Gym: Misery for Hamm, Khorkina

AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-2004
Gym: Misery for Hamm, Khorkina

By Pritha Sarkar

ATHENS, Aug 22 Reuters - All-round champion Paul Hamm's Olympic fortunes took a downward
turn when he was outdone by the mastery of Kyle Shewfelt and Teng Haibin in the men's
apparatus finals.

On a night of firsts, Shewfelt edging out Marian Dragulescu on a tiebreak in the men's
floor exercise to give Canada their first ever Olympic gold in the sport, while Teng won
China's first title at the Athens Indoor Hall on the pommel horse.

American Hamm, who was awarded the all-round gold after a judging error denied South
Korea's Yang Tae-young the title, had been expected to increase his medal haul on the
apparatus.

But the row clearly affected his performance and he left the arena empty handed, still
insisting he was a rightful champion.

"I personally feel that I was the champion that night ...," said Hamm. "Things cannot
be changed after the competition is over. And right now I personally feel that I shouldn't
even be dealing with it."

On the floor, Shewfelt executed his powerful tumbles to earn a score of 9.787 and was
matched by Dragulescu. The Canadian was named champion once the tiebreak rules were applied
by the judges. Hamm finished fifth.

Teng mounted the pommel with his eyes locked on the apparatus, rotating with ease and
then punching his fists up into the air as he nailed his solid dismount and earned 9.837.

The last man to compete on the apparatus, his fluid movements were enough to overhaul
defending champion Marius Urzica by just 0.012. Hamm finished sixth.

Dimosthenis Tampakos flexed his bulging muscles and rode a wave of national euphoria
to triumph on the rings.

The Greek managed to control the intense pressure heaped on him by the home fans to
give a near flawless exhibition of strength and stamina in the strongman's event and edged
out Jovtchev by 0.012 of a point.

Reuters mo

KEYWORD: OLY GYM HAMM

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