What happens?
The Chinese men, who won the team title in Sydney four years
ago, placed fourth in the qualification and finished fifth in the
final Monday evening.
Prior to the final, the reigning champions still hoped to
provetheir slump in the qualification was nothing but a fluke. Yet,
everything turned out to be against their wishes.
The final standings only found the fifth-placed Chinese,
behindJapan, the United States, Romania and South Korea.
The Chinese men gymnasts started on their vulnerable event on
the floor in the night, with two of three competitors slipped on
their landings for miserable scores, a curse for the self-claimed
Dream Team.
Their errors continued on the horizontal bar, where Teng
Haibinscored his third worst point of 9.125, following his 8.662
and 8.737 from the floor and bars, to seal their irresistible
ending in Athens.
"I don't know what has happened to them, it is just not their
day," said Romanian coach Aurelian Georgescu.
American coach Miles Avery was also at a loss, saying that "I am
very surprised. They did not do as great routines as I think they
usually do. Everyone respects Chinese gymnasts, but they just did
not have a great night."
Coach Mark Williams, also of the United States, tried to shed
alight into the miserable ending for the Chinese gymnasts, saying
that they did not handle well the pressure as defending
champions.
"They struggled a little bit tonight. They are usually better,I
am sure they are disappointed.
"Some nights you are just not there. Japan came out confident
the whole night and performed to their best every routine," said
Williams.
However, the Chinese team tried to put a brave face, saying "it
(failure) is not a big deal. We will reflect when going back home,"
said Huang Xu, a member of the Chinese team.
American head coach Kevin Mazeika also predicted that China will
come back.
"I have a lot of respect for the tremendous program the Chinese
gymnasts have for decades. They will be prepared next time," said
Mazeika.
(Xinhua News? Agency? August 17,
2004)??
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