Chinese Women Claim First Olympic Team Title
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China's Cheng Fei is congratulated by Jiang Yuyuan after her floor routine in the Olympic team final.The Chinese women danced to their first Olympic team title Wednesday in Beijing, defeating the world champion American team and the defending champion Romania.
China trailed the U.S. after the first rotation on vault, but pulled ahead with a spectacular display on the uneven bars. Jiang Yuyuan opened with a 15.975, followed by a near-perfect 16.800 from Yang Yilin. Newcomer He Kexin, who had fallen in prelims, hit under pressure as the team anchor (16.850).
Even a fall from beam (tucked full) by team captain Cheng Fei in the third rotation couldn't stop China's momentum, and teammates Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan followed with near-perfect sets.
In the final rotation, Deng and Jiang had small errors on their tumbling, but performed their floor routines with excitement, knowing the title was in reach.
As the team had hoped, anchor Cheng's exquisitely choreographed floor routine to the "Yellow River Concerto" was a victory lap, as she clinched the gold for China by a margin of 2.375.
It is the best finish in history for the Chinese women, who were third in 1984 and 2000. China's only other women's team title was at the 2006 Worlds.
Runner-up in Athens, the Americans took silver again, with world champion Shawn Johnson competing all four events for the U.S. cause. The team, which lost Samantha Peszek to a sprained ankle in preliminaries, began with a strong effort on vault with 15.200 from Bridget Sloan, 16.000 from Johnson and 15.675 from Alicia Sacramone.
On uneven bars, Chellsie Memmel led the U.S. lineup which boasted former world champions in Memmel (2003) and Liukin (2005). Like He Kexin, Memmel had fallen in prelims, but she nailed her set in team finals for 15.725. Johnson followed with 15.350, and Nastia Liukin anchored the event with a meet-high 16.900.
Similar to China, the U.S. suffered a fall on beam from lead-off team captain Sacramone (piked front mount), but teammates Liukin and Johnson responded with hit routines. First-up Sacramone also fell on floor exercise (Arabian double front), and she and both her teammates went out of bounds.
Even without the mistakes, the American team likely still would have finished second behind the hosts. The Chinese women held a two-point lead in planned start values, and the American gymnasts did not look as crisp as they had at the Olympic Trials in June.
Afterward, American coach Marta Karolyi greeted the Chinese team, telling them, "Congratulations, you deserved it."
A consistent effort helped Romania win the bronze by .9 over the favored Russians, who struggled on balance beam and floor exercise.
The Japanese women continued their rise, finishing a surprise fifth ahead of Australia. France and Brazil rounded out the top teams.
The Chinese gymnastics team is now 2-0 in Beijing. The second victory marks the first time since the Unified Team in 1992 that one nation won both men's and women's Olympic team titles.
Competition continues Thursday with the men's all-around final. Two-time world champion Yang Wei is favored to bring China its third straight gold medal.
Olympic Medal Count
| Country |  |
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Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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11 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
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2 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
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2 | 2 | 5 | |
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1 | 1 | 2 | |
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2 | 2 | ||
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2 | 2 | ||
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1 | 1 | 2 | |
 |
1 | 1 | 2 | |
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1 | 1 | 2 | |
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2 | 2 | ||
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2 | 2 | ||
 |
1 | 1 | ||
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1 | 1 | ||
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1 | 1 | ||
 |
1 | 1 | ||
 |
1 | 1 |
Comments (43 posted):
It doesn't take a gymnastics expert to figure out that the key reason the US lost was due to the difference in A-score start values and the two costly falls by Sacramone in this 3-up-3-count format.
Seems that even Marta Karolyi is not crying foul play and congratulated the Chinese - good on her.
Now, I am wondering if the comments here will be anything like the ones on the New York Times? Will the members of IG forum be more enlightened then the average New York Times reader? Or will be see the same ugliness here?
I'm going to bed now (it's 6:15 am in London and I've been up all night) - and am hoping for the best here.
