Olympics: Us Finally Get One Over on China As Liukin Secures Gold

For once there were no bombastic chants of 'China! China!' or fluttering of red flags - just generous applause as two American gymnasts hugged each other tightly after securing gold and silver after an enthralling women's individual all-round gymnastics final.

Shortly after the embrace ended Nastia Liukin, tears in her eyes, walked on to the podium to accept her gold medal. Shawn Johnson - not just Liukin's team-mate but her room-mate too, took silver, while China's Yilin Yang won the bronze.

When asked how good the gold felt, Liukin - whose father and coach Valeri won two gold medals for the Soviet Union in the 1988 Olympics, and whose mother, Anna Kotchneva, was a world champion rhythmic gymnast - admitted she was in "shock".

"I can't believe it actually happened," she said. "I owe everything to my parents, My Dad is with me every day of my life and he's the reason why I'm Olympic champion. My Mum helps with the moral side, helping me get through all the difficult days."

Every day in these Olympics the gymnastics has boiled down to an almighty clash between China and America - and until today the Chinese had won every time.

The six best gymnasts from qualifying all started on the vault - one of Johnson's strongest events and Liukin's weakest. The scores reflected that, with Johnson scoring 15.875 and Liukin, who selected a lower difficulty tariff, 15.025.

But it was another gymnast, Romanian Steliana Nistor - who finished second in last year's world championships but has struggled since - who took an early lead in the competition after scoring 15.975 on the uneven bars.

The top six best from qualifying then moved on to the uneven bars, Liukin's best event and Johnson's worst. Liukin had fallen in the preliminaries, but this time her tricksy routine, including several precarious-looking one-handed manoeuvres, drew gasps from the crowd. Only her dismount was poor, bringing her score down to 16.65, 0.25 lower than her routine in the team finals.

Johnson, who opted for a simpler routine that offered a maximum possible of score of just 15.50, looked happy with when the judges awarded her 15.275, and gave a big wave to the hoards of Americans in the crowd. But it was Yang Yilin who performed best of all, scoring 16.725 on the uneven bars to take a narrow lead at halfway.

But it was close, almighty close. Less than a point separated the top five gymnasts, with Yang in front on 31.900, Liukin second on 31.675 and Nistor third on 31.525 - and Johnson just fifth with 31.150.

Next up was the balance beam, the apparatus on which Johnson was hoping to make her move up the leaderboard. She certainly scored impressively - the 16.050 the judges awarded her looked a tad generous after an early wobble - but it was certainly better than Yang, who seemed pressured by the huge cheers and the waving flags and struggled to maintain her balance several times before scoring 15.75.

Liukin, however, suffered no such nerves. Her routine had the same technical tariff as Yangs, but the execution - which ended with a back layout with two-and-a-half twist - was nailed; and a score of 16.125 putting her into the lead going into the floor exercise - 0.15 ahead of Yang with Johnson a further 0.45 back.

Earlier the National Indoor Stadium had been quiet, respectful even, but now the chants of "Come on China! Come on China!" echoed round the building. But Yang, who had scored significantly lower on the floor than her rivals in qualifying, could only produce a serene performance with few risks and scored 15.000.

Luikin seized the moment. There was explosiveness and energy in her tumbles and tucks and, crucially, no mistakes. Her score of 15.525 was a gold medal performance and the crowd knew it. This time it was the American flags that were waving, to boisterous chants of "USA! USA!".

Johnson then took to the floor encouraged by her room-mate, who told her "Come on Shaun" before her routine. Her routine was expressive and far sharper than in the team event, and good enough to move her ahead of Yang. But Liukin was too far in front to be caught.

Final scores

1. Liukin (63.325)

2. Yang (62.650)

3. Semenova (61.925

12. B Downie GB (59.450)