China maintains domination at world gymnastics champs
TOKYO - The Associated Press
China finished with 275.161 points, more than two points ahead of Japan and the United States, which earned its first medal since 2003. REUTERS photo
China’s dominance of the world gymnastics championships continued yesterday after it won a fifth straight gold medal to edge Japan and the United States.China finished with 275.161 points, more than two points ahead of Japan (273.093) and the United States (273.083), which earned its first medal since 2003.
China has dominated men’s gymnastics over the last decade, winning every world title since 2003 as well as two of the last three Olympic golds.
After finishing behind both Japan and the United States in qualifying, the Chinese looked anything but ordinary as they walked off the floor holding their index fingers in the air, No. 1 yet again.
Earlier in the tournament, Alicia Sacramone won a record 10th medal without setting foot on the floor.
Sacramone won a gold medal after the U.S. women ran away with the title at the world gymnastics championships on Oct. 11 even though she was back in the United States recovering from surgery to repair a torn Achilles. It is her 10th world medal, breaking the American record she’d shared with Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin.
“Alicia is here with us in spirit, and we all knew that her heart was here,” said Aly Raisman, who trains with Sacramone in the Boston area. “We did it for her. She deserved the gold medal and we are really happy that we got it for her.” Sacramone tore her Achilles last Thursday during training. It was a huge blow for the Americans, who prize the Beijing Olympics captain for her leadership as well as the big scores she puts up on vault, where she’s the defending world champion, balance beam and floor exercise. But Sacramone told her young teammates she had faith in them, and they used her injury as motivation in winning the United States’ third world title.
Though Sacramone had surgery Monday, Raisman said they’d exchanged text messages before the meet.
“She just told me she knew we were going to rock it and we were going to do amazing,” Raisman said.
Sacramone sent a message to the team on Twitter afterward, saying, “Words can’t describe how proud I am of all of you!”