Horse Vault, Women

The format was the same as it had been from 1984-2004, with eight gymnasts advancing from the team all-around, but no more than two per nation. The favorite was China’s Cheng Fei who had won the 2005-07 World Championships on vault. She led the qualifying and her first vault scored 16.075 which led American Alicia Sacramone, who had won medals at those three Worlds, silver in 2006 and bronze in 2005/07, by 0.325 points. However, Cheng lost her balance on her second vault and fell to her knees, dropping down to a bronze medal eventually. The gold went to North Korean Hong Un-Jong who posted the highest score in the second round, with 15.750. Sacramone had two steady vaults, but neither spectacular, and missed the podium in fourth place.

Hong led Germany’s Oksana Chusovitina, who at 33-years-old, was easily the oldest gymnast in Beijing. Chusovitina set a record in 2008 by becoming the first female gymnast to compete at five Olympics, but this was her first for Germany. She had first competed in 1992 as a member of the Unified Team, and then represented her native Uzbekistan from 1996-2004. Chusovitina later settled in Germany while seeking medical treatment for her son Alisher, who had leukemia. She would also compete in 2012, in a record sixth Olympics.