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Chinese Chen Yibing claimed the men's rings title with 16.600 points at the Beijing Olympics on Monday. [Xinhua]
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Chen Yibing claimed rings title on Monday at the Beijing Olympics, the second Olympic gold in the event in China's gymnastic history.
It took China 24 years to make the achievement after the sport's legend Li Ning brought the first Olympic rings gold in Los Angeles.
That was also the hosts' sixth gymnastic gold at the Beijing Olympics, breaking the record of four golds in the sport also set at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Chen, who made his Olympic debut, remained quite calm in the final despite chants of "Come on"from home fans. Showing no slight sign of shivers, he moved easily from one position to another and put an end to the routine with a solid landing. The next-to-perfect performance won the hearts of judges and secured Chen's leading position with a score of 16.600.
His teammate Yang Wei took the silver by gaining 16.425, sharing the greatest difficulty of 7.5 with French gymnast Danny Pinheiro Rodrigues among eight finalists.
Oleksandr Vorobiov from Ukraine settled the bronze with 16.325.
Another favorite in the final was three-time Olympican Jordan Jovtchev from Bulgaria. The rings silver medalist in the Athens Olympics cut the difficulty of his routine from 7.3 to 6.8, and only ranked the eighth by getting 15.525 .
As a two-time world champion, Chen took a strong hold on rings in the qualification by getting the highest score of 16.525. He shared the difficulty zenith of 7.3 with Jovtchev, but enjoyed more stable execution.