SALON

Saturday, Jul 28, 2012 12:45 PM UTC

Britain stuns China in men’s gymnastics qualifying

By

Topics: From the Wires

Britain stuns China in men's gymnastics qualifyingChinese gymnast Feng Zhe the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 27, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)(Credit: Gregory Bull)

LONDON (AP) — The British men sure know how to kick off a party.

The host country, which was only good enough to send two gymnasts to Beijing four years ago, upset Olympic champion China and took the early lead in qualifying Saturday at the London Olympics. A spectacular pommel horse by Louis Smith capped the day for the British, who finished almost 2.5 points ahead of China with at a total of 272.420.

China scored 269.985, followed by France (265.759) and South Korea (255.327). Japan, the silver medalist in Beijing, and the United States go later Saturday, as do Germany and Russia.

Team finals are Monday, and everyone gets a do-over. Still, this was a stunning result for the Chinese, who have won the last five world titles and were so dominant four years ago in Beijing that they left with all but one of the men’s gold medals. When the standings flashed before the final rotation, showing Britain ahead of China, Feng Zhe looked into the camera and gave a little shrug, as if to say, “Oh well.”

The British, meanwhile, could hardly contain their happiness — and, for Smith, a few tears.

Britain doesn’t exactly have an impressive tradition in gymnastics. Smith’s bronze on pommel horse four years ago was the country’s first Olympic medal in 80 years, and this is the first time Britain qualified full men’s and women’s teams to the Olympics since the boycotted 1984 Games.

But Smith and three-time world champion Beth Tweddle have sparked a resurgence in the sport, and the British are now a team to be reckoned with. The Brits may not have Japan’s style or the Americans’ flash, but they are steady and solid, with dashes of brilliance thrown in — like Smith’s pommel horse routine.

Most gymnasts simply pray to stay on the horse, looking as if they’re trying to wrestle it to the ground as they work their way around the apparatus. But Smith is so smooth he’s almost hypnotic, swinging slowly and in perfect circles. He had the consistency of a metronome as he worked on one pommel, his legs glued together, his rhythm never flagging. He picked up speed as he moved around the horse, giving the impression of a plane readying for take off.

He finished with the flourish, his legs hitting the mat without moving an inch. As his teammates whooped and clapped, Smith gave a big smile and exchanged a hand slap with Kristian Thomas. When his score — a monstrous 15.8 — was announced, he began crying as the crowd roared. That was enough to ensure the British would finish ahead of China.

More Nancy Armour.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations