Experience paid off Friday night as Vitaly Scherbo, Yuri Chechi and Svetlana Chorkina retained their apparatus titles in the World Gymnastics Championships.
Scherbo, from Belarus, a five-time Olympic gold medalist in 1992, cruised through the first of his four finals to win gold in the floor exercise. Chechi, from Italy, nailed a routine at the start of the rotation that no one could match in winning his third straight rings title.Chorkina, the uneven bars champion from Russia, retained her title although she had to share it with Yelena Piskun of Belarus. Both had scores of 9.787.
In the pommel horse, North Korea's Gil Su Pae prevailed over defending champion Donghua Li of Switzerland. Gil, competing in the worlds for the first time, won the gold while Li had to settle for silver as only .013 points separated them.
Another champion was unseated on the women's side, as Romania's Simona Amanar yielded her top spot in the vault to teammate Gina Gogean, who did not yield an inch in her landing a 21/2-twist layout on her second vault. Amanar ended up with the silver and Cuba's Annia Portuondo got the bronze.
It was a sour night for the United States as each of its three finalists had mishaps in their respective routines.
Chris LaMorte, a former NCAA rings champion from New Mexico, had a difficult time keeping the rings close to his body and missed two uprises to finish seventh.
In the uneven bars, Dominique Dawes of Silver Springs, Md., missed her signature twisting release move for the second consecutive night and her arms gave out on an uprise to finish a disappointing 11th with a dismal 8.787 score. Jaycie Phelps of Greenfield, Ind., was eighth.