With Shawn Johnson not competing, Cheng Fei is looking for gold on vault, but she'll have to beat Alicia Sacramone and North Korean Hong Un-Jong first.
Though many American gymnastics fans at this point in the Olympics think that the name “Shawn Johnson” is synonymous with vaulting success, Johnson will not be competing on the vault final. In order to qualify, gymnasts must perform two vaults in the qualifying round, and Shawn only did one. American Alicia Sacramone, however, is looking to shake off team finals and bring home another gold for the United States on this event.
Cheng Fei and Hong Un-Jong Go Neck-in-Neck on Difficulty
In qualifying, Chinese team leader Cheng Fei and North Korean gymnast Hong Un-Jong performed the exact same two vaults, both with an A-value or difficulty of 6.5. The Amanar, which is also the vault Shawn Johnson performs, is a round-off onto the springboard, followed by two-and-a-half twists in the second flight phase. The Cheng, named after Cheng Fei in 2005, is a round-off onto the springboard, a half-turn onto the vaulting table, and one-and-a-half twists as well as one-and-a-half saltos (flips) in the layout body position.
These are the two most difficult vaults in the world, and if either of these gymnasts can land both solidly, they are likely to win gold. Key things to watch for are the power off the vaulting table, the angle of the hips before the landing, the position of the body in the air on the Cheng, and the angle of the shoulders when landing (what causes Shawn Johnson’s trademark crossover step).
Sacramone, Chusovitina, and Pavlova Hope for an Upset
Both American Alicia Sacramone and Oksana Chusovitina of Germany perform a first vault valued from a 6.3. In qualifying, it came down to the second vault – Sacramone’s is valued a tenth of a point higher than Chusovitina’s, and she managed a higher execution score as well. Fifth-place qualifier, Russian Anna Pavlova, has A scores of 5.8 and 5.6, so she would have to perform flawlessly to qualify for a medal. Italian Carlotta Giovannini’s vaults are valued higher, but her execution scores were low. If someone makes a mistake, she too could contend for a bronze.
For Alicia Sacramone, the key will be to put team finals behind her and focus all her energies on this last chance for a medal. Sacramone mentioned to NBC Olympics in its Event Finals Preview that she has been training an Amanar. If she executes cleanly on the same vaults she did in qualifying, she will have the bronze medal, but if she performs the Amanar and nails it, she has a chance at silver and maybe even gold. That, however, would likely require trouble from at least one of the top two qualifiers.
The copyright of the article 2008 Olympic Women's Gymnastics Vault Final in Gymnastics is owned by Judith Faucette. Permission to republish 2008 Olympic Women's Gymnastics Vault Final in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
This was the biggest upset I have ever seen. I just witnessed the vault
competition and Bela Karoly was correct--Alicia Sacramone was "ripped
off". How can a gymnast who falls to her knees on her landing win a
bronze medal?!? How can a gymnast who steps out of bounds (possibly twice),
win a gold medal?!? This was absolute madness! The gymnastics judges at
these Olympics are by far the worst that I have ever seen. And the judging
has been at best erratic, but definitely biased!!! I may not be an expert
in gymnastics, but I am intelligent enough to realize when someone has been
robbed of a golden opportunity (no pun intended). The line-up shoud have
looked like this--Chusovitine Gold, Sacramone Silver, Hong Bronze.
Aug 18, 2008 3:06 AM
Guest :
How do you fall on your knees and hands in a vault final and get a bronze
medal? Cheng Fe Reminds me of Paul Hamm nearly falling off the vault runway
and getting a gift score from the judges allowing him to stay in the
running for a gold medal all around. Judging has become a joke at the
Olympic games and is ruining the sport. Just my opinion.
Aug 18, 2008 8:57 AM
Guest :
Beating Alicia should be easy since landing on your knees in China will
receive high scores in vault if and only if you're Chinese!!!
Aug 18, 2008 8:02 PM
Guest :
I agree. Sacramone was completely ripped off. The North Korean gymnast
went out of bounds with a huge step on her first vault and receives a 9.35
for execution?!? And in her second vault, she was out of bounds again.
And she actually gets the gold?!? I'll bet that had that gymnast had been
Sacramone, instead, the results would have been very different. Cheng Fei
fell on her second vault, so why did she score higher than Sacramone? I'm
sorry, but Sacramone was just plain ROBBED. And so was Pavlova. She
should have had an opportunity to redo her second vault. How can you
explain away all of that?
I've watched gymnastics for many
years. And over the years, I've seen many cases of what I call
"arbitrary scoring." But nothing compares with the arbitrariness
of the scoring that I've seen in this Olympics. This scoring is basically
biased towards anyone with slanted eyes (most especially if she is Chinese)
and against Americans. This is an absolute outrage! I'm not sure I'll
ever watch gymnastics again.
