Mon, Aug 18, 2008 page19

• GYMNASTICS: Sandra Johnson has gold snatched away by Izbasa

  • AP
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  Sandra Izbasa of Romania won the floor exercise yesterday as Shawn Johnson of the US was edged for a gymnastics gold at the Olympics for the second time in three days.

  Izbasa — the very last competitor out of seven finalists — grabbed the gold from Johnson by wowing the judges with her soaring somersaults and solid landings, earning a 15.65.
  
  

  Two days after being beaten by Nastia Liukin for the all-around title, Johnson had been in the unenviable first spot yesterday and saw her 15.50 stand up through six other finalists, including Liukin, until Izbasa’s routine.
  
  

  

  Romania’s Sandra Izbasa reacts during the women’s floor final of the artistic gymnastics event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing yesterday.

  PHOTO: AFP

  That left Johnson, last year’s world champion, with three silver medals in Beijing, and gave Liukin, who took bronze, one of each.
  
  

  Not a bad haul, with more event finals to come.
  
  

  Johnson, gracious as always, wore a bright smile all night, and gave several competitors big hugs when they finished their routines.
  
  

  

  Gold medal winner gymnast Sandra Izbasa from Romania, center, is flanked by runner-up Shawn Johnson of the US, left, and Nastia Liukin of the US who won the bronze medal as they pose on the podium during the women’s floor apparatus finals at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing yesterday.

  PHOTO: AP

  She barely flinched when Izbasa’s mark came up, and the 16-year-old US citizen also had a hug for the winner.
  
  

  “I just stayed calm and had a great time out there,” Johnson said. “I love to perform.”
  
  

  The biggest upset of the night came in women’s vault, with China’s Cheng Fei losing for the first time in three years. The gold medallist at the last three world championships landed on her knees on her second attempt, leaving the competition wide open. North Korea’s Hong Un-jong stepped in with two solid vaults and clean landings to win the title — the first gymnastics medal for her nation.
  
  

  The men’s event finals were — here’s a shock — dominated by China. Zou Kai won the floor exercise and Ziao Qin took pommel horse, making the hosts 4-for-4. Add in the women’s successes, and it’s been a medals feast for the Chinese.
  
  

  And it was not at all disappointing for the US women, who now have five medals. Johnson and Liukin had a hand in all of them.
  
  

  “After the all-around, I was excited to have made the floor finals and a bronze medal feels great,” Liukin said.
  
  

  Neither of them competed in vault, where Cheng followed the best effort of the night — a 16.075 — with her huge error, sliding her behind Oksana Chusovitina of Germany. Cheng also fell during her floor routine, then burst into tears as her coach tried to console her on the sideline.
  
  

  Chusovitina, competing for Germany for the first time but in her fifth Olympics, won silver. A native of Uzbekistan and now a German citizen, the 33-year-old Chusovitina said she “feels 18.”
  
  

  “Today, I concentrated only on my moves, not the medals,” she said. “I felt that I had a very normal performance without surprises, and that is why I got a silver medal.”
  
  

  Alicia Sacramone of the US, who has three world championships medals in vault, felt she deserved a medal, but finished fourth.
  
  

  “I’m disappointed, especially since third place had a fall and I made both of mine,” she said. “I can’t change her score. The judges made up their minds.”
  
  

  Sacramone was hoping to atone for her weak performance in the team competition, when she fell off the balance beam, then struggled on the floor as the US finished second to China.
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