Gymnasts jump into event finals

BEIJING – Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson were still processing the aftermath of winning Olympic gold and silver gymnastics all-around medals Friday night when they began to think about what was up next.

Practice at the National Indoor Stadium and then a chance to win more medals.

Event finals begin Sunday and last through Tuesday. The U.S. women have the chance to win six more medals and the Chinese women seven. Liukin, 18, has her all-around win plus a team silver medal and she will compete in the floor exercise final Sunday, the uneven bars Monday and the balance beam Tuesday.

Johnson, who put a brave face on her all-around silver even though she had been favored for the gold, will look for a consolation prize in the floor finals Sunday and the balance beam Tuesday. Alicia Sacramone will be the first American to be in an event final when she does the vault Sunday.

For the U.S. men, Alexander Artemev will be one of the eight men competing on pommel horse Sunday, and Jonathan Horton is in the final gymnastics competitive event Tuesday when he does the high bar.

Event finals offer the chance for specialists to show off and all-arounders or team members who may have faltered earlier to leave the meet with a happier feeling.

Sacramone won’t lose her regrets over missing her balance beam mount or falling on a floor exercise pass in the team finals, two big and consecutive mistakes that helped put the favored U.S. team behind China in the team competition.

Some of her final words after that disappointment Wednesday were: “I’ve still got the vault final.”

Women’s discus

Before the throwers were able to contemplate the opportunity that will take three of them to the medals podium here Monday, they had to get through the most demanding phase of their Beijing experience: the preliminaries.

For those still eligible to compete another day at the Bird’s Nest, including such Americans as Stephanie Brown Trafton and Aretha Thurmond, they happily noted the “Q” next to their names on the scoreboard and took a deep breath of relief, neither needing nor wanting to dwell on the particulars.

For Suzy Powell-Roos and 20 others who failed to qualify, they are destined to relive and review the imperceptible nuances that found a four-year quest vanquished in three throws.

Thirty-seven of the world’s most accomplished women’s discus throwers converged upon the Bird’s Nest Friday. Sixteen moved on to Monday’s final.

Medals will be at stake – the mood will be one of electricity. But the worst is over now.

“You get past the preliminaries and make it to the finals, it can really take the pressure off,” said Brown Traftown, whose third and final qualifying throw of 62.77 meters transformed her from fringe medalist candidate to owner of the longest qualifying effort of the night.