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25 September 2000
The final day of the artistic gymnastics competition at the Sydney SuperDome saw thrilling competitions in the men's vault, parallel bars and high bar, and the women's beam and floor events.
And the Russians Alexei NEMOV and Elena ZAMOLODTCHIKOVA came out of the day heroes.
With the majority of the finalists committing mistakes during their landings, Gervasio DEFERR (ESP) was able to take the gold medal on the vault with a winning score of 9.712. The 1999 World Championship floor medallist's performance stood out as he demonstrated two vaults of extreme difficulty. The first being the difficult 'Yurchenko' half on and 1 1/2 off and the 'Handspring 1 1/2 layout.
The silver medal for the vault went to Russian Alexey BONDARENKO, 9.587, followed by Leszek BLANIK (POL) who took the bronze with 9.475.
The gold medal on the beam was won by China's LIU Xuan whose fluent and elegant style gave her a score of 9.825. This historic victory has made LIU the first Chinese woman to win an individual gymnastics Olympic title. Russian pair Ekaterina LOBAZNIOUK and Elena PRODOUNOVA added to Russia's already rich collection of apparatus medals, taking the silver and bronze scoring 9.787 and 9.775.
On the parallel bars, LI Xiaopeng (CHN), the last to perform but the highest to score, won the gold medal with 9.825 points. LI claimed the silver medal at the 1997 World Championships and was also the unexpected world champion on the vault in 1999. He now has a gold to add to his collection.
LEE Joo-Hyung (KOR) is the current world champion on this apparatus, but will have to be content with Olympic silver, having scored 9.812 earlier in the final. The bronze went to new all-around gold medallist Alexei NEMOV (RUS).
The women's floor final drew the greatest attention over the day as it displayed awesome acrobatics and attractive choreography. Russian diva Svetlana KHORKINA stole the show with her Spanish flavoured 'Pastolero' giving her 9.812 points. Despite this beautiful performance, KHORKINA's teammate Elena ZAMOLODTCHIKOVA, performing last out of all contenders, took a chance and won the gold medal title with a score of 9.850.
Interestingly, KHORKINA had given up her spot in Saturday's vault final to ZAMOLODTCHIKOVA, who went on to take gold in the event. Now that ZAMOLODTCHIKOVA has two gold medals.
Romanian Simona AMANAR took the bronze medal on the floor with a score of 9.712. Esther MOYA, Spain, finished 4th, just outside the medals, but made a very convincing statement about the future.
NEMOV and up and coming French star Benjamin VARONIAN both scored 9.787 on the horizontal bar. It was the tie-break rule that examines each score given by the execution judges that placed NEMOV in the most favourable position, giving him the gold medal.
Following this acquisition, NEMOV's medal tally now stands at a record of two gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
This means the father who has not yet seen his baby boy - born on 2 September - will return to Moscow as the most decorated gymnast at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Olympic News Service
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