All-Around Is Drama Squared

BEIJING

In what soil do the roots of clutch performance grow? What allows an athlete at the pinnacle of her sport to reach down, not once but three times, to produce the supreme work of her life with the golden prize of best all-around gymnast in the world at stake in the Olympics?

As Nastia Liukin, 18, born in Russia, but an American since she was 2, stood on the victory podium with tears on her cheeks and sang the national anthem, she knew exactly where her poise and courage came from.

Twenty years ago to the day, her father and coach, Valeri, came within .05 of a point of winning the men's all-around gold for the Soviet Union in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. But, as he landed a triple flip off the horizontal bar, the specialty in which he was the best man in the world, he whirled his left arm to catch his balance. Instead of a perfect 10, he got 9.95 and a silver medal.

"My dad was so close to winning that all-around gold -- less than a tenth of a point away," Nastia said. "When I was standing on the podium I was thinking: 'I hope I made up for that. I hope he feels just as proud of this as I do.' "

Don't worry about that.

"She fixed my mistake," said Valeri, laughing as he imitated his own split second of lost balance.

Nastia and silver medalist Shawn Johnson did more than win medals. Head-to-head, before a roaring Chinese crowd, they came from behind to beat two of the gymnasts who led China to the team title two days earlier.

The performances in the last three rotations by Liukin and in the final two by Johnson were among the best clutch moments we will see. Half a world from home, they had fallen far enough behind that only perfection in their breathtaking acrobatics would suffice. And at age 18 and 16, both nailed every flip.

With all of the event's serious contenders performing together in the same group, the drama and the constant shifts of fortune played out for two hours. In the first rotation -- the vault -- Liukin is weak. She's slim, graceful, high-leaping with ballet-like lines. "And, of course, she is beautiful," shrugs her father. But she lacks the powerful thighs and strong shoulders that make the much shorter Johnson such a dynamic vaulter. So Liukin stood 10th after the first exercise; Johnson was second.

Next came Johnson's weak suit, the uneven bars, where the 5-foot-3 Liukin may be the best in the world while the diminutive Johnson must strain for a high "start value" (degree of difficulty) routine. Liukin nailed hers with the second-best score in the 24-woman field to move up to second place. But Johnson slipped to fifth.

Suddenly, all the day's predictions were in a jumble. Johnson, the slight favorite and 2007 all-around world champion, was in deep trouble; Liukin, considered a contender but perhaps not for gold, suddenly had a chance to be champion if she could catch China's Yang Yilin.