, the Americans had to settle for silver.

Still, it wasn't the worst of days for the US, which also took silver in Athens. "We still have an Olympic medal," said Liukin. "It would be a lot harder to take if we came in fourth."

If Johnson and Liukin are on their games in the all-around, they could finish 1-2, which only the Soviet Union and Romania have managed at the Games. Johnson, who won the title in her world debut last year at 15, had the best day of any gymnast in the team final, going up on all four events and scoring a third of the US points. "Shawn was excellent," exulted Karolyi. "She was rock-solid. She has her ability to do her best at the most important moment, even in the big arena."

Liukin, who missed winning the 2005 world title by a thousandth of a point behind teammate Chellsie Memmel, had the best day of any athlete who competed in three events, posting a 16.900 on uneven bars, where she has a good chance to win the event final.

"I know I had so many doubters the last few years with my injuries," said the 18-year-old Liukin, who spent much of last year recovering from ankle surgery. "But I proved everybody wrong."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.