Federation denies U.S. rhythmic protest

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The International Gymnastics Federation denied a protest of American Mary Sanders' score in the first day of rhythmic qualifying.

"They're not going to change it," Jan Exner, director of the rhythmic program director at USA Gymnastics, said Friday.

The Americans filed an inquiry, asking for an explanation of why Sanders received a technical score -- the measure of difficulty -- of 4.6 in hoop on Thursday. That was lower than anyone in the field except for competitors from Australia, South Africa and Cape Verde, and was lower than she'd ever scored in competition.

The technical score is one of three elements judged in a rhythmic routine. The others are artistic value and execution. All have a maximum value of 10. Sanders' score in the other two elements was more in line with the other competitors.

Exner said she wasn't given an explanation for the score.

"They said that was the judges' score and that was the way it was going to stand," Exner said.

Sanders was 18th out of 24 gymnasts after the first of two qualifying rounds. The top 10 gymnasts after Friday's second round advance to finals.