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Russian Wins All-Around Gymnastics Title
Russian gymnast Alexander Nemov performs on the horizontal bar during the men's team final. Days later, the athlete known as "Sexy Alexei" won the men's individual all-around title that he missed winning in Atlanta.
By Nancy Armour
The Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia, Sept. 20 -- Russia's Alexei Nemov is going to have a bright, shiny souvenir for his baby boy.
Nemov, who became a father for the first time Sept. 2, today won the all-around title that eluded him in Atlanta. He took the gold with 58.474 points.
China's Yang Wei won the silver, finishing 0.113 points behind Nemov. Oleksandr Beresh of Ukraine took the bronze.
Top American Finishes Eighth
Five-time national champion Blaine Wilson finished eighth, continuing America's all-around drought. The United States hasn't won an all-around medal since Peter Vidmar's silver in 1984.
Paul Hamm, who performed like a grizzled veteran for most of the team competition, finally showed the jitters of a 17-year-old. He fell off the high bar, his first event, and made a series of other small mistakes to finish 14th.
Still, his finish was mighty impressive for a guy who's only a senior in high school and bodes well for the future of U.S. gymnastics.
'Sexy Alexei' Has Eight Medals
But the present belongs to Nemov, who finished just 0.049 points behind Li Xiaoshuang of China in 1996. With his silver from the team competition Monday, the gymnast dubbed "Sexy Alexei" now has eight Olympic medals.
Watch him for one routine and it's easy to see why. He's simply better than everyone else on the floor. His lowest score of the night was a 9.65 on the vault, better than some gymnasts' highest score.
While other gymnasts worry about how many flips and twists they can throw into their routines, Nemov remembers that the name of this sport is "artistic gymnastics."
His toes are always perfectly pointed, his legs extended so they look about five feet long and his body so straight you could use it as a ruler. He's one of the few gymnasts who can draw the kind of gasps from the crowd usually reserved for only the ugliest of crashes.
He looks like a trapeze artist on the high bar, drawing oohs and aahs with his soaring flips. On one, he throws himself high above the bar and does a somersault, slapping his thighs in a move that looks more suited for Cirque du Soleil than the Olympics.
On the floor, his favorite exercise, he moves with power and purpose and makes it look effortless at the same time. When he does his flares -- swinging his body around on his hands while he scissor-kicks his legs -- he throws in a little turn on his shoulders that looks like something out an early '80s Michael Jackson video.
One Slight Stumble
His only stumble of the night came on the vault, when he landed short and had to take a step forward to keep from falling on his face. Still, the judges gave him a 9.65, prompting one fan to yell, "Just give Nemov the gold now!"
After he finished his parallel bars, his last routine, Nemov appeared to be holding back tears as he waved to the cheering crowd. He hugged coach Leonid Arkaev and then sat down to wait out Yang, who needed a 9.863 on the pommel horse to pass Nemov.
Yang came through with a solid routine, punching the air in triumph and exchanging high-fives with his coach when he finished. But he earned a 9.75, only enough for the silver.
Nemov breathed a sigh of relief and then accepted congratulations from his coaches and fellow competitors
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