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Izbasa brings Romania first gymnastic gold
Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-17 20:58
BEIJING - Sandra Izbaza claimed the Olympic title in women's floor exercise on Sunday, the first gold won by the Romanian gymnastic team in the Beijing Olympics.
Romania's Sandra Izbasa competes during the women's floor exercise final of the artistic gymnastics event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on August 17, 2008. Izbasa won the gold, United States' Shawn Johnson the silver and United States' Nastia Liukin the bronze. [Agencies] |
It was the first time for Izbaza to stand atop the Olympic podium. That continued the winning legend of Romanian women gymnast Catalina Ponor in the event four years ago at the Athens Olympics.
As the last one to compete, Izbaza did not show any sign of nervousness. With lofty tumbling and solid landing, the 18-year-old girl secured her leading stance by gaining 15.650 points. The difficulty of her routine was 6.5, the highest one among the eight contenders. That placed Izbaza in an advantageous position.
Shawn Johnson from the United States defeated her teammate Nastia Liukin and bagged the silver. The bronze went to Liukin who scored 15.425 points, with a gap of 0.075 point with Johnson.
Liukin won the women's all-around title on Friday after flawless exercises on each of the four apparatus with a good combination of difficulty and quality, beating Johnson by 0.600.
China's Jiang Yuyuan ended up the fourth with more stable performance than in the women's all-around final on Friday. Her compatriot Cheng Fei,however, leaned backward in a series of somersaults and had to support her body with a hand. She got only 14.550 points in the final and ranked the seventh.
Cheng burst into tears after the competition.