Alex
I wanna say congrats to the US woman. Not just for the silver medal, but how they handled themselves, and composed themselves when they were being interviewed by Andrea Joyce. Especially Alicia Sacramone. That girl was fighting back tears the whole time, and she handled herself like a mature young woman. From one Massachusetts girl to another: Alicia, you rock, you did awesome. Rock it in the vault final.
Regardless of all of those "what ifs," the Chinese team simply did an amazing job today. They deserved that gold medal. Anyone who wants to take away from that with complaints or allegations is lame. Those girls were fascinating to watch--always have been when they've actually been "on." They actually manage to have a huge level of difficulty while keeping the art in artistic gymnastics. It's a shame that others can't see that.
On a different note, I'm SO proud of Nastia for her beautiful routine on bars. I can't wait to see what goes down during the all-around final with her and Shawn, but even more, I can't wait to see the bars final. Although Nastia is by far my favorite, I certainly won't be terribly disappointed in the results if He Kexin winds up at the top of the podium...so long as she TRULY has the best routine, just like team China TRULY had the best meet today.
Congratulations to China! Their gymnastics is amazing.
I hope Alicia doesn't take it too hard, it's a shame she had two mistakes. I have to say she looks physically and emotionally exhausted.
I am Asian, and at 16, I looked 12. At 26, I looked 16. At 45, people think I'm in my late 20s.
I hope Alicia doesn't lose her resolve to compete during vault finals.
I can't wait for the AA and bars finals. I really hope Nastia wins at least one. She is such a beautiful gymnast.
The Chinese team was definitely the highlight of the broadcast. On the other hand, the commentators *ahem* were terrible. Wrong names, wrong skill names, that thing where they act like they know exactly what is going through each athlete's head... it is just so annoying.
And of course the US is downplaying China's amazing win, but really the US didn't have a chance from the start unless for some reason, China was to self-destruct. Congratulations to the best team!
I didn't expect Alicia to make the mistakes she did but we most likely wouldn't have won anyway.
these stupid late Olympic teams are apparently not working as it's been two Olympics now with them. Let's go back to the old Trials and let these girls have a rest. Alicia looks exhausted.
China's bars was beautiful, unmatched. Cheng's fall was the only reason the US had a chance, but they did then have a chance. This article says Deng Linlin had a "near perfect" beam routine, which is simply not true. She made several nervous errors and was given a generous score.
Generous given what Nastia and especially Shawn's score was. Shawn's B score was only .2 higher than Linlin's...which is just wrong. Her leaps are shallow, but anyone could see it was a significantly better performed routine.
All a moot point, I know--Alicia fell twice. What a burden, but she didn't lose it alone. I do think with China's beam mistakes the US could have been ahead of them heading into floor, but oh well. Had both teams performed perfectly, it would have been China's gold anyway. Good for them, beautiful, mesmerizing routines. It just would have been that much more exciting if the US had challenged them more and if the beam scores were a little more on-target.
PS~ I hope you don't have to churn out these articles too quickly, Amanda. The writing here is a little weaker by comparison to your other great articles, I hope they're giving you some rest!
I personally EXTREMELY proud of the USA girls they overcame so many obstacles and have gone through the longest process ever. They deserve a round of applause.
And in the meantime they did NOT lose the gold they WON the silver :)
That said, it only takes these media speculations on the ages of the gymnasts to cause the general public to jump to their own conclusions, which was what AlexLiang saw, sadly, on the New York Times blogs, especially when the US were gold medal contenders. I can only say that those bloggers are just the worst type of sports fan...the parent who starts fights because his/her child didn't get enough play time, etc. Most American sports fans can't see beyond the fact that the US is only Number 1 and no other country. These are the worst representatives of the US. Imagine how many Olympics the US would be awarded if judged solely by the sportsmanship of the general sports fan?
Sorry to ramble. Not making excuses, just helping others understand the general American sports fan's psyche...the ones who can tolerate anyone else but themselves to be winners...from international to even the local levels.
