Olympic champions United States beat China to win the women's
team final at the 2007 World Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart
on Wednesday.
US collected 184.400 points for the title. The reigning
champions took silver in 183.450, leaving Romania a far third in
178.100.
The final proved a two-way showdown, as expected, between US and
China, who were paired in the same group as the leading two sides
in qualification.
The Asian power only surrendered the title after the last
rotation because of a serious error by national champion Li
Shanshan.
"We have the ability and the chance to win, but unfortunately we
had some mistakes," said China's Cheng Fei.
"Home fans had high expectation on us, which gave us motivation
and pressure at the same time.
"The team final is over anyway. So now we have to look forward
to the apparatuses. To keep a peaceful mind is very important for
us," she said.
The Chinese leading character, well-known for her difficulty and
stability, missed her landing at the very first apparatus of vault
after a maneuver with a 6.5 A score of difficulty.
The triple world champion and the vault queen scored only 15.025
due to the blunder.
US extended the edge after uneven bars in which world champion
Anastasia Lukin presented a spectacular routine to score an amazing
16.375, highest of the day, while China finished the second
rotation in a surprise third after US and Russia.
When the competition seemingly turned to a lopsided one, Chinese
tiny women fought back with solid performance on balance beam,
taking advantage of the mistakes made by Liukin and Shawn
Johnson.
Liukin missed her dismount while Johnson, the national
all-around champion, fell off the beam midway.
In the decisive final apparatus of floor, Li Shanshan sat down
on floor after her opening tumbling and received only 13.825, which
surrendered the title to the Americans.
Traditional powerhouse Russia missed a place in podium when
Ekaterina Kramarenko failed to execute her maneuver at all in their
final rotation of vault.
But she did salute the judges and put her hands on the
apparatus, which meant a zero score for Russia.
Russia ended up in a shock eighth with 164.525 points.
Romania, with Olympic champion Ponor Catalina back in lineup and
competing in beam and vault, battled for a podium finish.
(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)