At Aarhus in Denmark yesterday the Chinese gymnasts dominated
the men's qualifiers to take top spot ahead of Japan while the
Athens Olympic silver medallists the US dropped out of the finals
and had to settle for 11th spot.?
When the agonizing qualification round was over the US men's
team put their arms around each other and came together in a
close-knit huddle to share a few words.
"We gave everything we had out there today," American rings
specialist Kevin Tan said Saturday after the qualifying round at a
world championships his team would like to forget. "We're not happy
it happened this way. But we keep fighting."
The second sub-division highlighted the qualifiers featuring the
two powerhouses of China and Japan. China earned 370.450 points to
lead Japan on 367.75 at the top of the team ranking. Pundits had
expected these two to be too powerful for the others after
witnessing them in podium training. Russia on 365.4 came next. The
US with 358.1 was squeezed out of the top eight and can only watch
the finals tomorrow.
"But we're far from finished," team coordinator Ron Brant said.
"We're all preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics."
Chinese gymnasts and coaches all had broad smiles on their faces
and waved to the cheering crowd when they left the competition
arena with all their targets pocketed from the qualifiers.
The head of the Chinese delegation watched the qualifying round
from a spectator's seat and sent out the news of the first-stage
victory through text messages from his mobile phone.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2006)