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BEIJING -- Alicia Sacramone crouched on the ground near the floor, her head buried in her hands, disbelief etched across her face.
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| The American team shows off the silver medals. (US Presswire) |
With a fall off the beam here, a splat on the floor there and two more steps out of bounds Wednesday, the Americans all but personally handed the gold medals to the Chinese team and settled for silver.
China's score of 188.9 points was more than two points ahead of the U.S., a blowout in a competition that was supposed to be decided by the slimmest of margins.
"No one else made mistakes, so it's kind of my fault," Sacramone said, still trying to blink back the tears from her red-rimmed eyes. "I think everybody knows you always have good days and bad days. I just wish today was a good day."
It was a spectacular day for China. The Americans' mistakes turned China's final three routines on floor into victory dances, and oh did Deng Linlin, Jiang Yuyuan and Cheng Fei play their parts to perfection.
With roars of "Jia You! Jia You!" punctuating her every pass, Jiang worked the crowd, looking out with a mile-wide smile that made a difficult routine look like fun. Cheng has better springs than just about anyone and, with the pressure off, she made great use of them, bounding across the floor and landing as if she had glue on her little feet.
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When she threw up her hands after her final pose, her teammates jumped up and down and hugged each other. All thee questions about their ages -- there were suspicions that perhaps half the team wasn't old enough to compete -- didn't distract them. Nor could the expectations of all those adoring fans.
"The Chinese women's gymnastics team made history today, showing the world the China women's gymnastics team is the greatest," coach Lu Shanzhen said.
They practically floated out of the arena, stopping occasionally to pose for pictures and wave to the cheering fans. They held hands during the medals ceremony, often looking down at their new treasures in wonder. Afterward, they picked up one of their coaches and tossed him into the air -- with an assist from a few other people, of course.
It was the first Olympic gold for the Chinese, and now they have both team titles -- men and women.
"Before they go out there, I want them to believe in themselves. And they all did," Cheng said. "I didn't have to say anything to them. Even though they are very young, they have a lot of experience as well and they have their own ways to learn from their own experiences, and they used those ways."
The Americans also went to Athens as the reigning world champs four years ago, only to falter and settle for silver.
