Beijing Olympic Games

Gym officials: China’s 2008 gold medalists of age

By NANCY ARMOUR, AP National Writer

Though the case is closed on China’s Olympic gold medalists, the age controversy in gymnastics is far from over.

Continue reading ‘Gym officials: China’s 2008 gold medalists of age’ »

Updated: 2007-09-04 From: Xinhuanet

STUTTGART, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — For the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the gymnastics governing body (FIG) will adopt a second qualifying event in additional to the current world championships to qualify gymnasts, FIG said here on Monday.

Continue reading ‘Gymnastics adopts new qualifying system for 2012 Olympics’ »

Updated: 2008-08-20 00:05:25

Shawn Johnson on the beam. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 19) — The Artistic Gymnastics competition finally drew to a close on August 19, with the United States’ pocket prodigy Shawn Johnson finally winning an Olympic gold medal and China finishing on top with a total of nine gold medals in the competition.

Johnson came to the Beijing Olympics with a huge reputation. The 16-year-old gold medalist had won three gold medals at the 2007 World Championships, which was only her first year of being a senior gymnast. With this kind of reputation, few would have not forgiven Johnson for expecting a swag of gold medals from Beijing 2008. However, Johnson faced tough competition from her teammate Nastia Liukin in the All-Around Event and was surprised by Romanian Sandra Izbasa’s brilliant performance in the Floor Exercise.

Johnson’s performance tonight in the Beam was risky and skilful. She was the deserving winner of the gold medal. Her perfection and obsession with minutia resemble the best Chinese gymnasts. Despite the domination of the Chinese gymnastics team at Beijing 2008, the real highlight of the Games has been the dynamics of the female gymnasts from the United States. Johnson and Liukin have given the United States an amazing combination of China and Russia within the same team.

Even though Liukin was probably the most outstanding female gymnast at the Games, expect Johnson to be an unstoppable force in the upcoming years, which will culminate in a lot of gold medals at London 2012. Johnson has a natural sassiness that will cushion her from the cruel blows that are typical of her sport.

Tonight Johnson received her reward for years of hard training and effort. The unluckiest gymnast at Beijing 2008 was probably China’s Cheng Fei, who won one gold and two bronze medals. Her Team gold medal is a nice consolation prize, but Cheng desperately needed to add an individual gold medal to her resume. Unfortunate mistakes robbed her of gold medals in the Vault, Floor Exercise and Beam events, and it is doubtful whether the body of the 20-year-old gymnast can hold out till London 2012.

Li Xiaopeng and Zou Kai secured China’s eighth and ninth gold medals in the Artistic Gymnastics competition. Li easily won the Men’s Parallel Bars, while Zou won the Men’s Horizontal Bar. Zou has had a dream Olympic debut, playing an instrumental part in China’s gold-medal-winning performance in the Men’s Team event and winning two individual gold medals. In fact, Zou has become only the second Chinese gymnast to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games – the first was the legendary Li Ning at Los Angeles 1984.

Li finished tonight with the fourth gold medal of his career, which makes him one of the most decorated Chinese gymnasts in history. The 27-year-old gymnast has not decided on whether he will continue his distinguished career.

“I’m not really sure whether I will continue training or not. I think it is still too early for me to make a decision,” Li said.

Updated: 2008-08-19 20:47:24

Zou Kai celebrates the victory. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 19) — China’s Zou Kai took the gold medal in the Horizontal Bar with a score of 16.200. Zou had already won two gold medals at Beijing 2008 in the Men’s Team and Floor Exercise events.

Jonathan Horton of the United States claimed the silver medal with 16.175, and the bronze medal went to Fabian Hambuechen of Germany with 15.875.

If somebody asked Zou at the start of the Games whether he was expecting to win three gold medals, it is doubtful whether the fresh-faced gymnast would have said yes. However, Zou has been the beneficiary of his own surefire technique and the mistakes of the favorites in the Floor Exercise and the Horizontal Bar.

Tonight in the Horizontal Bar, Zou received the highest A Score out of the eight gymnasts. The A Score is the measure of how difficult a gymnast’s routine is. With 7.200 for the A Score, Zou needed to make as little mistakes as possible, which he achieved by scoring 9.000 for his B Score, which is an assessment of the gymnast’s execution.

Favorite for the gold medal Fabian Hambuechen of Germany performed first, but his performance was lackluster and he could only win the bronze medal. The result must be bitterly disappointing for Hambuechen, who has not been able to perform at his best throughout the entire Olympics. He leaves Beijing with the bronze medal and three fourth-place finishes, including the Team final.

Horton can consider himself unlucky not to win the gold, missing out by only 0.025 of a point. The performance tonight by the pint-sized American was spectacular and he received the highest B Score of all eight gymnasts. Horton is by far the United States’ most successful male gymnast at Beijing 2008.

Dark Horse Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands set himself up for a tilt at the gold medal with a spectacular opening routine. Unfortunately the 22-year-old Dutchman fell from the bar, which destroyed his gold medal hopes in one foul blow.

Updated: 2008-08-19 20:22:35

Shawn Johnson on the beam. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 19) — If she did not win gold in the Beam tonight, Shawn Johnson of the United States would have taken four silver medals back to her home state of Iowa. However, Johnson, the sprightly 16-year-old gymnast did not miss her last chance of Olympic gold. She scored 16.225 after a flawless routine, two-tenths of a point more than the silver medalist, Johnson’s compatriot Nastia Liukin.

Johnson was outscored by Liukin in the Women’s Individual All-Around on August 15 and was forced to settle for her second silver medal. Her first was the United States’ second place in the Women’s Team event, which was won by China. Johnson went within a hair’s breadth of winning gold in the Women’s Floor Exercise on August 17 – she was 0.150 of a point behind the gold medalist Sandra Izbasa of Romania.

Shawn Johnson (C), Nastia Liukin (L), and Cheng Fei (Photo credit: Xinhua)

However, tonight was a different story for Johnson. Li Shanshan of China, a heavy gold medal favorite and top-ranked qualifier, fell down from the beam and her medal chances nosedived sharply. Another Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei, who competed first and scored 15.950, had no chance of winning gold because of instability during her routine. Even Liukin, who has been so perfect during the Games, walked a small step forward when dismounting, which was a tiny mistake that probably cost her gold.

Anna Pavlova of Russia finished fourth with 15.900, followed by Gabriela Dragoi of Romania with 15.625. Li came sixth with 15.300.

Updated: 2008-08-19 20:20:03

Zou Kai (C), Jonathan Horton (L) and Fabian Hambuechen (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Zou Kai of China won the Horizontal gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Tuesday.

Zou Kai scored 16.200 points for the gold, the ninth for the Chinese gymnastics team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The silver medal was taken by Jonathan Horton of the United States at 16.175, followed by Fabian Hambuechen of Germany in third place at 15.875.

Zou Kai competes. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Zou Kai competes. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Zou Kai celebrates after his performance. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Updated: 2008-08-19 20:13:06

Zou Kai on the high bar. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 19)– China’s Zou Kai took the gold medal in the Horizontal Bar with a score of 16.200. Zou had already won two gold medals at Beijing 2008 in the Men’s Team and Floor Exercise events.

Jonathan Horton of the United States claimed the silver medal with 16.175, and the bronze medal went to Fabian Hambuechen of Germany with 15.875.