TwisterAfter her competition fell away, Ukraine's Lilia Podkopayeva touched down with the gold in the all-aroundby Johnette Howard
The women's individual all-around wasn't one of those competitions where one transcendental performance begat another. This was a clawing, nerve-wracking fight to the finish that wasn't decided until the last tumbler, Chinese featherweight Mo Huilan, skidded off the brilliant blue floor exercise mat as if blown by some ill wind. Until then, there was no guarantee that Ukraine gymnast Lilia Podkopayeva's stealthy climb up the leader board—a coolly efficient move from sixth to fifth to third—would end with the 17-year-old Podkopayeva's dropping her head on a friend's shoulder, overcome with joy and disbelief.
Podkopayeva was a model
of consistency.
photograph by
After three of the four rotations were completed, the fight for the gold medal last night at the Georgia Dome had come to this: The top eight women, led by Mo and Dina Kochetkova of Russia, were separated by .265 of a point, and two other contenders, Dominique Dawes and Shannon Miller of the U.S., were left to wipe away tears, their hopes of a 1-2 finish slayed by botched floor exercises that came just moments apart. Dawes had led the pack through two rotations with 19.637 points, and Miller was in third at 19.612.
Svetlana Khorkina of Russia was the first to succumb on the final apparatus—inexplicably missing a release move on the uneven bars by more than a foot. Kochetkova dropped out of the picture too, with two lackluster scores on the vault moments after Podkopayeva began her breathtaking tumbling with a move few women dare to try: a front double somersault with a half twist.
Dawes
skidded out-of-bounds and out of the medal picture.
photograph by
But a troika of Romanians had left Podkopayeva minuscule margin for error. Gina Gogean, the heavy-lidded young woman with the Mona Lisa smile, reaped a solid 9.775 on the vault and countrywoman Simona Amanar topped that with a 9.843 on the same apparatus. Then their teammate Lavinia Milosovici hung up a gasp-inducing 9.812—the best floor exercise of the night—only to have Podkopayeva respond with a 9.887. As it turned out, that score held up for the victory after Mo completed the madcap finish by staggering out-of-bounds during one of her tumbling passes—a stunning turnaround, considering that one apparatus earlier she was as surefooted on the four-inch-wide balance beam as she would have been strolling down a boulevard.
Podkopayeva's total of 39.255 edged Gogean's 39.075. Amanar and Milosovici each won a bronze after tying at 39.067. Miller, the most decorated gymnast in American history, ended her career with an eighth-place finish before an audience that included the First Family. U.S. teammate Dominique Moceanu finished ninth, and Dawes wound up 17th.
Rather than dwell on what could have been, all three Americans said they took solace in having won the team gold medal on Monday night. "We were so excited. Maybe we lost our focus after that," Miller said, knowing full well there is no allowance for such error in Olympic gymnastics.
Dawes left the Georgia Dome in tears.
photograph by
Podkopayeva said as much as she spoke of having to overcome a broken rib earlier this year as well as the recent death of her grandmother. For Gogean, there was the challenge of bouncing back from an appendicitis operation she had just five weeks before the Games. For Amanar, there was the pressure of proving that she deserved to replace Alexandra Marinescu in the all-around lineup, even though Marinescu had posted the higher combined score of the two in the team competition. (Romanian coach Octavian Belu, evincing no sympathy for the 15-year-old Marinescu, explained that it was simply a coaching decision based on the fact that Amanar's optional scores on Monday were the highest that day.)
Podkopayeva said she felt an awesome responsibility as she traveled through her four routines. The mere mention of her grandmother afterward made tears puddle in her eyes. "Without her I would not be a gymnast," she explained. She smiled when informed she'd become the first woman gymnast since the great Lyudmila Turischeva of the Soviet Union to follow a world championship win with the Olympic all-around title. "I did feel some responsibility," Podkopayeva said. "I'm the champion of the world and Europe. I'm very happy that as of tonight, Ukraine is the strongest."
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SI Olympic Dailies
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