Japan wins men's all-around gold, silver at gym worlds
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-26 09:07

Forget Russia and China, the United States has a new rival in men's gymnastics -- Japan.

Hiroyuki Tomita became the first Japanese in 31 years to win an all-around title at the world championships Thursday. Hisashi Mizutori of Japan took the silver and Denis Savenkov of Belarus was the surprising bronze medalist.

Japan's Hiroyuki Tomita performs on the pommel horse during the final of the men's all-around at the World Gymnastic Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005. Tomita won gold and countryman Hisashi Mizutori place second. [AP]

"I'm really, really happy," Tomita said. "My target was gold and I reached it."

The top American was U.S. national champion Todd Thornton in 20th place.

"It's a learning process," Thornton said. "I've just got to get back to the gym and get better. ... I feel grateful for the opportunity to be out here and compete."

Forty years ago, Japan dominated the sport, winning every Olympic all-around title and several individual event titles between 1962 and 1972. But Japan gave way to Russia and China during the 1980s and nearly faded from the scene.

Tomita and Mizutori were both part of the team that won Japan's first team gold since 1976 at last year's Olympics, and look set to return Japan to its former dominance.

And perhaps they might be the next big stars in men's gymnastics will be. Paul Hamm, the current Olympic champion and 2003 world champion, is taking the year off to finish school at Ohio State.

Tomita finished with 56.698 points while Mitzutori was at 55.349 and Savenkov at 55.112.

Tomita began with a shaky floor routine, tiptoeing out of bounds and landing short on his final tumbling pass. He recovered on pommel horse, giving his best performance of the evening and scoring 9.612 of a possible 10. His showing on rings was almost as impressive, demonstrating smooth control and scoring 9.562.

He scored 9.5 on his vault and 9.550 on parallel bars despite an unsteady handstand and a small hop on his dismount, a piked double somersault.

Tomita lost momentum briefly during a one-armed twist around the high bar and hopped his landing, but still scored 9.337 of 10 _ enough to give Japan its first all-around title since Shigeru Kasamatsu in 1974.

"Until my very last landing ... I did not know if I would win," he said.

Mizutori started with a clean, powerful routine on floor, scoring a 9.437. But he lost his edge on pommel horse with a series of form breaks that earned him just 8.325 of 9.6.

On the next four rotations he delivered solid performances on the vault and parallel bars. He finished with an acrobatic high-bar routine that drew gasps from the crowd and a final score of 9.3 of 9.7.

Medal winners from the final of the men's all-around at the World Gymnastic Championships in Melbourne, Japan's Hiroyuki Tomita, center, Hisashi Mizutori, left, and Denis Savenov of Belarus stand on the podium for Japan's national anthem , Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005. Tomita won gold, Mizutori silver and Savenkov bronze. [AP]

"It's simply amazing what he did out there," said Mizutori's coach, Yasunori Tachibana. "He simply pulled his thoughts together, gritted his teeth and fought his way back."

Savenkov, who was 42nd at the Athens Olympics, had solid performances on the floor, vault and parallel bars and edged European champion Rafael Martinez of Spain for third place.

"I didn't expect it," Savenkov said. "It all came from hard work back home."

Russia's only all-around contender, Sergei Khorokhordin, finished fifth with 54.736 and China's Liang Fuliang was seventh with 54.248.

Thornton's total was 50.984, the relative low-level difficulty of his routines keeping him well out of medal contention.

He finished the first rotation in ninth place with a 9.175 on vault, but came off the parallel bars in the second rotation, earning only 7.787 of 9.2. His high bar received a score of 8.62, and on the floor he had just 7.450.