American Nastia Liukin (left, above right) corrected her beam mistakes from the team and all-
around competitions to win her second world title
on the event (she won in 2005). Tied for second
were China’s Li Shanshan (above left) and
Romania’s Steliana Nistor.
(“pink is my favorite color”), last-up Liukin had a
balance check after the combination she missed
in the all-around final (front aerial, flip-flop, lay-
out step-out, layout), but recovered well. The rest
of her routine was stately and nimble, and includ-
ed a side somi; Onodi; full-twisting fish jump;
sheep jump; switch ring leap; and 21⁄2-twist dis-
mount. Liukin regained her 2005 title, placing
0.125 ahead of co-silver medalists Nistor and Li.
“I had one of the lower Start Values ( 6. 6)
among the eight girls, so I knew I had to go out
and do it big,” said Liukin, relieved. “I was a little more nervous, because I wanted to prove to
everyone that I was still a good beam worker and
that those two little things (mistakes in team and
all-around finals) were just flukes, and not me
being a bad beam worker. I wanted to show
everyone that I can make a really good beam
routine and be on top of the world.”
FLOOR EXERCISE
Second-up Shawn Johnson performed cheerful-
ly in the floor final, and her winning routine gave
her more reason to smile, after a two-falls beam
routine earlier in the day.
“I wanted to go out as happy as I came in,”
Johnson said. “I knew that if I left myself with
that beam routine, I wouldn’t have been as
happy with myself. Ending on floor and getting
the gold made everything back to normal.”
Johnson was among the few women to complete her routine with fully consolidated tumbling
passes. Vanessa Ferrari, the 2006 bronze medalist and first competitor, went out of bounds on a
double-double. Johnson also opened with a double-double, and later did a front full-punch rudi;
double twist; full-in; and double pike ( 15.250).
