YANG Hak-seon triumphed in the men’s vault final to hand South Korea their first ever Olympic gold medal in artistic gymnastics yesterday.
Hak-seon, 19, averaged 16.533 points with his two vaults to leave Russia’s Denis Ablyazin with the silver medal and Igor Radivilov of Ukraine with bronze.
“I can’t actually believe what’s happening to me at the moment,” said Yang.
“We haven’t had a gold medal in Olympic gymnastics before and the training didn’t go very well, so I was nervous. But I’m happy that I got over that and won the gold medal.”
China’s gymnastics captain Chen Yibing kissed his silver medal and beamed at the crowd but admitted to feeling short-changed by the judges when he was pipped by Brazil’s Arthur Zanetti for the rings gold in his final Olympic Games yesterday.
The 27-year-old Yibing, a three-time Olympic champion dubbed the “King of Rings” by adoring Chinese fans, appeared to have the title sewn up after a strong performance and a solid landing.
He was stunned, however, when the Brazilian, the last competitor to take the rings, scored 15.900 to pip him by 0.1 of a point, despite taking a step back on his landing.
“It’s still good, it’s a silver medal,” said the amiable Yibing with a laugh.
In the women’s event, Russia’s Aliya Mustafina made up for the disappointment of missing out on the individual all-around gold medal by claiming victory in the uneven bars final.
The 2010 world champion finished ahead of defending champion He Kexin of China, with Great Britain’s Beth Tweddle claiming a crowd-pleasing bronze medal.
Source from: http://thestar.com.my