I appreciate the above comment that the US girls did not lose the gold, but won the silver. I wish that NBC would have had the same attitude in their commentary during the competition. Also, I wish that NBC would have covered more than the top two teams, plus one bars routine each from Russia and Romania. Judging from the final scores, the battle for bronze could have been entertaining as well. Perhaps if NBC would choose to show routines from other teams instead of gymnasts standing around waiting for their scores, or worse, crying in a corner after a miss (give them some privacy!), then they could show twice the gymnastics in the same amount of time. I've been horrified at the terrible quality of gymnastics coverage for the amount of time devoted to it. They skipped whole rotations of the men's competition! At least they made sure to show He's beautiful bars routine after a long delay.
Finally, I have to agree with Bela's comments that it is fair to allow the best gymnasts to compete, regardless of age. The Chinese gymnasts were the most artistic, most consistent, and best prepared in the competition, and regardless of age deserved the gold.
Im not going to say anything bad about anyone. Everyone tried their very best and everyone did a remarkable job. But in the end.. the tables weren't even. Younger aged girls have a better advantage then girls of and older age.. and cause of this.. it allowed the chinese to have a much better advantage then some of the other teams. When you cheat, it hurts everyone involved. It wasn't a fair event.. and because of that.. everyone loses out. And that is really upset... because everyone did try very hard.
One hopes that a genuine gymnastics fan would be able to appreciate beautiful gymnastics irregardless of the nationality of the gymnast. That's the great thing about gymnastics - it doesn't matter if we're American, Asian, European - this is what we all share in common, we love this beautiful, wonderful sport! The Olympics should bring people together, not drive them apart in this ugly display of xenophobic nationalism (ref NY Times). Enough about the ages of the Chinese gymnasts already! Hasn't IG already addressed the issue in an article? Do you hear Marta Karolyi, the American gymnasts, Paul Ziert or Amanda Turner talking about it anymore? No!
To the fans here, esp tripleaxel, I thank you for restoring my faith in the gymnastics community.
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But US team coordinator Martha Karolyi believes America would have won gold if officials had not disrupted Sacramone's preparations.
Karolyi said: "First they called her name up, then they did not even put her name up even though the Chinese had finished, (it was) totally unusual holding."
"She was mentally prepared and then she had a mental break, then after not doing the job on the beam, her concentration for the floor exercise was bothered."
Sacramone fell off the beam trying to perform a backward jumping mount and admitted that the delay had caused her to lose her concentration and that, as a knock on, it affected her performance on the final exercise.
"I was just really eager to do my routine, but they did hold me for quite some time and I guess I lost my nerve a little bit," said the 20-year-old.
"I guess it was just a little bit too hard to get out of that funk, it affected me on floor a little bit."
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As a gymnast who has been through many, many years of competition, I have this to say about Marta Karolyi's complaint - it's rubbish. She's now being a sore loser. Gymnasts often get called up and have to wait a little - it happens all the time. Sometimes the judges are not ready, it's no big deal. Yes it could've been handled a bit more efficiently, but haven't you been to enough gymnastics competitions in your time Marta? How many competitions run absolutely smoothly like clockwork?
She is now accusing the Chinese of sabotaging Sacramone's beam mount. She is ridiculous and is making a fool of herself, trying to find excuses. It's hideous. It's a total disgrace. Sacramone's foot slipped - it happens on a front somi mount, it's a blind move, that's why it's so highly rewarded in the code. It's not like some Chinese gymnast pushed Sacramone off the beam or threw a missile at her during the routine.
Look at the margin of victory for China, even if we were to add 1.6, heck give the Americans another 2.0 - they would've still lost to China.
I'm sorry I spoke too soon - Marta Karolyi is a total disgrace. Sacramone should just concede that she had a bad day rather than find excuses!
There is the much talked about athletes not being 16 or going to be 16 this year. That the Chinese government is the one who issued the passports so they can be forged. What else do people need, identification cards? The Chinese government issues those as well. Would they prefer it if the Chinese athletes had American issued Chinese passports? I don't know what other proof do they want? It is crazy. Shawn Johnson doesn't look 16. Her two feet fits perfectly on a 4 inch beam. How many 16 year olds have a 2 inch foot? Seriously now!!
