BEIJING -- China's Lu Bin showed predominance as he captured two golds out of rings and vault at the gymnastics Olympic trial staged in the Naitonal Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
China's Lu Bin performs on the pommel horse at the 2007 Gymnastics International Invitational Tournament, a test event for the 2008 Olympic Games. Lu won the gold medal. [Xinhua] |
Lu, who have already taken the pommel horse and men's team titles, become the quadruple gold medallist at the tournament.
The 28-year-old just recovered an Achilles tendon injury and had been away from competition for 14 months, but the long isolation did not affect his form much.
Lu scored the highest 16.000 points on rings, the first of the three apparatus finals held this evening. China's Yan Mingyong took silver medal in 15.900, with the bronze going to Danny Pinheiro Rodrigues of France in 15.700.
In men's vault, Lu hammered out two stable vaults to clinch his average of 16.525 points.Both vaults were carried through on a base of 7.0 difficulty.
"I have expected a vault gold, but not a rings gold. It's really a great day for me," said Lu.
"The success here really encourages me towards the Olympic preparations. My vault is something beneficial for me to win a place in Olympic squad, for both the two attempts have a 7.0 difficulty, the highest in China."
Flavius Koczi of Romania was second in 16.187 and Japan's Makoto Okiguchi placed third to bring home his second medal here after winning men's floor exercise on Saturday.
Ukrainian female gymnast Dariya Zgoba played strong to win the uneven bars with a total of 15.725 points, leading silver winner Jiang Yuyuan of China by 0.50 in quality score.
The third place went to Daria Joura of Australia in 15.250.
"This gold medal means so much to me. This is the venue for the Olympics, so it has a special meaning to win a gold medal especially in China," said Zgoba.
"I hope I will do as well as this time next year. I will continue practicing hard and keep improving my performance. I have confidence for the next year's Games. I will focus on vault and all-around."
Jiang, doing well the 6.90 exercise in the women's individual all-around, chose a final-high 7.10 optional.
However she failed to maintain her previous style, getting only 8.425 for a 15.525 total. Dariya Zgoba, scoring 8.925 on a 6.90 difficulty base, was deducted 0.10 by the judges but still strong enough to win the gold.
Once again, Australian Joura showed her ability to bring out her best of a relatively easy exercise as she scored a final-high 8.950 on a 6.30 base to place third, winning her second medal at the tournament in addition to the women's individual all-around silver.
