Event Finals: Day 1Results from Atlanta:
Men's Floor
1 Ioannis Melissanidis GRE 9.850 2 Li Xiaoshuang CHN 9.837 3 Alexei Nemov RUS 9.800 4 Ivan Ivanov BUL 9.750 4 Thierry Aymes FRA 9.750 6 Eugeni Podgorni RUS 9.550 7 Vitaly Scherbo BLR 9.275 8 Grigory Misutin UKR 9.100
Men's Pommel Horse
1 Donghua Li SUI 9.875 2 Marius Urzica ROM 9.825 3 Alexei Nemov RUS 9.787 4 Patrice Casimir FRA 9.762 5 Yoshiaki Hatakeda JPN 9.712 5 Huang Huadong CHN 9.712 7 Eric Poujade FRA 9.350 8 Fan Bin CHN 9.300
Men's Still Rings
1 Yuri Chechi ITA 9.887 2 Szilveszter Csollany HUN 9.812 2 Dan Burinca ROM 9.812 4 Jordan Jovtchev BUL 9.800 5 Andreas Wecker GER 9.762 5 Fan Hongbin CHN 9.762 7 Marius Toba GER 9.737 7 Blaine Wilson USA 9.737
Women's Vault
1st 2nd Avg 1 Simona Amanar ROM 9.875 9.775 9.825 2 Mo Huilan CHN 9.825 9.712 9.768 3 Gina Gogean ROM 9.800 9.700 9.750 4 Rozalia Galiyeva RUS 9.787 9.700 9.743 5 Svetlana Boguinskaya BLR 9.800 9.625 9.712 6 Dominique Dawes USA 9.662 9.637 9.649 7 Elena Grosheva RUS 9.737 9.537 9.637 8 Shannon Miller USA 9.650 9.050 9.350
Women's Uneven Bars
1 Svetlana Chorkina RUS 9.850 2 Amy Chow USA 9.837 2 Bi Wenjing CHN 9.837 4 Dominique Dawes USA 9.800 5 Simona Amanar ROM 9.787 5 Dina Kochetkova RUS 9.787 5 Lilia Podkopayeva UKR 9.787 8 Lavinia Milosovici ROM 9.750
Notes
Americans were represented in three finals: women's vault and uneven bars, and men's still rings.
On women's vault, Dominique Dawes took a step on each of her vaults to settle for a 9.649 average. In vault event finals, the two attempts must be different vaults, and the scores are averaged for the final score. Shannon Miller, who replaced an injured Kerri Strug, took a fall on her second vault, a "Phelps" (named after her teammate Jaycie Phelps), to score a 9.35 average. The winner was Simona Amanar, from Romania, who scored a 9.825 average (an outstanding 9.875 for her first vault, a Yurchenko double twist).
Women's uneven bars was a particularly competitive affair! None of the competitors committed major errors, and several of the athletes displayed aggressive and unique styles. The winner was Svetlana Chorkina (RUS), whose routine included a unique transition move from the low bar to the high bar, a Shaposhnikova with a half twist. Amy Chow displayed one of the most difficult routines of the competition, with a unique mount and challenging dismount, a double twisting double back salto. She was the only competitor to use that dismount. Chow tied with China's Bi Wenjing for the silver with a score of 9.837. The highlight of Bi's routine was a Gaylord salto, swung from inverted giants. (The Gaylord is a double forward flip named after American male gymnast, Mitch Gaylord, '84 Olympic team.) In 4th place was Dawes, who launched a sky high release, a Hindoorf, scoring 9.80.
American Blaine Wilson, who was first in the rings lineup, displayed good strength holds and one of the most difficult dismounts of the rings competition, a double twisting double back, but was overtaken or tied by subsequent competitors. Wilson scored a 9.737. The eventual winner was Yuri Chechi, from Italy, who is a four time world champion on this event, and often called "Lord of the Rings." Chechi's score was a 9.887.
Men's floor was won by Ioannis Melissanides, from Greece. Melissanides' routine not only included ample difficulty performed well, but his routine was unique. His mount garnered much applause: a whip, immediate double layout, punch front. He scored a 9.850.
Donghua Li, the oldest gymnast of the competition, won pommel horse with a smooth 9.875. Li was on the Chinese junior national team but eventually married a Swiss women, and after a five-year wait, obtained Swiss citizenship and was able to compete for his new country.
Russia's Alexei Nemov was the sole double medalist of the night, taking the bronze on both floor and pommel horse.
Interesting fact: Russia is the only country to mount the highest step on the podium more than once, having won the gold medal in the men's team and women's uneven bars competition. The varied gold medal winners from all gymnastics thus far are from the following countries: USA, China, Ukraine, Romania, Switzerland, Greece, and Italy. Of course, there is yet another day of competition with five more gold medals to be decided!
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