What is more damning for me is the fact that the US less than perfect performance has to be blamed on the Karolyis. The Chinese government made the coaches sign contracts assuring athletes safety. Certainly not the way people go about with robots. The Chinese team that was present on the floor was the best and was all healthy. They gave their best and they got the gold. The US was a different story. The Karolyis worked Shayla Worley into injury. Poor girl lost her chance at Olympic stardom. Memmell was out for the most part and so was Peszack. This long and arduous "training camps" that the US has handed over to the Karolyis has resulted in many injuries and lackluster performances. They were battered and bruised long before they got to China. They are trying to deflect the fact that they have done a poor job and that the success of the US is the individual coaches not the Karolyis. The US should be lucky that they got a silver cause at the rate they were going, had this competition gone on longer, the US would have had to ask the Mag 7 to help because they were running out of alternates. Dominique Morceanu went on record asking that the Karolyis be dropped. People called it sour grapes. However, as was evident from the results thus far, there was much truth to the veteran's word.
In general I was a little disappointed by yesterday competitions, comparing to men ones. Until last moment I believed that USA team will do it, but unfortunately spirit was not there. After second apparatus they realized that gold is too far and at the end they made mistakes on the floor that are not acceptable for such experienced gymnasts. For me Alicia’s falls were less painful then 3 times steps out of the floor in USA team. How many time they have to do it to understand to shorten their tumbling runs!?
As a gymnast I was taught that even if you loose you can do it beautifully. They could easily make gap much smaller then 2.3 between gold and silver. I was crying for Russian team that gave up bronze medal so easily, but there were strategical mistakes in team members. I also realized that most mistakes were made by most experienced gymnasts (Cheng Fei, Alicia Sacramone, Anna Pavlova) that probably had too much pressure on their shoulders.
That said, the Chinese were definitely over-scored on beam. Shawn and Nastia each had only one minor bobble and were severely docked for it.
I really don't like this 3 up, 3 count format. That is too much pressure on these girls, especially with only 4 events. At least have 4 go up and count 3. Although I like the old format of 6 up, 5 count best.
Go Nastia and Shawn in the AA!!!
我很喜歡你的體操，而且你十分可愛呢!
真的很希望能在比賽場上再看你
無論怎樣，能夠看到你開心就可以了
記得你2007年來過香港表演，能夠見到你的真人真的很開心。我還從看台大叫你，又在體育館外等你。哈哈 不知你是否記得呢?
希望你能多放你的相片 :)
And second is the Americans. Again with Memmel doing one event because of her injury and Peszek doing NONE we were in a hole we dug for ourselves. After beam it was clear that Alicia did not have the mentality to do a floor routine but THERE WAS NO ONE TO REPLACE HER! I blame Marta! She should have had FOUR all around gymnast and TWO specialist instead of three all around and three specialist! And former world champion or not if you are injured you get replaced! Why have alternates if you are not going to use them!?
In my opinion, we in the west just have no comprehension of the incredible pressure put on these young athletes to perform to perfection, not just for themselves but to better the lives of the famlilies they come from. From a young age (toddlers) to be given into the care of the government which in most cases the families not having to financial means to visit more than once a year. The hopes of that family placed on a young child to bring home the gold and not shame, is something we in the western world could not understand. Their win is more than an endorsement or a face on a Wheaties box, it is proof, that the separation of child from parent, the expectation of coaches, government, and a nation that it was not done in vain. I am a parent and could never imagine sacraficing my young toddlers to a program in the hopes that one day, her hard work would change my social and financial standing. What a burden, these young athletes bear! Congratulations to the Chinese, for bearing and overcoming such pressure!
And AlexLiang, it really irritates me when people assume the worst because of a few comments they read elsewhere. Frankly, people have a right to their opinions without being called racist or xenophobic. I went over there (very hard for me to do as I can't STAND the NYT) and I didn't find their comments any worse than many strongly stated opinions I've seen here.
I agree it would be nice to watch athletes from other countries while we are waiting for scores, etc. The commentators can still rant about whatever they want while these routines show up on the screen. I don't mind they don't use the correct skill names (too confusing for the general public) but I do wish they were not so judgmental and insulting to the athletes.
