World champion Takehiro Kashima and Hiroyuki Tomita delivered spectacular horizontal bar performances to lead Japan to Olympic men’s team gymnastics gold yesterday.
The Japanese, third at the 2000 Olympics and last year’s World Championship, scored 173.821 points to defeat runner-up United States, which had 172.933, and bronze medalist Romania at 172.384.
Kashima delivered a 9.825 score on the high bar and Tomita followed with the best score on the apparatus, 9.850, to secure the crown and deny the US team their first gold medal in a non-boycotted Olympics.
Reigning world and Olympic men’s champion China was a disappointing fifth at 171.257, trailing South Korea by .590. This was the first time using a format in which three members of each team competed on each apparatus and all three scores counted, a system with no margin for error unlike the prior method where a lowest score was dropped.
Meanwhile, to go beyond their wildest Olympic dreams, United States women’s gymnasts will have to stop going beyond the boundaries. Steps out of bounds proved costly for the reigning world champions in qualifying for today’s Olympic team final, where they will face defending Olympic champion Romania in a showdown for gold.
Courtney McCool and Terri Humphrey each stepped out of bounds on floor exercise, McCool well beyond the boundary. “Too much power,” McCool said. “Always better than not enough.”
McCool, the youngest US gymnast at 16, also wobbled on balance beam and failing to qualify for all-around or apparatus finals. She was left off the US team lineup set yesterday, bringing an early end to her Games.
Cuban-born Annia Hatch, 26, and Mohini Bhardwaj, 25, both stumbled over the landing boundary area in vault qualifying. Carly Patterson, world runner-up last year all-around and the top-scoring qualifier in Thursday’s all-around final, will perform in all four disciplines in the team final.
Each nation sends three gymnasts onto each apparatus with all three scoring. Unlike past years where a low score was dropped, every score counts this time.
Courtney Kupets, the other US all-around qualifier, starts on balance beam, floor exercise and uneven bars. Bhardwaj performs on vault and floor, with Hatch on vault and Humphrey on bars and beam.
Romania’s teen titans have similar expectations behind all-around contenders Daniela Sofronie, 16, and Oana Ban, 18, plus beam and floor qualifying leader Catalina Ponor, who hopes to win a team gold medal on her 17th birthday.
China’s Chen Survives Danish
Test to Claim Last 16 Place
Chinese second seed Chen Hong mustered all his powers of recovery to shake off plucky Kenneth Jonassen and claim a place in the last 16 of the Olympic men’s singles badminton yesterday.
Chen, who edged out Xia Xuanze to make the Olympic team due to the world champion’s loss of form, looked as if he might follow top seed Lin Dan out of the tournament after losing the first set. But the 24-year-old world number two increased the tempo after a slow start to take the next two and win an enthralling match 12-15, 15-5, 15-9 in one hour and 22 minutes.
Chen, who greeted every winner with a clenched fist and a howl of delight, hugged Jonassen at the net after the match, a clear sign of respect for an opponent who had pushed him all the way.
Jonassen, the world No. 15, was angry with himself for not being able to maintain the early momentum he had worked so hard for.
Chen’s reward is a second round match against unseeded Malaysian Lee Chong-Wei, a 15-3, 15-3 winner over Hong Kong’s Ng Wei.
Chinese fourth seed Bao Chunlai began his campaign with a solid 15-6, 15-5 vicotry over Shoji Sato of Japan.