Aug 18, 2008 10:20 PM
Guest :
It is supremely obvious that the olympics are kissing chineese ass...first
letting baby girls compete in gymnastics, then scoring in their favor in
painfully obvious ways and awarding medals they did not deserve...in the
vault particularly...MAJOR RIP OFF...then in floor exercise and tonight in
uneven bars
Why haven't protests been filed...Bella K may be
spouting that it is unfair, but why hasn't there been a full on
investigation into the ages of the baby girls and the scoring..........its
all crap now.
Aug 19, 2008 5:15 AM
Guest :
I definetely agree with the 3 comments above. Alicia´s vault performance
was much better by far for at least a silver if not a gold. Very
dissapointing the judges job at Beijing Olimpic Games :( I still think
Alicia is the best! YOU GO GIRL!!!
Aug 19, 2008 10:16 AM
Guest :
I am sure the judges at these olympics are expert at falling on their knees
and gargling mayonnaise. The chinese gymnasts are being well trained in
this sport.
Aug 19, 2008 10:23 AM
Guest :
These judges should be investigated and if their decisions are biased, they
should be sued. These gymnasts have sacrificed so much and now their
career has been seriously harmed by unfair judging. There is a huge loss
of income that resulted from these corrupt desicions, not to mention mental
trauma. Lets see if they could defend their actions with a jury.
Aug 20, 2008 11:53 AM
Guest :
What about the fact that Cheng Fei's vault is the hardest one ever
performed by a female? Of course we can overlook that if it means
supporting an American gymnast, but then what about the uneven bar
performance where there were so many errors made by Nastia Liukin and yet
she still beat Yang Yilin, even though her performance was absolutely
perfect? It just goes to show that we're not the judges, we're the biased
ones, and we shouldn't be taking the glory from the actual winners of the
competition.
Aug 20, 2008 2:35 PM
Guest :
It doesn't matter how hard the vault was you see, if she cannot
successfully land it then you should receive a higher deduction. I might
join the 2012 olympics and do gymnastics, I'll just attempt the hardest
vault and land on my face, and I'll stil get bronze too! See, it doesn't
make sense. A landing like that should have resulted in about a 1.5
reduction. Fei's score on that vault was 15.050, so if she did land it
you're saying she would have got 15.050 + 1.5 = 16.550 and thats only if it
was executed flawlessly, it also would have even given her higher than her
first vault(16.075). Talk about unrealistic. I don't think proper
deductions were made. If it matters, im Canadian-Chinese and I am definetly
not biased.
Aug 21, 2008 10:40 PM
Guest :
Bela is correct. Judging was a disgrace, dismal, unacceptable. Who cares
what the proposed difficulty is if you don't complete it and you land on
your hands and knees. Why do we send our young men and women to a
competition that is so biased that they will award a gold medal to someone
who does a face plant rather than one who has a completed routine. Soooo,
that's like awarding the gold to the diver who does a belly-flop. I would
be interested to see what the judges take home from China and Korea.
Aug 22, 2008 10:26 AM
Guest :
I think the women's team was robbed. First they were robbed in the team
competition. They should have received the gold hands down. Anyone can
she that some of those girls for China are not 16. I was looking at a
picture of one of them and she was smiling and you could see she had a
tooth missing. I mean come one this is an outrage. Alicia should have
definitely medalled in the vault competition. Cheng Fe fell on her knees
on her second vault and not to mention her hand position going on to the
vault was not correct. There was many mistakes but some how she got the
bronze. Nastia was also robbed. I am very disappointed at how the US team
was treated. I still believe there should be an investigation on the girls
ages. Get a birth certificate. Honestly do you think the passport is
going to tell the truth....not. Something needs to be done and Bela needs
to start it.
Aug 27, 2008 12:50 PM
Guest :
The judges were just plain being unfair. Alicia Sacramone did so much
better than Cheng Fei. If a Chinese woman can land on her knees and still
win bronze, imagine if she had made a perfect vault. And on the finals on
the uneven bars, He Kexin made as many as five mistakes, including a huge
hop on the landing. And yet she and Nastia Liukin tied? ANd then they gave
He Kexin the gold. THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! And Cheng Fei was probably the
only one of those gymnasts who was old enough to compete. When was the last
time you saw a sixteen-year-old losing baby teeth? Never. There is
something wrong with the scoring. It'll come out eventually. Somebody other
than people who just sit around and get mad about it (I'm ashamed to be
one) will figure it out and do something about. Hopefully soon. Until then,
all we can do is get mad, huh?
Aug 16, 2008
