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Romania's Raducan wins gold with flawless flying
1999-10-17
TIANJIN, China - Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan performed flawless floor exercises and narrowly missed another world title. But it still wasn't enough for her coach. Like many at these World Championships, coach Octavian Belu already was looking ahead to the Olympics. His women's team won its fourth consecutive world title, 17-year-old Maria Olaru was the all-around champion and the 16-year-old Raducan landed without a twitch in the championships' final event Saturday. Raducan's 9.837 on the balance beam tied for the best score of the apparatus finals. ``I like being a star,'' she said as she signed autographs and prepared for a live interview with Romanian television. But Belu cautioned: ``I hope she won't be satisfied with this, and that she'll work hard in the future to be better and better because she has some examples here where big gymnasts, for various reasons, didn't have a good competition. She must do something now when she's young, dynamic and full of power.'' On the men's side, China hoped that after four consecutive team titles, it finally would win an Olympic team gold. Li Xiaopeng won the men's vault Saturday, and Ling Jie outsteadied Raducan on the balance beam, 9.775 to 9.762, giving China a total of four of the 14 golds from these championships. Russia had five, including two by Alexei Nemov - floor exercises and pommel horse - and the men's all-around title for Nikolay Krukov. This is the most golds China has won at a World Championships, said team leader Qian Kui, and women's captain Liu Xuan said Ling's victory ``will give a big confidence boost'' to the women's team, which placed third here. Qian also said the American women have managed to fill the void left by the breaking up of the ``Magnificent Seven'' who won Olympic gold in 1996. ``In the four disciplines, they really have no weaknesses,'' he said. The women finished sixth in the team final, and 17-year-old Elise Ray was eighth in the all-around. National champion Kristen Maloney and runner-up Vanessa Atler both were hampered by injuries, and dropped out of the finals in floor exercises and balance beam. In the men's all-around, Blaine Wilson missed the bronze medal by 0.001 point, the best finish by a U.S. male gymnast since Kurt Thomas' silver medal in 1979. Wilson was 10th two years ago. The men's team was missing injured Jason Gatson, who had been considered a medal prospect here. It also finished sixth. In the women's floor exercises, Raducan beat Romanian teammate Simona Amanar and Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, whose 9.837 on the uneven bars was the only apparatus finals mark to match Raducan's. Khorkina, who had 9.787, said these would be her last World Championships, but she would not announce until New Year's Day whether she would compete in the 2000 Olympics. South Korea's Lee Joo-hyung on the parallel bars and Spain's Jesus Carballo on the high bar broke the gold medal monopoly here of gymnastic powers China, Romania and Russia. ``I really am happy, I've been working toward this goal for so long,'' said the 26-year-old Lee, who never had finished higher than seventh in any event at a major meet. In a men's vault competition of mostly botched landings, China's Li and Latvia's Evgeny Sapronenko were solid, with Li winning by 9.668 to 9.656.
1996 Olympic Medalists (2000-09-08)Romania's Raducan wins gold with flawless flying (1999-10-17)Gymnastics-Russia sweep four golds (1999-10-16)Gymnastics - Russia's Nemov wins two golds (1999-10-16)
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