Huang Xu (above), 28, and 19-year-old Zou Kai
represented the oldest and youngest members of
the winning Chinese team. Huang made finals on
parallel bars, and Zou qualified on floor exercise.
“There was a difference of four points between
us and the Chinese team, but we did our best and
are very optimistic,” said Japan’s Hiroyuki Tomita,
who placed second to Yang in the qualification
round. “Of course, we expected to become world
champion, but we had problems on some events.
As soon as we are back in Japan, we will try our
best to get to the top.”
China’s margin of victory was actually closer to
five points ( 4. 75), but who’s counting? Japan finished in the top three on half the apparatus, but
was sixth on floor, rings and vault. It defeated the
winners only on high bar, where Tomita, Hisashi
Mizutori and the smooth Yosuke Hoshi amassed the
highest pipe total of 45.975.
China, meanwhile, was paced by Yang, who did
four events. His lowest mark was 15.525 on pommel horse, the third-highest score on the event in
the final. The Chinese also had two reigning world
champions to anchor their best apparatus: Xiao
Qin on pommels and Chen Yibing on rings. Xiao’s
16.225 and Chen’s 16.450 led those events with
room to spare. In fact, no other gymnasts in the
eight-team final scored in the 16s on pommels or
rings.
The higher scores of the new Code have led to a
wider point spread overall. Though Japan trailed
China by a mile, it was never in danger of losing the
silver, finishing 3. 50 above home team Germany.
Seventh in 2006, Germany celebrated its bronze
as if it were gold, however, since it hadn’t won a
world team medal since 1991 (bronze). The home
