Drama set for women’s gymnastics

BEIJING – In team preliminaries of women’s gymnastics, two of the world’s best on uneven bars, He Kexin and Nastia Liukin, had uncharacteristic bumbles.

Not only are they unhurt, they qualified for the final on bars. Yet the incidents underscored that these are the Olympic Games, and the script is always being revised.

“The level of gymnastics is so high. A lot of times, it comes down to the nerves,” national team coordinator Martha Karolyi said.

China and the United States will test each other’s nerves in the team final that will be featured tonight on NBC. The countries finished 1-2 after the preliminaries.

The three-up, three-count format is designed for drama. In prelims, five gymnasts per nation may compete, and the lowest score is dropped. In the final, all scores count.

“I think we will a have very good fight with the Chinese with three up, three count,” Karolyi said.

China beat the United States by 1.475 points in prelims. However, the margin narrows to .885 if just the top three are scored. None of the scores carry over to the final.

Reigning world champion Shawn Johnson and nine-time world medalist Liukin were the top two qualifiers for the all-around. They will perform seven or eight of the Americans’ 12 routines. That leaves four or five routines among Bridget Sloan, Alicia Sacramone and Chellsie Memmel.

China won its first world championship in 2006, beating the runner-up United States. The places were reversed in 2007.

China has never won team gold in women’s gymnastics. The Americans’ only team gold was at Atlanta in 1996.