Izbasa Takes Floor Last, Winds Up 1st

Romanian Edges the United States' Johnson for Gold Medal; Liukin Earns Bronze

BEIJING, Aug. 17 -- Part acrobatics and part artistry, women's gymnastics is at its most breathtaking when its two dimensions, so often in conflict, are seamlessly melded.

With the floor exercise as her canvas, Romania's Sandra Izbasa did that ever so slightly better than America's best, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, in the eyes of Olympic judges on Sunday.

The result relegated Johnson and Liukin to silver and bronze after the floor exercise gold was bestowed upon Izbasa, 18, the last gymnast to compete among the field of eight.

Johnson and Liukin, friends and roommates here at the Athletes' Village, now have three Olympic medals apiece. Last week they led the U.S. women to the team silver medal. Then they finished 1-2 in the individual all-around, with Liukin winning gold and Johnson claiming silver.

It appeared their roles would be reversed until the final moments of Sunday's competition at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium.

Johnson, 16, was the first gymnast up, and radiated confidence and charisma throughout her routine, delivering a performance as brassy as her purple sequined leotard. She bounded off the gym floor with an enormous smile. And her score -- 15.500 -- withstood challenges from the next six competitors, including Liukin.

At 5 feet 3 inches, Liukin is six inches taller than Johnson. And while she lacks the power to pull off stunts such as the 2 1/2 twisting backflip that concludes Johnson's floor routine, Liukin compensates with tumbling passes that accentuate her long limbs and are connected by dance steps that flaunt her artistry.

Judges awarded Liukin the highest execution marks (9.225), which offset her relatively low "start value" -- the measure of a routine's difficulty. The final score, 15.425, moved Liukin into silver, just behind Johnson.

Izbasa was hardly daunted by the Americans' marks. At 5-5 and 110 pounds, she is towering for a female gymnast. And she delivered the most technically difficult routine of the evening (its 6.500 start value one-tenth of a point higher than Johnson's) to near perfection, clinching the gold with 15.650.

Johnson met her with an embrace, as she does all her rivals, fairly sure that the Romanian had nudged her from the gold even before Izbasa's score was posted.

But if she was disappointed over a third silver medal, Johnson was far too polite to suggest it.

"Seeing how beautiful her routine was today -- she stuck all of her landings -- I pretty much knew she had it," Johnson said of Izbasa. "And she deserved it."