|
Tomita breaks Japan's 31-year title drought
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-25 06:36
Hiroyuki Tomita of
Japan competes in the rings event during the men's all around final at the
World Gymnastics Championships at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne November
24, 2005. [Reuters] | Mizutori's coach added he was amazed at his ability to fight back.
"We are really proud of him because his points were really low after the
pommel horse," said Yasunori Tachibana. "But he fought back apparatus by
apparatus. We are amazed by his determination and concentration."
Savenkov said he was not even aware he was in medal contention until the
final rotation.
"I didn't watch the scores and before the last apparatus, I looked at the
scores and thought I might get a medal, but before that I was just concentrating
on my routines," he said through an interpreter.
Tomita, known as "the wild man" to championship staff due to his unruly
swept-up hairstyle, combined brute strength, athleticism and breathtaking
acrobatics to become the first Japanese man to win the title since Shigeru
Kasamatsu in 1974.
The student, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Monday, made a tiny error
when he stepped out of bounds during his floor exercise but was faultless on the
pommel horse (9.612). He then produced an amazing display of pure strength out
of his 62 kg frame on the rings to score 9.562.
He followed that up with a 9.500 vault to establish more than an entire point
lead over his teammate after four rotations.
The Athens parallel bars silver medallist then sealed the
title on the same apparatus when he scored 9.550, the top mark in the discipline
before he followed Mizutori on the high bar as the last competitor.
Mizutori produced a spectacular three release and catch
routines to score 9.300 before Tomita celebrated the title with a technically
more difficult but less spectacular routine to score 9.337 and wrap up the
title.
|
