Congratulations Nastia and Shawn!! Great picts here: http://gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?t=75107

Nastia is like a ballerina tumbling on the beam and floor! Shawn tumbles on the beam like it's the floor! Great stuck landings for Nastia!! On vault, NBC did a quick shot of her dad/coach Valeri, he was really happy! Stuck 1.5 Yurchenko!

Hard bars dismounts from Nastia Liukin (double front half), Shawn Johnson(double layout/double twist) - stuck landing!, and Ksenia Semenova - stuck her unique bars dismount too!

Nastia Liukin, the tiger: [QUOTE] "I studied her face to see any nervousness, but did not see any," Valery said. "She is very fragile outside, but inside her is a tiger. To work with her is not always easy, probably how it is with any athlete who exhibits strong character. She is very strong technically, but because of the injury we did not have enough time to be prepared for the last world championships. Not everything came out well this season, but when I saw my daughter's face before the competition today, I realized the tiger has returned." Nastia found inspiration in her own parents' faces during the final buildup to Beijing. "A few months before the Olympics Games I made myself a collage of different photos and hung it up in my room," Nastia said. "There were pictures of my mom, and my dad... I looked at them every day and thought that someday I, maybe, will have an Olympic medal too." [/QUOTE] International Gymnast [QUOTE] Father Valery, the well-known gymnastics legend, has helped give her the technical help she needed at the gym. Twenty years ago, a few hundred miles away, he had known Olympic disappointment in Seoul, where he finished second all-around by one tenth of a point. Valery, who has always said he tries to be dad at home and coach at the gym, couldn't brush away his own Olympic memories. "It's almost always possible," he said. "But for some reason I suddenly remembered how 20 years ago I lost in Seoul. It turns out, Nastia has corrected my mistake. She, like me, does not like to be the second." [/QUOTE] He actually spells his name Valeri Liukin, not Valery: http://woga.net/Coaches/Founders/tabid/4617/Default.aspx (WOGA gym website)

Vault 2 attempts Women's Vault Final 1 454 HONG Un Jong DPR Korea 16.500 9.350 -0.300 15.550 15.650 2 351 CHUSOVITINA Oksana Germany 16.300 9.425 15.725 15.575 3 321 CHENG Fei China 16.500 9.575 16.075 15.562 4 415 SACRAMONE Alicia United States 16.300 9.450 15.750 15.5375 4 58 KASLIN Ariella Switzerland 16.300 9.100 15.400 15.050 6 363 GIOVANNINI Carlotta Italy 15.800 9.225 -0.100 14.925 14.550 7 315 BARBOSA Jade Brazil 15.800 8.925 14.725 14.487 8 394 PAVLOVA Anna Russian Fed. 16.500 9.125 15.625 7.812 It's Oksana Chusovitina's 1st Olympic individual medal. Big celebrations. Related: Games' oldest female gymnast wins silver (TODAYonline) http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?t=75850 Bondy: Cruel world of gymnastics takes toll on Sacramone (New York Daily News) http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?t=75852

Gymnastics gold again for Romania on the women's artistic gymnastics 2008 Beijing Olympics floor final!! 1 382 IZBASA Sandra Romania 6.500 9.150 15.650 2 411 JOHNSON Shawn United States 6.400 9.100 15.500 3 412 LIUKIN Nastia United States 6.200 9.225 15.425 4 323 JIANG Yuyuan China 6.300 9.050 15.350 5 393 KRAMARENKO Ekaterina Russian Fed. 6.100 8.925 15.025 6 312 SANTOS Daiane Brazil 6.400 8.775 -0.200 14.975 7 321 CHENG Fei China 6.300 8.250 14.550 8 394 PAVLOVA Anna Russian Fed. 5.800 8.325 14.125 Romania's Sandra Izabasa has been suffering from lower back problems and hasn't been able to practice as much as she wanted, but she sticks her floor ruotine and wins gold. She was the last to perform in this rotation. [quote] (BEIJING, August 17) -- Romania's Sandra Izbasa caused an upset today by winning the gold medal in the Women's Floor Exercise. Izbasa, the last gymnast to perform, scored 15.650. The United States' Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Johnson, who performed first, looked unbeatable when China's Jiang Yuyan and Liukin could not surpass her score of 15.500. However, Izbasa stunned the crowd by putting in an excellent performance and winning the gold medal. Johnson put in a strong performance without any noticeable errors, but Jiang's high-leaping routine looked a chance to beat the 16-year-old American's score. Jiang, however, fell short when the judges gave her a score of 15.350. Russia's Anna Pavlova continued her terrible day when she made a series of mistakes in her routine. She was given a score of 14.125. Pavlova finished last in the Women's Vault earlier tonight. China's Cheng Fei was expected to challenge Johnson for the gold medal, but she made numerous errors in her routine, including a fall. Cheng's score for execution was the worst of all eight competitors and she finished with a total score of 14.550, which was only higher than the hapless Pavlova. Liukin was once again elegant on the floor, but she just fell short of Johnson with a score of 15.425. In the end, the 18-year-old Izbasa, who finished eighth in the Floor Exercise at the 2007 World Championships, blew the field away with a commanding last performance. [/quote] http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/artisticgymnastics/n214556079.shtml

