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Jump for joy Atler wins vault: Nemov bounces back in floor exercise
Posted: Tuesday July 21, 1998 11:39 PM
UNIONDALE, New York (AP) -- It's a good thing Vanessa Atler is competing in the Goodwill Games gymnastics instead of judging it. Atler, the 16-year-old national champion in the all-around and the vault from Canyon Country, California, stood on a chair after winning the vault gold medal Tuesday night and announced that she didn't think she did all that well. "My performance on a 1-to-10 was maybe an 8," she said. "It was not spectacular. I thought I did well and I was proud of myself, but I still felt there was room for improvement." It was plenty good enough for the judges, though. Her two vaults produced scores of 9.650 and 9.675, an average of 9.662, that earned her the gold medal before a crowd of 5,483 at the Nassau Coliseum. The competition was marred by an injury to a Chinese gymnast. Lan Sang was carried off on a stretcher after injuring herself on a practice vault. She was taken to Nassau Medical Center where she underwent CAT scans of her neck and head. Her condition was not available. Three other Americans took home medals Tuesday night. Jay Thornton of Augusta, Georgia, won the silver in the floor exercises. Elise Ray of Columbia, Maryland won a silver in the women's uneven bars and Yewki Tomita of Tucson, Arizona, captured the bronze in the pommel horse. The star of the night for the United States, however, was Atler, even if she didn't think so. She was the second contestant on the vault and then had to watch six others make their runs. All the time, she was convinced someone would beat her. But no one ever did. "I didn't think it would stand up," Atler said. "I thought I'd be fifth." Her gold was the best-ever U.S. finish in the Goodwill Games vault. Joyce Wilborn won a bronze in 1986 and Shannon Miller took the silver in 1994. Finishing behind Atler were Elena Dolgopolova of Russia, who took the silver with 9.600. Simona Amanar of Romania, winner of the bronze in the all-around competition on Sunday, took another bronze in the vault with a 9.587. In the men's floor exercise, Alexei Nemov of Russia won the gold with a score of 9.725. Thornton took the silver with 9.550 and the bronze went to Alexei Bondarenko of Russia with 9.525. For Nemov, the world and European champion in floor exercise, it was an impressive recovery after a disappointing seventh in the men's all-around on Monday. He had scored well in the opening floor routine with a 9.450 but struggled after that. Bondarenko, who earlier won a silver in the all-around, captured another silver in the pommel behind Russian Nikolay Krukov and in front of Tomita, who is coached by his father, a former high school national champion in Japan. Svetlana Khorkina of Russia, world champion in the event, won the uneven bars and became the first woman to successfully defend a Goodwill Games title in gymnastics. She finished with a score of 9.825 to 9.700 for Ray and 9.600 for Amanar, who won her second bronze of the night and third of the games. Since 1994, in Olympic, Goodwill Games, world or European Championships, Khorkina has missed gold only once on the bars, finishing second in the world championships in 1994. American Sean Townsend of Houston fell and tumbled out of bounds in the floor routine and finished last among the eight gymnasts with 8.450.
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