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… Xiao Qin won his third title on pommel horse, topping Krisztian Berki of Hungary and Britain’s Louis Smith.
Chinese piling up the gold medals at world championships – IHT
Xia Qin of China is seen in action to win the gold medal in the men’s pommel horse final at the Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, southern Germany, Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
STUTTGART, Germany (AFP) — Cheng Fei became the first gymnast to win three consecutive vault titles …
The 19-year-old from Beijing, who has now five world titles to her name, scored 15.937 as North Korea’s Hong Su Jong took silver (15.812) and Alicia Sacramone of the United States bronze (15.412).
Sydney Olympic champion Elena Zamolodchikova, the winner in 1999 and 2002, finished last in the eight-woman final after falling badly on her second jump. …
Russia’s Ksenia Semenova performs on the uneven bars during the women’s qualifications of the 40th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 02 September 2007 at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer hall in Stuttgart, southern Germany. … (OLIVER LANG/AFP/Getty Images)
Nastia was second, a decision openly criticized by her father coach, not normally known for being so outspoken:
Liukin Wins Silver in Uneven Bars
By EDDIE PELLS
STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Nastia Liukin moved within one medal of joining Shannon Miller as the most decorated American gymnast in world championship history Saturday.
Maybe when she ties the record, she’ll do it by winning a gold.
This time, Liukin settled for the silver medal in the uneven bars finals, falling one spot short of becoming a world champion in her signature event for the second straight year. Ksenia Semenova of Russia beat Liukin for the gold by 0.05 points.
Liukin’s father and coach, Valeri, wasn’t pleased with the result — but not so much because of any mistake his daughter made.
Rather, he was miffed that an Australian judge gave his daughter an 8.8 execution mark in this event when the other judges awarded her at least 9.1s. There were similar discrepancies in preliminaries.
“It’s cheating, and it’s been going on this whole competition,” Liukin said. “Even when she’d stick it, the scores were bad. So, I don’t know. There’s something going on. …
Associated Press
We should study the Finals routines closely and see if the ranking is correct. I love Nastia’s Bars, but she does take execution deductions.
Shawn Johnson trains only 25hrs / week and attends regular school. What an accomplishment.
Congratulations to Shawn and her coaches.
The risk of burn-out is far less than those gymnasts training 36hrs / week.
American all-round champion Shawn Johnson said she had training by Chinese coaches to thank for her rise to the top of world gymnastics.
The 15-year-old charmed the judges with a cheeky floor routine to win the all-round gold on Friday, two days after she helped the United States beat defending champions China to pick up the team gold at the world championships.
Johnson has been learning from Chinese coaches Chow Liang and Zhuang Liwen since she was five.
“They do things differently to other people but what they’re doing seems to be working,” Johnson told reporters.
“I don’t know any different. They train me perfectly and they’re like my parents, it’s amazing.” …
Javno – Sports
Johnson Has Chinese To Thank For Rise To Top
More excellent commentary from the publisher of International Gymnast magazine
…
9. China’s Yang Yilin and Xiao Sha were wonderful today. Both girls hit all of their routines and landed in 6th and 7th. That’s probably lower than they should have been, but it doesn’t seem the bother their performances now. The judges who continue to shave them are in reality helping them to toughen up and hit routines. It won’t be long before the world will not be able to “expect” China to miss. Their style of gymnastics will endure long after these incompetent judges retire or get ejected from the sport. …
7. Vanessa Ferrari again earns her name. This young lady is remarkable. Competing on a stress fracture, she has produced some wonderful routines so far. Although she fell on her Comaneci release on Bars, she bounced right back and fought her way to the podium to tie Barbosa for the bronze. She came here with the most ambitious program and will continue to fight for medals in every meet she competes. She is a real champion in every way you can imagine and the audiences love her. It will be fun to watch the fight between Vanessa and Shawn through Beijing. Please stay healthy both of you!
6. Nastia Liukin is such a classic beauty. With her concentration to detail and her perfectly straight lines, she is wonderful to watch as an artist, but don’t be fooled, she is a tigress. No one wants to win more that Nastia, and she pushed herself very hard here to be in a position to do just that today. Unfortunately, beam again did her in, but this time it was a fall on her layout of her series. I am betting that she rocks beam in the event finals and winds up with a medal.
