CHINA completed the most dominant Olympic performance from any nation for 20 years yesterday after yet another judging controversy involving the home nation.
China's Zou Kai won the men's high bar and Li Xiaopeng the men's parallel bars to take the host nation's gymnastics gold medal tally to nine out of 14, the most since the Unified team of former Soviet states won 10 in 1988.
American gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin ensured the final night of gymnastics competition did not all go China's way, snaring a 1-2 finish in the women's balance beam.
Zou Kai won his second individual gold of the Games ahead of Jonathon Horton of the US and Fabian Hambuechen of Germany.
Swinging time: China’s Li Xiaopeng en route to winning the parrallel bars gold yesterday. – AFP
Reigning world champion Hambuechen opened the final with a solid 15.875 but it was not enough as Zou Kai followed him soon after with a routine featuring spectacular release and grab movements that scored 16.2
On the men's parallel bars, Xiaopeng added a Beijing gold to the one he scored at the Sydney Games in 2000.
Xiaopeng beat South Korea's Yoo Won-chai and Anton Fokin of Uzbekistan to snare his fourth career Olympic gold, including the Sydney and Beijing team gold medals.
China's most decorated gymnast needed to better Won-chai's 16.25 in the last performance of the night on bars and did so with style, scoring 16.45 from the judges for his near-flawless routine.
Xiaopeng's gold gave him 18 Olympic and world titles in his career making him the most decorated Chinese gymnast-ever and well ahead of Li Ning's 14 career championships.
Johnson finally claimed gold after winning three silver medals in Beijing, with Liukin taking silver and China's Cheng Fei winning bronze.
It was a narrow victory for Johnson, who scored 16.225, just 0.2 ahead of the 160.025 posted by Liukin, the reigning world champion on the apparatus.
Cheng Fei made two wobbles during her routine and stepped on landing but still shot to an early lead with 15.95.
She stayed top until Johnson's breathtaking routine, in which the tiny American somersaulted and flipped along the 10cm wide wooden beam with absolute confidence. – AFP
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