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No 'I' in Chinese team Two-time champ Ivankov favorite in individual event
Posted: Thursday October 14, 1999 07:49 PM
TIANJIN, China (AP) -- Winning the world team title turned out to be an easy vault for China's male gymnasts. They face a bigger challenge trying to take the individual championship away from veterans like two-time champion Ivan Ivankov and Alexei Bondarenko in Thursday's all-around competition at the World Gymnastics Championships. Women's defending champion Svetlana Khorkina of Russia faces three Romanians with good chances to dethrone her -- 1997 silver medalist Simona Amanar, and newcomers Maria Olaru and Andreea Raducan. The Romanians won their fourth straight team title Tuesday when Khorkina fell off the balance beam on the Russian team's last routine. The Chinese men took time off Wednesday for a photo session and informal news conference for a corporate sponsor, and coach Huang Yubin called it "a good opportunity to relax mentally after a stressful night in competition." They answered such questions as whether they had phoned girlfriends about China's fourth consecutive team triumph -- after Huang said that while in training, they weren't permitted to have girlfriends. All said, "No girlfriend." Huang said the Chinese were confident, although Yang Wei might have a problem in the vault competition Saturday. He wasn't expected to be among the eight qualifiers in that event, and had not prepared the second difficult vault that would be required in the final. Yang was the top scorer among the 36 who qualified for the all-around gold medal competition, followed by teammate Huang Xu and Bondarenko, the 1997 silver medalist. But in Tuesday's team finals, Bondarenko and Ivankov were the top individuals, improving on their qualifying scores. Japan's Naoya Tsukahara, the 1997 bronze medalist, was fifth best. Yang qualified for three of the specialty finals -- vault, floor exercises and high bar. Ivankov qualified on the rings and parallel bars, and Bondarenko on the bars and floor exercises. The United States had four-time national champion Blaine Wilson, the No. 6 qualifier, and Yewki Tomita in the all-around finals, but no one in the men's specialty finals. In women's competition, the 17-year-old Olaru and 16-year-old Raducan were best in both qualifying and the women's team finals. Raducan scored 9.812 on the beam and 9.800 in the floor exercises in qualifying. Khorkina, third in qualifying, was only 11th best in the team finals, where her fall from the beam offset two of the best scores of the meet so far -- a 9.825 on the uneven bars and a 9.800 in the floor exercises. The United States, which finished sixth in both the men's and women's team finals, had three women in the all-around competition -- national champion Kristen Maloney, Vanessa Atler and Elise Ray. Maloney also was in the balance beam and floor exercises finals, Atler in the floor exercises, and Ray in the uneven bars gold medal event.
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