Posted in the Blogs/News section, "Bondy: Cruel world of gymnastics takes toll on Sacramone (New York Daily News) " - http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?p=80187#post80187 That article is wrong: "Cheng landed terribly on her second vault and immediately began to start bawling. But her start value was 6.5, so she ended up beating Sacramone for the final medal, by .025 points." They had her on the camera in the NBC broadcasting of the competition - and she did not start bawling right after her vault fall - none of the coverage showed her crying actually. In her 2nd vault she landed on her knees and put 2 hands on the mat. Alicia Sacramone and her coach Mihai are right - Alicia did deserve the bronze. Cheng Fei was not scored correctly and the right amount of deducations were not taken for her vault fall - the knees and the 2 hands down. I agree with Bela Karolyi - it was a rip off! After Cheng Fei's vault, Sacramone hugged her and consoled her - it kind of looked like Sacramone was surpried Cheng Fei wasn't more emotional and upset about her fall. Anyone know what Cheng Fei yelled out right before her 2nd vault?

Cheng Fei was crying after her floor routine, not vault. Vault was the first final, then floor. Cheng Fei fell on floor. Anyone speak Chinese that know what Cheng yelled right before doing her 2nd vault? http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?p=80307&posted=1#post80307

More debate and controversy with the women's uneven bars final: 1 322 HE Kexin China 7.700 9.025 16.725 2 412 LIUKIN Nastia United States 7.700 9.025 16.725 3 325 YANG Yilin China 7.700 8.950 16.650 4 343 TWEDDLE Beth Great Britain 7.800 8.825 16.625 5 406 KOVAL Anastasiia Ukraine 7.300 9.075 16.375 6 396 SEMENOVA Ksenia Russian Fed. 7.400 8.925 16.325 7 381 NISTOR Steliana Romania 7.000 8.575 15.575 8 404 ZGOBA Dariya Ukraine 7.100 7.875 -0.100 14.875 Gymnastics / Liukin loses tiebreaker, gold (San Francisco Chronicle) http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?t=76207 Tiebreaker turns into a heartbreak for U.S. gymnast (International Herald Tribune) http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?t=76050 Chinese gymnast He Kexin wins uneven bars gold (People's Daily) http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/showthread.php?t=76049

USA's Shawn Johnson, the self described daredevil who smiles a lot, wins gold on beam with the highest beam score at the Beijing Olympics; 1 adn 2 finish for USA on beam final as Nastia Liukin hits a great routine and wins silver. China's Cheng Fei is up first in the rotation and wins bronze; no fall for Cheng Fei this time like in the team final, but she has balance checks. 1 411 JOHNSON Shawn United States 7.000 9.225 16.225 2 412 LIUKIN Nastia United States 6.600 9.425 16.025 3 321 CHENG Fei China 6.800 9.150 15.950 4 394 PAVLOVA Anna Russian Fed. 6.800 9.100 15.900 5 385 DRAGOI Gabriela Romania 6.500 9.125 15.625 6 324 LI Shanshan China 7.000 8.300 15.300 (fall) 7 391 AFANASYEVA Ksenia Russian Fed. 5.800 9.025 14.825 8 371 TSURUMI Koko Japan 6.300 8.150 14.450