There are accusations of unfair judging here: for those of you who watched the entire event, you could see that it China and America were on the same group going back to back on every piece. They had exactly the same judges throughout and the panel of judges were not Chinese - they were an international mix.
Dare I say, there will be American fans who are so blind with 'patriotic' pride that they will never be able to see Liukin's cowboy-ed knees during her UB dismount? Well, that's what the B jury is for - let them get on with their job.
Alex
And I would like to echo the sentiments of others here that coverage of other countries would be great. I would have loved to see the gymnasts from Romania and Russia.
One thing many failed to mention are the fact that most Americans (and Westerners in general) tend to be bigger and taller than Asians. n the US, obesity is a huge problem. We are a country of plenty and over consumption. The heavy amounts of hormones in our meats have lead to childre developing younger and younger. Asians are typically small in stature and have low dietary intake. Go to China and visit the cities…people are general small and look significantly younger than their age.
Every day since the Olympics started, it's been an embarrassment to watch US Olympic coaches and sports commentator make ignorant and erroneous remarks. My neighbor said to me "why is China so serious? This is just sports.". I did not comment. The US has always emphasized winning, being focused and competitive. Why can't another country be focused and competitive? Country aside, everyone in the Olympics has prepared for this event for a very long time or their entire life...it is no shock that they would take this seriously. Did you watch all the USA Womens' sour faces? That's called poor losers. I am disgusted by the poor sportsmanship. It is no wonder everyone in USA want to write things that are pro-USA and bash on other countries...but take a look in the mirror.
The Chinese have always treated the USA athletes like rock stars...I am wondering why.
El equipo chino demostro ser el mejor. La linea y la elegancia que tienen son incomparables y que no tienen las americanas salvo nastia.
El trabajo que hicieron las chinas fue sorprendente tomando en cuenta la presion a la que estaban sometidas.
Un saludo a todos los amantes de la gimnasia.
Accusations of underage,etc are common but we have to justify our accusations.
Talking about bias comments,I have been watching live or otherwise telecast of Olympic events for at least the last 20 years.The commentators almost always are biased in their comments against the Chinese teams.
When the Chinese gymnast makes a small mistake,they will elaborate on it talking in length about the possible deductions.
Whereas when the other gymnasts makes mistakes, they will downplay the error and turn it into a positive comment eg:" .....ooh just a little out of balance but recovered very well"
.
On occassions they will even ignore the obvious errors of the other gymnasts but almost without fail they will pounce on the smallest mistake by the Chinese gymnasts.
Do not believe me?
Just go back and watch the replay of gymnastics events for the last few days.
This is not the first time.It has been happening for years.
It is as if the commentators think that only Americans and Europeans understand and can speak excellent English.
Just be fair.If you cannot be fair ,do not be overly unfair.
Asians do and can understand English and its nuances very well.
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080814_ap_statemediastoryfuelsquestionsongymnastsage.html
If it is proven that they are underaged ,then they should be disqualified.
If no proof is brought forward, we just have to take it at face value.The same applies to all countries whether it is Russia,USA etc.
Blogs and websites create a lot of controversies ,perhaps to increase readership and for patriotic or commercial reasons.
If the party concerned , in this case the Americans feel that they really have been cheated arising from the age issue,they should bring it up and show the proof via the correct channels including taking legal action if necessary, otherwise this matter will drag on and on without any conclusiveness on the allegations.
It would be rather unfair to the accused without submitting proof.
Can anyone here tell us what is the proper channel for complaints? Is it the Sports Arbitration Courts or something like that?
They are so negative, and honestly, I get the impression that they are almost talking themselves into a lie that they have fabricated. And they ruin all credibility (that they didn't have) when they do so. They are among the least intelligent people who have ever commented on the sport.
You will do all the gymnasts and the Americans too, a favour if you write in to NBC.
Their comments of the events has definitely shaped the pysche and opinions in the past and will continue to do so in the future if not corrected.
It had the most impact on those who are less informed about the sport , in particular about judging in Gymnastics.
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