China's gold medalist He Kexin (C), bronze medalist Yang Yilin (R) and silver medalist Nastia Liukin of the United States, celebrate on podium during the awarding ceremony for the gymnastics artistic uneven bars final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 18, 2008. He Kexin claimed the title of the event with a score of 16.725. (Xinhua Photo)
He Kexin of China performs on the uneven bars during women's uneven bars final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games gymnastics artistic event at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 18, 2008. He Kexin claimed the title of the event with a score of 16.725. (Xinhua Photo)
He Kexin of China performs on the uneven bars during women's uneven bars final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games gymnastics artistic event at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 18, 2008. He Kexin claimed the title of the event with a score of 16.725. (Xinhua Photo)
BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's He Kexin clinched the uneven bars gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games on Monday.
He, who scored the same 16.725 points with runner-up Nastia Liukin from the United States, claimed the title under a tie-break rule.
He's teammate Yang Yilin settled for the bronze in 16.650 points.
It's host China's seventh gymnastics gold medal at the Beijing Games.
He and Liukin started with the same difficulty value of 7.7 points, the second highest in the competition.
Under the tie-break rule, if two gymnasts earn the same score on a same difficulty value, then the average of the three lowest of the 4 counting B-jury deductions will be applied, instead of the average of 4 B-jury deductions.
"I know nothing about the tie-break rule. I had thought I tied with Liukin," said a happy He.
The 16-year-old, who was making her Olympic debut, said she was nervous as the first one to take to the floor.
"My hands even shaken. But I tried to focus on my movements instead of thinking about whether I can win a medal," she said.
He said she felt better as it's her third competition at the Beijing Olympics. In the qualifications, she almost failed to make the final when she felt from the bar in qualifications.
But she did not let her second chance slip. He impressed the judges with difficult connections and dazzling tumbling, on difficulty of 7.7 points.
Liukin, the all-around Olympic gold medallist at the Beijing Games, picked her third silver medal at the Games, following one for floor exercise and the other for team event.
Yang, who entered the final in the first place, won the bronze with the same difficulty score as He and Liukin, but lower execution mark.
"It's He Kexin's first Olympics. She did a wonderful job as she had the best composition of maneuvers, a very high difficulty score," said Lu Shanzhen, coach of the Chinese women's team.
"She (He) was great. She won the gold medal and she did an excellent job," said Liukin, who said the competition was a close one as she and the two Chinese girls all had the difficulty value of 7.7 points.
Winning a silver medal was also "a good ending" as it's an Olympic medal of which she was proud, said the 18-year-old who needs another Olympic gold medal to tie with her father, a former gymnastics world champion.
China's gold medalist He Kexin (C), bronze medalist Yang Yilin (R) and silver medalist Nastia Liukin of the United States, celebrate on podium during the awarding ceremony for the gymnastics artistic uneven bars of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 18, 2008. He Kexin rclaimed the title of the event with a score of 16.725. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
