From Deseret News archives:
China, U.S. continue to pile up gym medals
Two days after going 1-2 in the all-around, Olympic champion Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson added to their collection on Sunday. Johnson won the silver on floor exercise, while Liukin took the bronze. Throw in the silvers they won in the team competition, and the Americans have three gymnastics medals each.
"Of course when you're training your whole life to get to the Olympics, you train for gold," Johnson said. "But honestly, a silver around my neck three times at the Olympics means more to me than anything."
The Chinese men, meanwhile, don't leave the warm-up gym unless there's some gold to be gotten.
Xiao Qin took the gold on pommel horse, hardly a surprise considering he's won the last three world titles in the event, while little Zou Kai took advantage of errors by favorites Diego Hypolito and Marian Dragulescu to win the floor exercise. China has won all four men's gold medals up for grabs so far.
"I am not as excited as I was when I won the men's team gold medal," who Xiao, who saluted and sang along when the Chinese anthem played, "because we finally released the pressure that had built up for so many years."
The U.S. women didn't come to the Beijing Games with quite the same pressure as the Chinese men, who have won seven of the last eight world titles but had only one Olympic gold to go with it. Still, when you strut in as world champs and have the two best gymnasts, people expect you to bring home some jewelry.
Oh, they're bringing it, all right. In every shade.
"An Olympic medal is an Olympic medal," Liukin said. "Now I have the full collection."
Johnson looked as if she might finally get her gold on floor, where she is the reigning world champion. Though she went first, when scores tend to be lower, she set quite a standard. Her opening tumbling run was monstrous, sending her soaring so far into the air she could have gotten points in trampoline. Yet she stuck her landing, hitting the mat with such a solid thud it could be heard around the arena.
Johnson had a few missteps a shaky landing here, a wobble on a dance move but her smile grew brighter with each second. When she finished, she looked straight at a TV camera and waved. Her score of 15.5 was solid only her floor score in the all-around final was better and she took a seat next to coach Liang Chow to see if it would hold up.
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