China wins in women's gymnastics; U.S. takes silver

By MECHELLE VOEPEL
McClatchy Newspapers

In a showdown between the tiniest of "heavyweights," the home team just had too much for a U.S. women's gymnastics team plagued by some key errors.

There wasn't any margin for mistakes, and so the Americans paid for them, taking the silver medal behind China to the delight of the flag-waving, chanting fans at National Indoor Stadium.

The Chinese won 188.900 to 186.525. The disparity on the second event – the uneven bars - was also a big part of the story, along with the subsequent U.S. miscues. The Chinese scored 49.625 on bars to the Americans' 47.975.

And the other factor was the on-going intrigue about whether all the Chinese gymnasts meet the age requirement - they must be 16 during the Olympic year - and whether there was any gamesmanship in terms of making certain athletes on the U.S. team wait a longer time than normal before they did their routines.

In the end, though, U.S. coach Liang Chow said simply, "I think it wasn't our day. But the kids gave it 100 percent. We just had two big falls we had to handle. The Chinese had an excellent day, and they deserved to win."

China wins in women's gymnastics; U.S. takes silver....