Romania’s Daniel Popescu (inset) held
the lead until Poland’s Leszek Blanik
blasted two big vaults for the gold.
TOM THEOBALD ( 5)
were Alexander Safoshkin of Russia, seventh, and
Tomita, eighth. Both had a 6. 9 A-score, which is
relatively low in a world rings final these days.
VAULT
Twice a runner-up on vault at a worlds (2002, ’05),
and winner of several World Cup titles on his best
event, Poland’s Leszek Blanik chose the right time
to win gold. And as last man up in the final, the 30-
year-old from Gdansk knew exactly what he needed. For right before him, North Koreans Ri Se
Gwang (Dragulescu, Tsukahara-double pike) and Ri
Jong Song (Kasamatsu-double twist, handspring-randi) had landed two solid vaults each to sit second
and third, behind Romania’s Daniel Popescu
(Kasamatsu-double twist, handspring-randi).
That’s when Blanik bumped everyone down a
notch with his trademark handspring-piked double
front and Tsukahara-double pike. He needed only a
tiny hop on the first vault and one step on the second to know he had probably won. And when his
first-place average came up, just .012 better than
the Romanian’s, he raised his fists in triumph.
Six of the eight finalists showed a pair of 7.0
vaults, and three of them opted for the Kasamatsu-double twist (Lopez) and handspring-randi, which
are as similar as two vaults can be. Flavius Koczi
(Romania) opened the event with those two vaults,
staggering back on the Lopez and putting a hand
down on the randi. He would finish uprise-double tuck, Morisue), but he overarched a
seventh. quarter pirouette from one bar to both and effec-
Ukraine’s Andrei Isayev followed tively ended his medal hopes ( 15.975).
with a Dragulescu, which was short Petkovsek, 30, knew only too well that p-bar
on the barani-out phase, and a medals usually went to the guys who were flawless
Tsukahara-double pike (small hop) on the apparatus and motionless after their dis-
for fifth. mounts. He began with an impressive peach-full,
Spain’s Isaac Botella followed peach, peach-half, Belle, slung a Tippelt, spun a
with two 6. 6 vaults, and little Healy-hop pirouette and a Stutz to one bar, and
chance of challenging for a medal. His first vault added a front-1⁄
4, all without a quiver. Even with a
was an awkward Kasamatsu- 11⁄
2 twist (head back big step on his double pike dismount, Petkovsek
during the twist), but he fared be tter on his second earned a leading 16.250 but was forced to wait for
vault of handspring to double- six more p-bar masters to
twisting front (eighth).
Germany’s Fabian Hambü- Twice a runner- knock him out of first
place.
chen, a vault bronze medalist up on vault at a Japan’s Yosuke Hoshi
in 2006, finished sixth in showed an excellent
Stuttgart, armed with the low- worlds, Poland’s peach-half, peach-full,
est Start Value of the event Leszek Blanik peach, Belle, but an awk-
( 6. 6, 6. 2). He hit his ward lunge after his double
Yurchenko- 21⁄
2 twist well, then chose the right pike left him with 15.850.
stuck a simple Kasamatsu-full
for sixth place. Given what time to win gold. France’s Yann Cucherat
was a bit sloppy on his
he’s shown on the other Belle, then missed a hand
events, don’t be surprised if completely on a front- 11⁄
4
the talented German shows for a last-place 15.350.
up in Beijing with a stronger second vault. Next up was China’s Huang Xu, armed with the
highest Start Value of the finalists ( 7.1), which was
. 30 higher than Petkovsek’s. Apparently, throwing
every trick in the book isn’t always the best strate-
gy, for Huang landed crooked on a Belle and was
forced to take an extra swing ( 15.950).
Korea’s Kim Dae Eun, the all-around silver
medalist at the 2004 Olympics, finally matched
Petkovsek’s score by sticking his double pike after
an ambitious set (peach-half, peach, piked Belle;
Belle, Morisue).
Surely, these two would be topped, with the
PARALLEL BARS
Slovenian Mitja Petkovsek must have figured he
was a long shot to win p-bars and send himself to
Beijing next summer. The 2005 world champ on
his best and only event knew he hadn’t the difficulty of the Chinese finalists, and he had to compete
second in the draw.
Korea’s Yoo Won Chul started the event with a
set that included pretty much every arm-shattering
skill in the book (piked Belle, piked Morisue, front-
