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Paul Hamm upstaged in Olympics Gymnastics
2004-08-22
ATHENS - All-round champion Paul Hamm's Olympic fortunes took a downward turn on Sunday when he was outdone by the mastery of Kyle Shewfelt and Teng Haibin in the men's apparatus finals.American Hamm had been expected to increase his Olympic medal haul during the apparatus finals but the controversy surrounding his all-round gold clearly affected his performance and he left the arena empty handed. Shewfelt edged out Romania's Marian Dragulescu on a tiebreak in the men's floor exercise to give Canada their first ever Olympic gymnastics gold medal, while Teng won China's first gymnastics title of the Athens Games on the pommel horse. In the women's competition, Romanian teenager Monica Rosu outclassed her more experienced opponents to land the vault title. Shewfelt executed his powerful tumbles to earn a score of 9.787 and was matched by Dragulescu but the Canadian was named champion once the tiebreak rules were applied by the judges. Bulgaria's Jordan Jovtchev settled for his second successive Olympic bronze in the event. Hamm, who was awarded the all-round gold on Wednesday after a judging error denied South Korea's Yang Tae-young the title, was expected to take the title but the pressure was clearly etched on his face and he finished fifth. Shewfelt was delighted. "Basically, when I walked up, I just said to myself, 'Okay, you're in control Kyle. Be calm, have confidence, make it happen.'," he said. "Really those were my key words today. "I sort of turned my brain off and I just thought it flowed." Despite being unable to add the Games title to his European gold, Dragulescu said it had been a fair result. "Kyle performed better than me," said Dragulescu. "The difference between his performance and mine was very little. "If I had a better landing in my final tumbling series, I could have won gold." Teng went some way towards healing bruised Chinese pride with country's first gymnastics gold at the Athens Games. NAILED DISMOUNT He mounted the pommel with his eyes locked on the apparatus, rotating with ease and then punching his fists up into the air as he nailed his solid dismount and earned 9.837. The last man to compete on the apparatus, his fluid movements were enough to overhaul defending champion Marius Urzica by just 0.012 of a point while Takehiro Kashima of Japan trailed in third place. A disappointed Hamm could only manage sixth out of the eight finalists. Rosu, part of the Olympic title-winning Romania team, captured her second gold in the Greek capital in the vault. Approaching the vault with plenty of aggression, the 17-year-old's intricate twisting combination was enough to secure gold with a score of 9.656. American Annia Hatch, 25, took silver, while Anna Pavlova of Russia finished third. A hopped landing from defending champion Elena Zamolodchikova of Russia earned her deductions and she trailed in fourth place. Reuters
Three more medals for U.S. women gymnasts (2004-08-22)Paul Hamm upstaged in Olympics Gymnastics (2004-08-22)NBC reverses slumps, sees Olympics viewers rise (2004-08-20)Hamm Wins All-Around With Amazing Comeback (2004-08-19)
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