Five Individual Golds Awarded
Monday's gymnastics events saw five individual gold medals awarded -- one of them to Russia's amazing Alexei Nemov for his work on the horizontal bar. Nemov's countrywoman Elena Zamolodtchikova won the women's floor exercise. China also took home two golds. Liu Xuan won the women's balance beam and Li Xiaopeng won the men's parallel bar. Spain's Gervasio Deferr rose to the top of the field in the men's vault.
Nemov Pushes Medal Haul to 10
Russian star Alexei Nemov picked up two more medals Sunday as individual events got underway in gymnastics. The 24-year-old now has 10 career Olympic medals, including this year's gold in the men's all-around event. Sunday he settled for silver in floor exercise and a bronze in the pommel horse.
Romanian Women Sweep All-Around Medals
Not since Nadia Comaneci in 1976 had a Romanian gymnast claimed the women's all-around gold medal. Andreea Raducan followed in the footsteps of the Olympic legend Thursday... and just for good measure, her teammates claimed silver and bronze. The medal sweep followed Romania's team win on Tuesday. Simona Amanar, who will retire after these games, was second. Maria Olaru, the reigning world all-around champion, wound up in third place. China's Liu Xuan finished fourth. Russia could manage no better than Ekaterina Lobazniouk's fifth-place finish.
Nemov Wins Men's All-Around Title
The Olympic medals are piling up for Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov -- and the newly crowned men's all-around champion says he expects to stick around another four years in pursuit of more. Nemov won the gold Wednesday with a steady performance that eclipsed silver medalist Yang Wei of China and bronze medalist Alexander Beresch of Ukraine and pushed two-time world champion Ivan Ivankov of Belarus out of the medal race. Nemov, now 24, won five medals at the Atlanta games in 1996 and has now won two in Sydney. He has also qualified for five of the six individual event finals.
Team Gold Goes to Romanian Women
Romania reascended to the throne of women's gymnastics Tuesday, using depth and experience to hold off challenges from Russia and China. The United States women fell to fourth as they failed to defend the team title they won four years earlier in Atlanta. Romania drew on strong performances from all-around world champ Maria Olaru and veteran Simona Amanar, who will retire after this competition, as well as newcomer Andreea Raducan. It was the first team gold for Romania since 1984. Meanwhile, Russia's hopes for gold crashed to earth with Svetlana Khorkina. The reigning Olympic and world champion lost her grip on the uneven bars and suffered a rare -- and very untimely -- fall, and the Olympic gymnastics power settled for silver. China took the bronze.
Chinese Men Claim Team Title
China's male gymnasts overcame the loss of their star performer to capture their first-ever Olympic team gold, overpowering Ukraine and Russia. The American men's squad finished fifth. With Lu Yufu sidelined by a neck injury, Yang Wei led a unified Chinese effort Monday. Russia's Alexei Nemov was the top individual performer during the team competition, but a series of errors by his teammates sank Russian hopes for gold.
U.S. Women Qualify for Medal Round
It was awfully close -- but the U.S. women's artistic gymnastics squad will be in Tuesday's team finals to defend its 1996 gold medal. Based on the preliminary round, this team has little chance for a medal at Sydney. They barely hung on to the sixth and final qualifying spot. Russia, Romania, China, Ukraine and Spain will also be in the finals.
About Gymnastics
Gymnasts have been among the biggest crowd pleasers at the Olympics since Olga Korbut's charm helped melt a bit of Cold War ice in the 1972 games at Munich. With more than 20 gold medals available, new faces are sure to emerge this year from one of the now familiar events -- faces peeking up from the balance beam, grimacing on the still rings or grinning after a perfect dismount.
Blaine Wilson's four tattoos will be on display as the United States men's team vies to return to the awards stand for the first time since 1984. Kristen Maloney could follow in the footsteps of Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug, inspiring another generation of American girls to try out the tumbling mats. And that's just the artistic gymnastics competition. Fans are likely to raise the roof at the Sydney Superdome for trampoline gymnastics, a new Olympic discipline with high-flung expectations.
