Word: pommeled
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...packed stadium where a giant T.V. screen repeatedly lauded the Chinese performances with the word "wonderful" - only one American merited a "fantastic" - the team got down to the business of winning gold for China. The start was shaky. In the second rotation, Huang Xu fumbled on the pommel horse, earning a score of 14.750 and putting pressure on pommel world champion Xiao Qin, who redeemed the squad with 16.175. (Xiao had slipped on the pommel four years ago in Athens, contributing to the team's implosion.) Despite Xiao's clutch routine, at the end of the second rotation, China...
...rings that brought redemption to the Chinese team. Huang Xu made up for his pommel bobble with a 16.00, while three-time Olympian Yang Wei, who is engaged to another Chinese Olympic medalist gymnast, scored 16.3 on one of his strongest apparatuses. Chen Yibing wrapped up the Chinese rotation with...
...their hosts' technical difficulty and skillful execution. Meanwhile, the Americans - who weren't favored for a medal after the withdrawal of twins Morgan and Paul Hamm, two of the team's top gymnasts - found themselves, for a moment, in contention for the silver. But a 12.775 fumble on the pommel horse by Kai Wen Tan cost the U.S. team a possible second-place finish. The team went home with a bronze, and the defending champion Japanese claimed the No. 2 spot. "I feel ashamed that we didn't win the gold," said Koki Sakamoto. "But I am proud that...
...team cobbled together a mere 24 hours before they had to hit the mats, the U.S. men flowed freely as a unit during Aug. 12's team final, with Joseph Hagerty stepping in to lend his expertise on parallel bars, and Artemev adding the flair of his pommel horse routine into the mix. They also got lucky with the rotation order, pulling one of their strongest events - the still rings - first out of the six. Tan, a national champion on the rings, helped the men to reach third place after that rotation. But it wasn't until they reached...
...arguments for staying on the sideline have some merit. First, the controversies surrounding China are complicated: Is it reasonable to expect a teen gymnast, who has spent a lifetime hitting the pommel horse much harder than the books, to be conversant on the geo-political consequences of China's Sudan policy? "Some of the athletes are caught," says U.S. wrestler Patricia Miranda, a Yale Law School graduate and one of the rare athletes to voice opposition to China's human rights record. "They might for the first time be hearing about this stuff. They don't have a reference point...