"I have never seen our gymnasts commit so many faults as the ones they began the competition with this morning," said Eberhard GEINGER (GER). "I suppose the team has been much too nervous. Then, they started building up and after their excellent performances on the rest of the apparatus, they secured at least tenth place in the compulsory program."
Belarus and USA Take Honors in Second Session:
Belarus took the lead after two sessions
of the men's compulsory exercise, scoring 285.222 points including
a 48.287 team score on the vault. Belarus was led by Vitaly SCHERBO,
the defending Olympic all-around champion, who scored 57.823 for
the day, including a 9.725 on the vault. The Belarus contingent
stood .366 ahead of the surprising American team, which scored
284.634 for the compulsories, ahead of the more favored teams
from Romania (281.873) and Japan (282.823). American John ROETHLISBERGER's
9.700 on the pommel horse helped carry him to an individual total
of 57.524, which stands him in second place, .299 behind SCHERBO.
The Japanese team was competing with just six athletes
because of an injury to Masayoshi MAEDA, who was scheduled to
compete in all six events.
Team Scores (after two of three compulsory rounds):
BLR 285.222, USA 284.634, KOR 283.384, JPN 282.823, GER 282.147,
ROM 281.873, ITA 280.560.
"This is a great opportunity for us as a team
to shine and to do some great things" said Chainey UMPHREY
(USA). "If somebody goes up there and misses, we got the
next guy up who will not miss. He is not going to miss. That's
this team, that's how we are. We are underdogs, sure, but we're
the underdogs who can make things happen."
Russian Team Leads after Compulsories: The
Russian Federation, which faltered in the compulsories at the
1995 World Championships, made amends at the 1996 Olympic Games,
leading the men's gymnastics competition after the compulsory
exercises held at the Georgia Dome. The Russian team, which placed
11th in the compulsories but improved to fourth overall at the
world championships in 1995, now stands at 287.258, ahead of the
second-place team from China, at 286.283. The team competitors
in the evening session were, as expected, the strongest, with
Belarus in third at 285.222.
In the individual competition, Alexi NEMOV (RUS)
leads the competition at 57.862, followed by Vitaly SCHERBO (BLR)
at 57.823 and John ROETHLISBERGER (USA) in third at 57.542. "I
am very glad the compulsories are over," said NEMOV. "I
had a lot of problems with them at last year's world championships
and am very glad that is over for today."
The 1995 world all-around champion, LI Xiaoshuang
(CHN), suffered a fall and scored just 8.350 while competing on
the stationary rings. He stands in 29th place after the compulsory
exercises.
Team Scores (after three of three compulsory rounds):
RUS 287.258, CHN 286.283, UKR 285.359, BLR 285.222, USA 284.634,
BUL 283.534, KOR 283.384, JPN 282.823, FRA 282.197, GER 282.147,
ROM 281.873, ITA 280.560.
"The most important thing was our performance
on parallel bars and horizontal bars because that is what our
guys are good at," said Russian coach Leonid Arkaev, "and
that is where we made the difference. We paid a lot of attention
to the compulsories. About two-thirds of our time we spend on
compulsories. The standings are about what we expected, and this
is what we were aiming toward."
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