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Three more medals for U.S. women gymnasts
2004-08-22
Carly Patterson of the United States reacts after finishing the uneven bars during the women's gymnastics individual all-around final at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2004. |
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ATHENS, Greece -- The United States gymnastics program has been assured of its most successful legitimate Olympics in 72 years.American women picked up three medals on the first night of individual apparatus competition, with Annia Hatch collecting silver on the vault and Terin Humphrey and Courtney Kupets picking up silver and bronze, respectively, on the uneven parallel bars. With seven medals in the 2004 Games, it is the best performance for American gymnasts in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. The U.S. won 16 medals in 1984, an Olympics boycotted by most Eastern-bloc nations. Last week, the U.S. won silver medals in the men's and women's team competition before Paul Hamm and Carly Patterson engineered the first all-around sweep by the U.S. There are three more men's events and two more women's events Monday night. Hatch, a former world vaulting champion with Cuba in 1996, scored 9.481 on the vault to finish runner-up to Monica Resu of Romania. Russia's Anna Pavlova won the bronze. "Its unbelievable and exciting," Hatch said. "I never dreamt that I would win two medals. Winning these medals is a very special accomplishment for me, as I have had a very hard year." After Cuba did not send Hatch to the 1996 Olympics, she married an American gymnastics coach, moved to Connecticut and retired for five years. She also suffered a major knee injury last August at the World Championships, tearing two ligaments and cartilage. Humphrey, a late replacement for Hatch at the World Championships, missed out on the gold in the uneven parallel bars by .025 points to Emilie Lepennec of France. "It is unbelievable, so amazing," Humphrey said. "You can't really know what it feels like, winning a medal, unless you are out there on the podium." Kupets was the 2002 world champion in the uneven parallel bars, ending the five-year run of Russia's Svetlana Khorkina. She won the bronze medal with a 9.637, just .05 behind Lepennec. "The USA (women's) team has already won five medals," Kupets said. "Hopefully, we'll keep this going. We are always a team, no matter if it is a team or an indivudual event. We always help and push each other." The U.S. men did not fare well, with Hamm finishing fifth in the floor exercise and sixth in the pommel horse. Twin brother Morgan Hamm placed eighth in the floor. "I thought I had performed very well," Morgam Hamm said. "I don't know why I got the deduction for going overtime. I did my job." Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece took gold on the rings with a 9.862. Haibin Teng of China won the pommel horse and Kyle Shewfelt won Canada's first gymnastics gold in the floor exercise. "I wanted to do my best routine," Shewfelt said. "If I happened to be fourth or eighth, I'd still be happy. I was very proud of myself that I could perform the routine of my dreams at the Olympic games." Bulgaria's Jordan Jovtchev won two medals - a bronze in the floor and a silver on the rings. Ticker
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