 South Korean gymnast Yoo Won-chul competes in the men's parallel bars competition during the Summer Olympics Tuesday in Beijing. / AFP-Yonhap |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
On a night when an Olympic gold remained elusive to arguably South Korea’s greatest gymnast ever, the country witnessed the arrival of a new talent, who delivered an unexpected silver.
Entering the men’s parallel bars competition at the Beijing Olympics Tuesday, Yang Tae-young, an Athens bronze medalist considered one of the world’s top athletes in the discipline, was considered a contender for the podium.
However, Korea’s best performer proved to be 24-year-old Yoo Won-chul, who came 0.2 points short of preventing China’s Li Xiaopeng from bagging his fourth career Olympic gold medal.
On another day at another place, Yoo’s solid display might have been enough to haul a gold, nailing a perfect 7.000 for the A-score, for difficulty, and getting 9.250 points on the B-score, for execution, to finish with 16.250 points.
However, Li showed why he was considered one of Asia’s greatest gymnasts ever, with his fluid and quick execution of the routines making Yoo’s moves look mechanical in comparison.
The Chinese star finished with 16.450 points, 6.900 points on the A-score and 9.500 on the B-score, while Uzbekistan’s Anton Fokin took the bronze with 16.200 points.
After coming so close to the top, Yoo, although clearly happy about his silver, said he has many regrets about his performance.
``I wasn’t fully satisfied with my game. I made little mistakes here and there,” Yoo told Korean reporters, who also drew a laugh by saying that he needs a drink.
``Li looked really great out there,” Yoo said. ``He certainly deserves the gold.’’
For Yang, thought to be nearing the end of his prime at 28, Beijing continued to be a forgettable experience.
Despite an impressive career, Yang has developed a reputation of faltering at the biggest moments, and he was unable to quiet the doubts on Tuesday, with a landing blunder placing him at seventh with 15.650 points.
Yang was thought to have an outside chance to contend in the men’s all-around competition, but a series of blunders in the horizontal bar and pommel horse left him in eighth place with 91.600 points.
Yang’s sub-par performance on the pommel horse also cost Korea its chances to contend in men’s team gymnastics.
Coaches have said that Yang has been competing through a back injury in these Games, but Yang refused to offer any excuses. He made it clear that he has no intention to retire anytime soon.
``My mistakes in the team competition hurts most,” said Yang.
``I will compete as long as my body allows me to,” he said.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
