The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Romania's reign continues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 19, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

Romania's reign continues

ATHENS, AUG. 18. A combination of Romania's superiority and American mistakes gave the eastern European country a gold medal on Tuesday in women's team gymnastics at the Athens Olympics.

The American miscues were minor — Carly Patterson's foot scraping the lower of the uneven bars, Courtney Kupets' errant tumbling pass and Mohini Bhardwaj's slight stumble on the beam.

But their errors in every event cost them valuable fractions of points, and the Romanians won their second straight gold medal, the Americans the silver and Russia took the bronze.

Romania's team of Oana Ban, Alexandra Georgiana Eremia, Catalina Ponor, Monica Rosu, Nicoleta Daniela Sofronie and Silvia Stroescu finished with 114.283 points.

The Americans — Bhardwaj, Annia Hatch, Terin Humphrey, Kupets, Courtney McCool and Patterson — had 113.584. Russia, with Liudmila Ezhova, Svetlana Khorkina, Maria Krioutchkova, Anna Pavlova, Elena Zamolodchikova and Natalia Ziganchina, scored 113.235.

The Ukraine was fourth, followed by Spain, France, China and Australia.

"We made small mistakes," said renowned coach Bela Karolyi, a native Romanian whose wife Martha is the U.S. team coordinator. "Small mistakes are to be paid for. And we paid."

The Romanian team, which finished second to the United States at last summer's world championships, needed to average only 9.35 points per routine to catch the Americans.

Daniela Sofronie soared above the floor on her tumbling passes, flying so high fans sitting in the first few rows had to look up to see her.

Catalina Ponor, the final Romanian, brought the crowd to its feet with one of the finest routines of the night.

Technically perfect, she stuck her landings with sureness and confidence.

Her team-mates were already hugging each other and crying when her music stopped, and Ponor sprinted off the mat with a grin on her face. Even Karolyi had to applaud.

The Americans, meanwhile, sat glumly in their seats. A few clapped. Most simply stared ahead, perhaps thinking about all the wasted opportunities. — AP

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