U.S. Gymnasts See Gold Turn to Silver
Coaches Allege Gamesmanship by Chinese

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 14, 2008

BEIJING, Aug. 13 -- It came to Beijing dreaming of gold. And as reigning world champion, the U.S. women's gymnastics team boasted the skill and confidence to win it.

But after two costly falls by their captain during Wednesday's team final, the U.S. women were left wearing silver medals and sorting out feelings as awkward as the gaffes in their highly anticipated clash with China -- sorrow, guilt and regret.

If possible, the disappointment ran deeper among U.S. coaches, who alternately voiced blame, skepticism about whether China's gymnasts met minimum age requirements and a thinly veiled allegation of gamesmanship on the part of the host country.

China, to the delight of a raucous, sellout crowd at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium, won gold with 188.900 points, a day after the Chinese men routed the field for their own gold medal.

The U.S. women finished more than two points in arrears (186.525) to take silver. Romania, the 2004 Olympic champion, claimed bronze (181.525 points).

Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, was quick to reject any notion that Chinese officials tried to freeze Alicia Sacramone with a prolonged, unexplained delay before her balance-beam routine -- an insinuation made by U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi moments after the competition ended.

Karolyi said the disruption likely caused Sacramone, 20, a Brown undergraduate, to lose focus and fall from the beam at the outset of her routine, setting in motion a series of flubs that cost the Americans any chance of overtaking China.

"All I can think is she lost concentration and was bothered by this thing," Karolyi said. "It's a psychological war, in a way."

But Penny insisted gamesmanship wasn't at work, noting that the previous day's men's competition had been slowed by numerous delays in the electronic scoring. The demands of television broadcasters frequently dictate pauses in the flow of competition, he added.

Whether a competitive ploy or commercial imperative, the delay came at a critical time.

The U.S. women never led but were within reach of overtaking China midway through the competition, when the two countries proceeded to the balance beam.

The beam is the sport's most unforgiving apparatus, laying bare any trace of nerves an athlete is struggling to submerge. And it bit the Chinese, with Cheng Fei falling off the apparatus and her teammates wobbling noticeably.

But whatever opening that gave the United States was immediately erased by Sacramone, who fell on her somersault mount. She hopped back on and competed the routine, but trudged away dejected.

Karolyi grabbed her by the shoulders. Cradling her face in her hands, she ordered her to forget the mistake and move on. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson followed with impressive routines, trimming the deficit to 1.00 heading into the final event, the floor.

Both Johnson and Liukin tried bolstering Sacramone's spirits during the break between events.

Johnson, 16, asked Sacramone if she had gotten mad at her when she made a mistake at the 2007 world championships. The answer, of course, was no.

"It's not any different now," Johnson told her.

And Liukin assured her that anyone on the U.S. team could have made the same mistake.

But Sacramone fell again during her floor routine. It was an inconceivable error by the 2005 world champion in the discipline -- especially when the team desperately needed her best effort.

She walked off the floor and buried her head in her hands. This time, Liukin and Johnson couldn't salvage matters. Both stepped out of bounds on their floor routines, and China was all but assured of the gold from there.

There were as many tears as smiles on the medal stand afterward, where a joyless Sacramone lined up next to her teammates and bowed her head to receive the silver medal.

"I thought there was an advantage for me because I had been on the international team for so long [that] I didn't let the pressure of competition get to me," Sacramone said, her eyes red and swollen. "But today it got to me."

Coaches could only shake their heads.

"On the balance beam, sometimes it's really hard to stay on if you're having some rough times," said Liang Chow, Johnson's personal coach and coach of the U.S. Olympic team. "But we cannot afford two falls -- floor and beam."

Valeri Liukin, a former Russian champion and father of Nastia Liukin, said he was proud of the fight the Americans showed, particularly Johnson, who outscored all competitors on the vault, and his daughter, who scored highest on the uneven bars.

But he also said he had no doubt the gold was within reach -- until the two calamitous falls.

There were other unknowns in the maddening equation of what-might-have-been. What if Chellsie Memmel hadn't injured her ankle the previous week -- she revealed Wednesday that she has a broken bone in her ankle, not a sprain, as had been originally thought -- and been able to compete on the beam instead of Sacramone?

What if the peculiar delay hadn't rattled Sacramone's nerves? And what age were the Chinese gymnasts, so tiny and seemingly weightless as they whipped around the uneven bars? Sixteen, as claimed? Or closer to 13 or 14?

"Possibly could be," Karolyi said, "because one little girl has a missing tooth. If it's true, it's totally unfair. Certain countries go by the rules, and certain countries may not. And Olympics should be about fair play."

Staff writer Maureen Fan contributed to this report.