World Gymnastics Championships: US retain women title

Lim Yamaguchi October 12, 2011 0

World Gymnastics Championships: US retain women title

TOKYO: The United States won the women’s team title at the world gymnastics championships on Tuesday, regaining the title they had lost to Russia last year, while Olympic champions China slipped to third.

The United States, the 2007 champions, collected 179.411 points with Russia second at 175.329. China finished third at 172.820.

National champion Jordyn Wieber led the US scoring as she competed in all four events while the Russian defeat could be partly attributed to errors by a fellow 16-year-old, 2010 Youth Olympic all-around champion Viktoria Komova.

McKayla Maroney, 16, scored 16.033 points as the United States led Russia in their first event, vault, by more than two points at 46.816-44.479.

Komova helped narrow the gap to 1.5 points in the next apparatus, uneven bars, with an error-free performance for 15.566 points.

But Komova fell from balance beam after triple back flips in rotation three and the gap with the Americans widened to more than three points.

In the final floor exercise, Komova stumbled back when she landed after tumbling forward to the tune of Swan Lake early in her routine. She could pick up only 13.800 points.

The US women held their nerves as Maroney, Weiber and Alexandra Raisman, 17, the only holdover from the 2010 world squad, put in solid performances.