在中國體育界，中國體操算得上是一個“特區”——多年來一直呈現“陽盛陰衰”的現象。不過，今天凌晨，中國女子體操隊在世界錦標賽上奪取團體冠軍的佳績已在告訴世界，我們正在彌補這一缺憾。被視為中國女隊新領軍人的程菲賽后強調，沒有被當成奪冠熱門恰恰幫助了中國隊最終奪冠。“在決賽之前我們和美國隊之間存在一些差距。這在比賽中反而成為一件好事，它讓我們能夠在沒有任何壓力的情況下去比賽。”程菲一語中地指出了中美勝負的關鍵，而她自己也用行動推動著中國女隊，在中國的傳統弱項跳馬和自由體操中，程菲都拿下了全隊最高分，而自由操則成為這個項目的全場最高分。 賽場英姿

Gymnast Zhang Nan of China performs her routine on the beam during the women's team final at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. China won the title ahead of the US and Russia. [AFP] More pictures China claimed their second gold medal of the world gymnastics championships when they won their first women's world team title.  Defending champions the United States, led by world champion Chellsie Memmel, had to settle for silver with Russia claiming bronze after the eight-team final. The Chinese, bronze medallists at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, pulled ahead after their third rotation of four, the beam, when Zhang Nan and Pang Panpan went 1-2 to carry a 0.850 lead into the final round on floor where Cheng Fei gave the top performance of the night in that discipline. Cheng, 18, admitted that the fact they had not been favourites had helped. "Before the championship there was a gap between us (and the US)," said Cheng. "This was a good thing as it allowed us to practice without any pressure. "With little pressure we were able to give a good performance and pull out all our best techniques." The Chinese scored 182.200 points after the four apparatus with the United States finishing on 181.350 and Russia on 177.325. Olympic champions Romania finished fourth with 175.450. The Americans, who won the title for the first time at home in Anaheim in 2003, had looked dominant in qualifiers but they struggled from the outset in the finals as they competed in the same group as the Chinese. China were in third after the vault behind Romania and the US with Cheng, Zhou Zhuoru, Zhang Nan stepping forward on their landings. But they began to make up ground when world silver medallist on uneven bars Memmel fell on her face and Bieger also made errors during that rotation. Liukin pulled the US into the lead in the uneven bars with less than a point separating the Americans, Chinese and third-placed Romania. And the Chinese surged ahead after Zhang, 20, and Pang, 18, went 1-2 on the beam when Memmel slipped, with China taking a 0.875-point lead into the final round on floor. There their only error was a minor one by Zhang on a dance element. Taking to the floor last the Americans could not afford to slip-up only for Bieger to step out of limits. Cheng took top marks of the floor (15.650) ahead of Memmel and Pang and it was enough to seal victory. The competition continues Thursday with the men's and women's all-around finals where Japan's Hiroyuki Tomita and Memmel will be defending their respective titles.  (Agencies)

Vocabulary:

the world gymnastics championships: 世界體操錦標賽 beam: 平衡木 slip-up: 失誤 （英語點津陳蓓編輯）