n To the vault final at worlds

The gymnast Denisse López qualified to the Sydney Olympic Games

Pl and Dpa, Tianjín, October 10th n Mexican Denisse López (36.006 points) was the only latinamerican qualified to the vault final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships taking place in this city; with which she earned a place to participate at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, becoming the first mexican woman to make it.

López placed third among the eight competitors that will dispute the medals in the horse vault final of the world gymnastics elite tournament, which will take place during the following days. They will have the same opportunity in Sydney.

The Mexican gymnast will have two very strong opponents: the olympic champion, Romanian Simona Amanar, and the Russian Elena Zamolodchikova, who finished on first and second places.

The other mexican participants finished much more behind in today's qualifications: Brenda Magaña (34.510) was 82nd; Lizette Zúñiga (32.261), 137th, and Daniela Cepeda (16.712), 241st. With these scores they dropped out of the competition.

In the team competition, the highest qualification went to Brazil, on 18th place; Argentina, 25th; Venezuela, 26th; Mexico, 34th and Chile, 36th; out of 78 participation nations.

Two mexican male gymnasts advance to finals

Mexicans Francisco López (51.637) and Julio García (50.974) qualified to floor finals placing 30th and 32nd, respectively (the reporter must have confused this with qualifications to the AA final); while their countrymen Rafael García (49.549), Manuel Salazar (48.225) and José Antonio César (31.112) were eliminated, as they placed 43rd, 51st and 90th.

During the next round, the qualified gymnasts will try to get good positions in order to earn a place for the 2000 Olympic Games.