Japanese women place 5th in gymnastics team final

Wednesday 13th August, 05:27 PM JST

BEIJING —

Japan finished in fifth place in the women’s gymnastics team final at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday for the country’s best result since taking fourth at the 1968 Mexico Games. The Japanese gymnasts, who qualified for the eight-team final with the eighth best score, came from behind to perform solid routines on the uneven bars and beam to improve their standing in the second half of the competition with a total of 176.700 points. China collected 188.900 points on four apparatuses for its first Olympic gold medal in the women’s team event at National Indoor Stadium, a day after the Chinese men claimed their second team title of the Summer Games. The United States was runner-up, 2.375 points behind China, and two-time defending champion Romania settled for the bronze with 181.525.

‘‘I can’t believe it,’’ said 15-year-old Koko Tsurumi, the youngest athlete in the Japanese delegation in Beijing and a key member of the women’s gymnastics team which was hoping to place eighth or better at this Olympics. ‘‘I’m very happy that we all did our best and were able to get into fifth place. I wasn’t paying attention to the scores at all, but I was surprised that we were in a pretty good position at the end,’’ Tsurumi said. The Japanese women’s gymnastics team, whose best-ever Olympic finish was a bronze medal at the 1964 Tokyo Games, had failed to qualify for three of the four most recent past Olympics.

Kyodo

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Latest 15 of 16 Total Comments Show All

rajakumar at 05:43 PM JST - 13th August

5th rank is good rank to get 1st, in 2012 English olympics(1444 days to go).
presto345 at 05:55 PM JST - 13th August

I watched everything NHK showed (who hates NHK now - not me!) and these girls were fantastic. They didn't yell like Phelps, no. They smiled and humbly showed their gratitude.
ExPrinceska at 06:50 PM JST - 13th August

they all looked like boys ...
presto345 at 08:23 PM JST - 13th August

they all looked like boys ...

You must have sons . . .
romulus3 at 09:01 PM JST - 13th August

‘I’m very happy that we all did our best and were able to get into fifth place. I wasn’t paying attention to the scores at all, but I was surprised that we were in a pretty good position at the end,’’ Tsurumi said

a 15 year old much more gracious than her adult counterparts in defeat. so the pre programmed crying robot starts at company level, not high school.
Pukey2 at 10:59 PM JST - 13th August

5th rank is good rank to get 1st, in 2012 English olympics(1444 days to go).

What medication are you on? Agreed, the Jp girls did much, much better than expected, but hell will freeze over before they win the gold. They're just not at the same level as the top teams. Sorry, but no offence to the team. But I'm glad to see that they're happy with the results.

And shouldn't the title read 'China wins gold'?
Sarge at 11:28 PM JST - 13th August

Koko Tsurumi's performance was great. She should have got some kind of medal.
Pukey2 at 12:00 AM JST - 14th August

Can some kind soul please tell me where the h*ll I can see videos of these medal winners (notice I said MEDAL winners) in action. I've tried Youtube (not allowed). Those residing outside US can't access the NBC videos, neither can those outside UK access BBC videos. Yes, I tried the videos on NHK's homepage and ALL the videos are about the Japanese winners and losers (yes, I know Jp came 5th but who bl00dy won?).

Damn, I knew I should have recorded the gymnastics. Seems like I'm the only one on this board who has to work during the day.
Wolfpack at 12:12 AM JST - 14th August

Japan has a young team and has something to build on for the future (okay maybe not as young as the Chinese). Sure they finished a distance 5th but it was a US and China show - no other nation is in their league in women's gymnastics right now. It was disappointing that they showed very little of the other teams here in the US. It was all US and China for the most part. I saw one Russian on uneven bars and that's it - no Japan at all.
Pukey2 at 12:43 AM JST - 14th August

It was all US and China for the most part. I saw one Russian on uneven bars and that's it - no Japan at all.

Lucky you! I would like to see the top teams rather than only lowly ranked teams.
TonyUS at 05:49 AM JST - 14th August

Romeo and when did you ever make it to compete in the Olympics????
TonyUS at 05:55 AM JST - 14th August

I do have to joke about the word women when referring to China's team of little kids... 3 of them 12 to 14 years of age. I think that should really be looked into especially when records shows they are not 16 as China made their passports as saying.
Badsey at 06:10 AM JST - 14th August

try a proxy server in the US to access the videos.

NBC, MSNbc, and USA network all have tv Olympic coverage in 1080p this year = something is always on.
tyedyed at 05:16 PM JST - 14th August

Interesting article about China's Blue Eye Baby Girl Gymnast Team. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/writers/selena_rober ts/08/13/china.gymnasts/?bcnn=yes The IOC should be very ashamed for this one. They act all high and mighty until it comes something that it can actually do the right thing on. This just goes to show that it is all about money. Pure and simple. I just lost a great deal of respect for the Olympics due to this.
SuperLib at 06:39 PM JST - 14th August

Yeah, I read about that, too. This is from the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

It's kind of funny, actually. It talks about the time an 11-year old North Korean kid was entered into a past event (not this Olympics) and listed as 16. His front 2 teeth were missing....heh.