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Great Britain was the top nation Saturday at the world championships in Rotterdam, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in the first day of apparatus finals.  British star Beth Tweddle recaptured her world title on uneven bars in Rotterdam. The British, host of the next Olympic Games and an emerging power in gymnastics, experienced their single greatest day yet in the sport: Daniel Purvis won bronze on men's floor exercise, Louis Smith won the silver on pommel horse and Beth Tweddle made it a complete set by winning gold on uneven bars. American Alicia Sacramone won women's vault, capping her remarkable comeback following a post-Olympic retirement. Sacramone performed two beautiful vaults (layout Rudi and double-twisting Yurchenko) for her second individual world championships title, five years after winning the gold medal on floor exercise. World all-around champion Aliya Mustafina (Russia) again landed a 2 1/2-twisting Yurchenko and her new Yurchenko half-on, handspring layout front-full off, but the latter was devalued because of imprecise body position. Brazil's Jade Barbosa was third, putting an exclamation point on her own comeback after being sidelined with injury in 2009. After their 1-2 finish in qualification, the Chinese gymnasts shockingly came unglued in the uneven bars final. World and Olympic champion He Kexin, first up, missed her layout Jaeger. Teammate Huang Qiushuang followed, hitting her releases only to peel off the low bar on a simple element. Tweddle, the third qualifier and third up in the final, followed the two missed routines like a veteran. Except for a few short handstands, the 25 year old nailed her difficult set to recapture the world title she won in 2006. Mustafina, appearing visibly tired after a long week in Rotterdam, matched Tweddle's difficulty score of 6.8 but took two steps on her dismount to place second. All-around bronze medalist Rebecca Bross (U.S.), third in 2009, again took the bronze with a nailed routine. On men's floor exercise, top qualifier Eleftherios Kosmidis nailed all his tumbling to top world champion Kohei Uchimura and Purvis. Kosmidis becomes Greece's third world champion after Dimosthenis Tambakos (still rings) and Vlasios Maras (high bar). Krisztian Berki finally won the pommel horse gold after two consecutive silvers, giving the Hungarians their first world title since ringman Szilveszter Csollany won in 2002. Smith, third at the 2008 Olympics, hit the most difficult routine of the finals to get back in the medals. Australia's Prashanth Sellathurai won the bronze, his third world medal. As expected, China took the gold and the silver on still rings with a dominant performance. 2008 Olympic champion Chen Yibing, the 2006 and 2007 world champion, reclaimed his title from 2009 world champion Yan Mingyong. Yan had an incredibly strong routine, but was unable to stick his dismount. European champion Matteo Morandi of Italy was third, winning his fourth world championships bronze after also taking third in 2001, 2002 and 2005. Competition concludes Sunday with the second day of apparatus finals. Mustafina qualified to beam and floor finals, and has a chance to leave Rotterdam with a maximum six medals, a feat not accomplished at a world championships since compatriot Yelena Shushunova in 1987 — also in Rotterdam. Read complete coverage of the 2010 Worlds in the December issue of International Gymnast Magazine. Click here to subscribe today at our special world championships discount! 2010 World Gymnastics Championships
Comments (3)
Htebazil
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Great performances What a great world championships this has been! Especially for Russian Gymnastics - the wonderful Aliya Mustafina who to date has taken medals in all four women's competitions. www.rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com |
Vicki
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... It's great to see the veterans doing well (Sacramone, Barbosa, Tweddle, Berki). Tweddle's win on bars was well-deserved (while her consolation win on floor last year with that math formula of a routine was disturbing). Sacramone may have to upgrade her yurchenko if she wants to win again. Hope Uchimura and Mustafina can keep it together one more day -- love their style. |
