China’s men’s gymnatics team won Olympic gold yesterday with a barnstorming performance that sparked wild celebrations from an adoring home crowd and was rated “perfect” by their notoriously demanding coach.
A Chinese team boasting three world champions powered to the Olympic team title for the second time following victory in Sydney in 2000, making amends for a disappointing fifth place in Athens four years ago.
Red-hot favorites going into the competition, China finished on 286.125 points, 7.25 points ahead of arch-rivals Japan on 278.875, while an injury-weakened US team put in a gutsy effort to take bronze on 275.85.
PHOTO: AFP
“We performed perfect today, everyone was excellent,” Chinese head coach Huang Yubin said.
Huang, who has drilled the team relentlessly in the quest for gold at his home Olympics, joked that his hair had gone white under the pressure of preparing the squad for the Beijing Games.
“This is a big competition and it’s being held in China, so there was a lot of pressure to perform at our best,” he said.
With eight nations contesting the final, China was paired with defending Olympic team champions Japan as the squads went through the six men’s apparatus.
Led by world champion individual title holder Yang Wei, the Chinese came out to a deafening roar in the 18,000 capacity National Indoor Stadium, where the flag-waving crowd was expecting nothing less than gold.
An early hiccup when Chen Yibing stumbled on the final run of his floor exercise routine left China trailing Japan by half a point at the end of the first round but did not disrupt the team’s momentum.
There were then boos from the stands after Huang Xu received a disappointing 14.75 on the pommel horse before the world champion on the apparatus Xaio Qin stepped up to put the hosts 0.4 points ahead of Japan at the end of round two.
China’s depth of talent allowed them to call on the rings world champion Chen Yibing to extend the lead in the next round, when he whipped the crowd into a frenzy after a 16.575 point display.
However, the US team , written off as medal prospects in the absence of Athens individual champion Paul Hamm and his brother Morgan, led China by 0.825 points at the halfway mark.
The Amercians built on their momentum when they took to the high bar with a spectacular one-handed swinging rotation by Justin Spring.
But whenever their rivals threatened to rein them in, the Chinese lifted, with Li Xiopeng pulling off a 16.775 vault to put China 1.575 points ahead at the end of the fourth round.
The hosts extended their lead after US gymnast Joey Hagerty stumbled, then landed heavily, on the floor exercise.
Heading into the final round, the Chinese looked unbeatable, leading the US by 5.2 points and Japan by 6.9.
The US were in silver medal position but poor pommel horse routines from Kei Wen Tan and Raj Bhavsar allowed Japan to finish second after a strong team performance on the high bar.
China’s dominance was such that the last gymnast to perform on high bar, Zou Kai, needed only 8.725 to clinch the gold.
He scored 15.975 to set off a round of foot-stamping and cheering in stands.
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