Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-18 21:24:15

(BEIJING, August 18) – The last day of the Olympic Artistic Gymnastics competition will be held tomorrow, with three gold medals to be awarded to the best gymnasts in the Men’s Parallel Bars, the Women’s Beam and the Men’s Horizontal Bar.

China’s Li Xiaopeng is the favorite for the gold medal in the Men’s Parallel Bars. Li was the gold medalist at Sydney 2000 and the bronze medalist at Athens 2004. He was the highest-ranking gymnast in the qualification phase.

Olympic debutante Mitja Petkovsek of Slovenia is a dedicated specialist in the Parallel Bars and the event’s reigning champion. To win a medal, Petkovsek will need to improve on his performance in the qualification phase, where he ranked fifth.

Probably the only gymnasts who can defeat Li Xiaopeng are the ones who attempt a more difficult routine than the Chinese champion. In the qualification phase, the only gymnasts who attempted a more difficult routine were Yoo Won-chul and Yang Tae-young of the Republic of Korea, and China’s Huang Xu. If they perform well and receive a good execution score, then they stand a chance of beating Li.

China’s Li Shanshan will be tough to beat in the Women’s Beam if she can avoid making any major mistakes. Li performed the most difficult routine in the qualification phase and received the highest total score.

However, if Li does make a mistake, then the American duo of Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson will be ready to pounce. Liukin is the reigning world champion in the event and received the second-highest score. If Johnson can perform her routine flawlessly, then she may beat Liukin because her risky Beam maneuvers will deliver a higher total score.

Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen should finally win his first Olympic medal in the Men’s Horizontal Bars. At Beijing 2008, Hambuechen has finished fourth in both the Team and Floor Exercise final, and seventh in the All-Around final. He was the highest-ranked gymnast in the qualification phase.

Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands is the dark horse for the gold medal in the Men’s Horizontal Bars. Zonderland attempted a very difficult routine during the qualification phase and he will be a strong medal chance if he can pull the routine off in the final.

Fresh from winning a gold medal in the Men’s Floor Exercise, China’s Zou Kai may win his second Individual gold medal in the Horizontal Bar. Zou also performs a difficult routine and the young star may upset the highly-rated Hambuechen.