03:44 PM by 
The gymnastic events are coming to an end and China has come out on top. Although there was a lot of controversy over the ages of the women gymnasts from China, the rumors haven’t fazed them one bit.
Before the Olympics had started, the US had raised questions of the age of China’s gymnastics team members He and Jiang Yuyuan, an all around Olympic medal contender. The New York Times claimed they were younger than 16 (the minimum age to be eligible. In response, the Chinese Gymnastics Association provided documents of the gymnast’s ID cards and passports, showing that they were old enough. Regardless, the two gymnasts were still able to compete and did extremely well; however, US had a few hiccups which cost them.
It wasn’t always like that though. USA had the lead over China in the first apparatus of the team finals by more than a half a point. But China managed to make a comeback on the uneven bars, an event which He Yuyuan specializes in, which put them ahead of USA by 1.125 points with only two rotations left.
It was still a long road ahead and the US had a little hope when Cheng Fei fell off during her beam routine. With the help of her team however, they were able to keep up with the US who could make no mistakes. The first of the US team was Alicia Sacramore who was forced to wait before she was able to mount the beam. Coach Martha Karolyi claims Alicia lost her focus and that the pause was intentional; however, long delays while judges deliberate are not uncommon. The other US team members were able to make up Sacramore’s mistake and narrowed the gap for gold by exactly one point.
The final event was floor which wasn’t a good situation for US considering that China has scored better in the preliminaries for this event. The pressure was on and unfortunately for the US, they had messed up several times with their landings including a complete fall to the floor by Alicia Sacramone. Her other team members had also stepped out of bounds during their solid routines which although were little deduction, it had lost them any chance of catching up with China. Meanwhile, China landed all their tumbling passes and was praised by the crowd. It was obviously their victory.
The final points were 188.90 to China and 186.525 to USA. This was China’s first Olympic team gold medal for the Women’s team; a proud day in Chinese history. While there is a lot speculation over the win, there is no doubt how hard these girls had to work to get this point. They weren’t the only ones to win a team gold, the men’s team was also able to stand on the highest podium with Japan for silver and USA for bronze.
Medal count of Asians VS Non-Asian:
Asia (10 Countries) 71 medals (34 Gold) VS Non Asian (46 Countries) 173 medals (45 Gold)
List of events that Asian countries won Gold
China
Gymanstics, Weightlifting, Shooting, Diving, Judo, Fencing, Swimming
South Korea
Shooting, Swimming, Judo, Archery, Weightlifting
Japan
Swimming, Judo
North Korea
Weightlifting
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