5. What a surprise Jade Barbosa was. She and Hong Un Jong (North Korea) were the only two gymnasts who did more than a Yurchenko double twist, and she used her 15.90 there to help her past bars (only 14.95) to be in a tie for first with Liukin after two events. She is wonderful on beam, getting the second highest score (15.70), but gave way to the pressure in the fourth event when she touched out her full-in third pass on floor. Nevertheless, she could make some noise in Beijing if she could raise her bars to the next level. This was the first all-around medal for Brazil, yet another milestone for this nation on the move.
4. Jonathan Horton is so much fun to watch, especially when he gets pommel horse out of the way. Today after horse, even though he hit, he was in last place. Five rotations later, he was just .2 from the bronze medal. Finishing fourth is remarkable for him and should give him the motivation to work even harder to raise his A-Panel scores. If he wants to medal in Beijing, he will have to risk more than he did here. He started the finals in eight place on the planned A-Panel list, more than 1 point behind Tomita and 2.9 behind Yang Wei. …
2. Shawn Johnson, solid as a rock, had only to watch as all of those who could challenge her made mistakes. She is so comfortable with these routines that she can perform them with confidence; hence, she can maximize her B-Panel scores. Remember she entered the all-around finals sixth of all the top girls as far as far as planned A-Panel scores! In fact she was giving up .9 to Ferrari. Nevertheless, when the chalk settled, she was the champion! Congratulations Shawn! You put Iowa on the gymnastics map much in the same way Nadia put Romania there in 1976.
1. Yang Wei is the MAN! Although he showed himself to be somewhat human with a high bar routine that included two dismounts (he peeled off the bar on one of his pirouetting move), he was so steady up to that point that he only needed a 12.125 to win. With a planned 6.0 A-Panel, he had no problem making that. With his superior A-Panel scores, it will be very difficult to beat him without risking a lot more than most of the other gymnasts are willing.
Yang Wei – ESPN
STUTTGART, Germany –
First, a national champion. Now, a world champion. And everyone knows what’s coming up next on Shawn Johnson’s schedule.
America’s new queen of gymnastics also proclaimed herself best in the world Friday, winning the all-around title with her bright smile and sky-high jumps and setting herself up as the woman to beat next year at the Beijing Olympics.
The 15-year-old Iowa girl scored 61.875 points to defeat Steliana Nistor of Romania by 1.25.
“I’m so happy and so proud of myself,” Johnson said. “I just, I don’t know. I’m overwhelmed with everything right now.”
Brazil’s Jade Barbosa and defending champion Vanessa Ferrari of Italy tied for third and shared the bronze. American Nastia Liukin put in her usual exotic, graceful performance, but a fall off the beam doomed her chances and she finished fifth. …
No one was surprised that Yang Wei defended his All-around title. They were surprised when he fell.
STUTTGART, Germany (AFP) — Yang Wei survived a fall from the high bar to give China their second gold medal of the world gymnastics championships here on Friday.
A day after helping China win a record-equalling eighth men’s team crown the 27-year-old Yang took his seventh world gold.
The veteran had looked to be coasting to victory when he dominated the competition, scoring highest on three of the six apparatus – pommel horse, rings and parallel bars.
But despite taking a confortable 3.550-lead onto the final apparatus Yang’s gold medal hopes had looked in the balance when he fell badly from the high bar, scoring the lowest mark in the 23-man field with just 13.600.
His lead was however enough to secure victory with a combined 93.675 points which put him 1.475 ahead of Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen, who snatched his country’s first all-around silver after his acrobatics on the high bar.
Japan’s Hisashi Mizutori took bronze with 91.400, as his teammate Hiroyuki Tomita, the 2005 champion and last year’s runner-up, dropped to 12th after a poor showing. …
AFP: Chinese gymnast Yang wins all-around gold at world championships
GYMmedia coverage of the Men’s AA Final
full results – World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2007
Congratulations to the German team for doing so well at home!
It’s important for workaholic coaches to schedule holidays that work. Burnout is well documented in athletic coaches.
In North America this is the first week of the regular training year for many clubs. School is back in session.
Coaches are getting back to a NORMAL routine.
Dave and Lisa Adlard of Funtastics Gymnastics in Idaho took the week eco-Adventure holiday in Hawaii. (The competitive team had that same week off.)
By the way, Lisa was a “natural” at surfing.
more photos – flickr
For internet video, this is a pretty good clip showing slow motion of Cheng Fei from Chinga doing Yurchenko 2 1/2 twist and her CRAZY second vault at World’s 2007.
Obviously she will get a chance to defend her title in Finals.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 