ANAHEIM, California, 26 August 2003 — Olympic champ Li Xiao-peng defended his two World titles in vault and parallel bars on Sunday as China finished with a flurry at the 2003 World Gymnastics Championships. “I feel I can do my job,” said Li. “I feel very confident and I trusted myself.”
Li’s heroics, combined with Fan Ye’s gold on balance beam, helped propel China to the top of the overall medals table ahead of runner-up United States.
China had a total of eight medals, including five gold and two silver, to the United States’ seven medals. The US also had five gold while Japan was third with two gold and two bronze. There was no repeat on Sunday of the string of deadheats that marred Saturday’s individual apparatus finals. On Saturday there were six shared medals, including three shared gold and no silver medals in the men’s program, drawing a stinging reaction from the fans.
Li, the reigning Sydney Olympic champion in parallel bars, scored a 9.825 on bars to beat Huang. There was one tie on Sunday as Huang had to share the silver medal with Alexei Nemov of Russia. Huang and Nemov each had scores of 9.762.
Li won the vault by an even bigger margin than the bars, scoring a 9.818 on vault to beat runner-up Marian Dragulescu (9.687). China’s Fan Ye, whose point deduction in team finals cost China a bronze, redeemed herself by winning the balance beam gold on Sunday.
Fan scored 9.812 points, crushing her competition and the nearest competitor Catalina Ponor, of Romania, (9.587) by over two-tenths of a point. That is nearly the same figure the judges took from Fan’s score in tomorrow’s team finals for warming up too soon, knocking China off the medal podium and giving the bronze to Australia.
Brazil’s Daiane Dos Santos captured the first gold for her country at a World Championships by winning the floor exercise. She also captured the hearts and minds of the frenzied crowd of 8,000 who shook the rafters of the Arrowhead Pond arena during her sizzling routine.
Dos Santos, who was the last to compete on the floor, scored 9.737 points to snatch the gold from Ponor, who had to settle for the silver. Dos Santos knew she had won the moment she finished her routine, flashing a big smile and leaping off the podium into the arms of her coach. The cheers turned to tears as Dos Santos wept as her scores were posted. Japan’s Takehiro Kashima captured his second gold medal of the Worlds, winning a dramatic men’s high bar final on Sunday to go with his gold in the pommel horse. Kashima scored 9.775 points to beat silver medalist Igor Cassina of Italy, who scored 9.750 on the bar. Nemov was third with a 9.737. Nemov, who has 12 Olympic medals, said he was very fortunate to get the silver in parallel bars.
