On China's Cheng Fei, Johnson said, "I am really sorry about her. To make it here and make a mistake is hard, but she did a great job. In my eyes, she is still one of the most respected gymnasts out there."
Cheng Fei made fatal mistakes both in vault and floor exercise finals on Sunday. After kneeing down in her second jump in vault, she leaned backward in a series of somersaults and had to support her body with a hand in the floor exercise. Cheng got a bronze in vault and ranked only the seventh in floor exercise.
"It is probably my last time to take part in an Olympics," said Cheng in the mixed zone. On her mistake on floor, Cheng added, "During the break between vault and floor, I adjusted my emotions and I was peaceful. I only wanted to treat the competition as a performance. I didn't realize such difficulties would occur."
The leading Chinese gymnast burst into tears after the competition, but spectators still gave her thundering hail and applause.
Cheng's teammate Jiang Yuyuan ended up the fourth with more stable performance than in the women's all-around final on Friday.
The women's all-around title went to Liukin on Friday after her flawless exercises on each of the four apparatus with a good combination of difficulty and quality, leaving a margin of 0.600 with the silver medalist Johnson.
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2008)