U.S. Women’s Team Wins Gold Medal in 2007 Gymnastics Championships

The U.S. women’s team won the gold medal at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships four years after its last victory, defeating defending champion China. In the team finals held on Wednesday in Stuttgart, Germany, the team scored a total of 184.400 points from the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercises, beating the Chinese total of 183.450 by 0.095.

In last year’s competition in Denmark, the U.S. team had to go home with a silver medal, falling 0.850 behind the golden Chinese team. This year’s gold medal is the second world team title in the U.S. history since 2003 when it won its first in the 37th Championships.

Meanwhile, the Chinese team can no longer be assured of winning a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics after losing its gold medal title in just a year. It was once touted as the world’s strongest gymnastics team, surpassing those from gymnastics-advanced nations in the European Union and the U.S.

The U.S. team entered the final round as the preliminary winner in the same group as the Chinese team, which came in second in the preliminaries. Scores of three gymnasts per event were added up together and the two teams had been neck-and-neck in scores. They defeated each other in the vault and uneven bars, respectively.

Although the Chinese team had secured its lead on the balance beam, the third event, by a whopping 2.3 points, the goddess of victory favored America in the floor exercises, the finale, as well as the highlight of women’s gymnastics according to many. All three U.S. gymnasts received 15.1 scores on average, nailing their victory.

Rumania, the gold medallist team for five consecutive years between 1994 and 2001, won the bronze medal with a score of 178.100, followed by Italy (175.400) and Brazil (175.125). Russia lost its hopes of winning when Yekaterina Kramarenko received ‘0’ points for stopping in front of the springboard when her steps got tangled. Due to her disqualification, Russia came in last among the eight participating nations. It has never won a gold medal in the women’s team finals since 1991.

Aspiring for the highest finish in the championship team finals in Korean history, the Korean men’s team will enter the finals competition starting at 9 p.m. on Thursday in the same group with the Spanish team.

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