Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin add to their medal count
OLYMPIC GYMASTICS
They finish second and third, respectively, for the floor exercise. China's men take two more gold medals on pommel horse and floor exercise
BEIJING -- Nastia Liukin is having so much fun at these Olympics that she says she might stick around and compete again next year at the world championships. Shawn Johnson won't look beyond Tuesday's balance beam final, her last chance to win a gold medal.
Johnson won the silver medal in Sunday night's floor exercise competition, a bittersweet finish for the defending world champion who had to compete first among the eight finalists and then nervously watch and wait. Liukin took the bronze, a triumph for the 18-year-old who has spent the last year trying to improve an event that had been a weakness.
Romania's Sandra Izbasa won the gold. She was the last competitor of the night and her routine was perfect, even Johnson said so, with every landing unwavering. Her score of 15.650 edged Johnson's 15.500 and Liukin's 15.425.
Alicia Sacramone, whose two major errors in the team competition left the 20-year-old in tears on Saturday, finished fourth on the vault where North Korea's Hong Un Jong won the gold medal over 33-year-old silver medalist Oksana Chusovitina of Germany and bronze medalist Cheng Fei of China.
Cheng fell to her knees on her second vault but still beat fourth-place Sacramone, a result that Sacramone and her coach Mihai Brestyan questioned.
"Cheng didn't land the last vault," Brestyan said. "I think Alicia deserved the bronze."
Former U.S. coach Bela Karolyi also said Sacramone deserved the bronze.
"Definitely," Karolyi said. "Cheng should have gotten a bigger deduction."
China won both men's event finals with Zou Kai taking the gold on floor exercise, with Spain's Gervasio Deferr getting the silver and Anton Golotsutskov the bronze, and Xiao Qin getting the gold on pommel horse over Croatia's Filip Ude and Britain's Louis Smith. Alexander Artemev of the U.S. finished seventh after a fall.
Among the Americans, only Liukin competes Monday night on the uneven bars.
diane.pucin@latimes.com
