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China wins women's gymnastics team Olympic gold
Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-13 12:20
China's Jiang Yuyuan competes on the uneven bars during the women's team final of the artistic gymnastics event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on August 13, 2008. China has its first Olympic gold medal in women's gymnastics. [Agencies] |
With the tremendous support of home fans, the Chinese team put an end to the duel in the floor exercise with three next-to-perfect routines, extending the lead to 2.375.
In a sharp contrast, the United States failed to pulled the last efforts. As the first one to represent the United States in balance beam and floor exercise, Alicia Sacramone made two fatal mistakes in the events, ruining their hopes for gold.
The 20-year-old girl dropped from the beam from the very beginning of her routine. In floor exercise, she rolled backward and landed on her bottom after a series of somersaults. Although the United States sent Nastia Liukin and world all-around queen Shawn Johnson to catch up, both of them failed the mission in landing.
Floor exercise is the specialty of Johnson and Liukin.
The United States has been beset with injuries as Samantha Peszek sprained her left ankle in warm-up, one more blow to the team after Chellsie Memmel was injured in ankle too in training.
As the final requires just three athletes from each country to compete in one event and every score counts, the United States had get rid of the short-handed problem in the final.