Liukin and Johnson Go 1-2 in Women's All-Around
Friday August 15, 2008
 Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Yang Yilin Photo © Julian Finney / Getty Images |
Johnson also had a great day. She was solid on all four events, and even stuck her layout double-double dismount off bars. What gave Liukin the edge? The two were practically tied on beam (Liukin 16.125; Johnson 16.050) and did tie on floor (15.525), but Liukin's advantage on bars (16.650-15.275) was greater than Johnson's on vault (15.875-15.025).
Both women performed incredibly, and this marks the first time the US has gone 1-2 in the Olympic all-around. Liukin becomes only the third US Olympic all-around champion, after Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and Carly Patterson in 2004.
Yang Yilin of China was third, while Russia's Ksenia Semenova was fourth. Both gymnasts showed impressive difficulty levels, especially on bars.
Final Results:
1. Nastia Liukin, USA 63.325
2. Shawn Johnson, USA 62.725
3. Yang Yilin, China 62.650
4. Ksenia Semenova, Russia 61.925
5. Steliana Nistor, Romania 61.050
6. Jiang Yuyuan, China 60.900
7. Anna Pavlova, Russia 60.825
8. Sandra Izbasa, Romania 60.750
9. Oksana Chusovitina, Germany 60.125
10. Jade Barbosa, Brazil 59.550
Comments
I am so impressed with all of the women in the top 8. What a great competition. Almost all of them hit everything! And good for Nastia for pulling off the victory. I hope she sticks around! Shawn too.
Way to go Nastia! She is a beautiful gymnast. One of the best ever and now she is in the history books.
I think Shawn Johnson was robbed! Not necessarily of the gold medal but I can’t understand why the judges have been giving her such low scores on beam! I also think her bar score should have been higher. I will grudgingly admit that Nastia deserved the gold but I think the Judges have been extra harsh on Shawn the whole time.
I believe that the Gold and Silver medals were given to the rigt gymnasts for sure. Nastia is so beautiful to watch as a gymnast. And Shawn is so powerful pa a gymnast. Equally as talented.
Shawn’s advantage is that she can still be competive at an elite level for another four years yet.
She just needs to keep her self strong and healthy.
Nastia’s body may not be able to stay with competive gymnastics. It was her probably her last chance.
I agree that neither gymnasts received fair scoring.
It was not looking good for either one of them. And then something got the judges turned around.
America has a very, very, strong womens gymnastics team. They are really getting strong as competitors. They are as good as the rest of the world.
Go USA!
YEAH! CONGRATS TO AMERICA’S FINEST ATHLETES!
YOU MAKE ME PROUD!