Displaying the kind of flexibility and grace the sport was made for, China made its preliminary round look like child's play Monday to take the lead at the World Gymnastics Championships.
The Chinese finished with 148.671 points, taking a half-point lead over the Romanians going into the final round of preliminaries. The US, which bumbled and fumbled through its prelims, is almost a point back at 147.697.
Ukraine is fourth, and Russia, the silver medalist at the last three worlds, is down in fifth. Even more stunning than Russia's placement is that Svetlana Khorkina, a five-time bars champion at worlds, didn't qualify for the uneven bars final.
PHOTO: AFP
The top eight teams advance to Wednesday's finals, and the top 12 secure spots in next year's Athens Olympics.
"So far, we're doing well," China coach Lu Shanzhen said. "Now we need to refocus and go back to the beginning. The winning team has to have a very strong mind and the ability to show everything."
What the Chinese have showed so far is pretty impressive. China has a young, inexperienced team, but they looked like steely veterans Monday night. Their uneven bar routines were stunning for their flow and beauty. When Fan Ye flipped from bar to bar, she did it with such ease they seemed to be mere inches apart instead of 1.4m.
PHOTO: AFP
On balance beam, their leaps and jumps were so sure they could have been doing them on flat ground instead of a four-inch wide slab of hard plastic. The lowest score they counted was a 9.4; the Americans' highest score on beam was a 9.412.
And even scarier ... this wasn't even the best they could do.
"Our real goal is next year," Lu said. "Most of these girls are very young."
PHOTO: AFP
Romania has won every world title since 1994, as well as the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, and it would like to continue that streak. But the team is in a rebuilding period. No one from the 2001 worlds team is left, and Oana Ban is the "veteran" at the ripe old age of 17.
"We need another year to work very hard to be well during the Olympic Games," said Octavian Belu, the Romanian coach. "It's like teaching a kid to swim in a small pool and after, you drop them in the ocean."
The Romanians are doing more than just treading water, though. After getting bars, their weakness, out of the way, they cruised through the final three events, not scoring lower than 9.175 the rest of the way.
Their floor routines were marvelous, with impossibly huge tumbling passes for girls who are so tiny they barely clear the podium. Their lively, bouncy music was the perfect showcase for their bright personalities, too.
"Today was only a rehearsal. The real competition starts the day after tomorrow," Belu said. "I don't have the attitude to make big expectations and talk about how strong we are.
"All gymnasts are human beings," he added. "It's possible to be well. At the same time, it's possible to not be well."
The Americans had golden hopes when they arrived in Anaheim, bringing a squad many said was even stronger than the Magnificent Seven in 1996. Then world beam champ Ashley Postell got the flu and vault specialist Annia Hatch blew out her knee.
Suddenly, the Americans were scrambling, and the disorder showed on the floor Sunday night. Of the six US gymnasts, only Chellsie Memmel made it through the night without any problems -- and she was one of the alternates.
National champion Courtney Kupets slipped up twice on her floor exercise. Veteran Tasha Schwikert showed very little of her trademark flash, falling on floor and banging her feet against the mat during her bars routine. Carly Patterson, who's won every event she's been healthy enough to enter since last summer, fell on her beam dismount.
"Obviously, last night wasn't our best performance and we struggled," USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi said Monday. "But we look forward to putting our three best against the rest of the world's three best. It's all about execution."
The Russians also disappointed.
The Russians counted a score in the 8s in all but one of their four events. They should've known they were in for a rough day when their very first competitor of the day, Yelena Anochina, stumbled backward on the landing of her vault and slammed into the horse.
Things were particularly brutal on uneven bars, normally one of Russia's strengths. Anochina went first again. And promptly fell again. Tossing herself backward over the bar on a release move, she couldn't hang on and landed on her backside, tumbling backward and smacking her head on the mat.
Ludmila Ehova, the reigning world bronze medalist on bars, was up next, but she dropped off, too.
"There was a little bit too much pressure for the team, and they didn't perform what they're capable of doing," said Leonid Arkaev, head coach of the Russian team.
"When the team competes for the medals, it'll be a completely different look."
As scary as the Chinese and Romanians looked, there is some good news for the Americans and Russians, with scoring starting from scratch in the team finals. Each squad puts three gymnasts on each event, with all three scores counting.
That means one miss, and a team can forget about climbing on that medals podium.
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