Perhaps this made his difficult routine even harder, because
Uchimura also fell on a Kovacs in the middle of his routine. Now
he was in danger of letting the silver slip away, as well. After
remounting, Uchimura repeated the Kovacs successfully, caught
a Kolman and stuck his double-double dismount. And as it turned
out, Japan needed every bit of his 14.700, as it kept the
Americans in third by 0.10.
“I’m disappointed,” Uchimura said. “But what’s done is done.
I want to get a team gold at next year’s London Olympics.”
Said Zou: “We came here for the gold medal, but we were also
prepared for a tough fight with Japan on their turf. If the second
Even though the Americans had come so close to upsetting
Japan for the silver, they were still pleased with third. “Any time
you win a medal at the world championships, it’s something to
When the usually unflappable Uchimura fell from high bar,
Leyva says it only reinforced the confidence he had in himself
With only the sixth-best total on pommels, Russia dropped to
fourth, 4.038 behind the U.S. But the team, which placed sixth
in 2010, looks close to becoming a medal contender again.
(above) and Korea’s Kim
Soo Myun (top) were the
top contributors to their
teams in the final.
LEFT: Romanian veteran
Flavius Koczi performed
four strong routines,
even though his team
had to count a zero on
vault in the first rotation.
