LONDON â€" The British men sure know how to kick off a party.
Ronald Martinez, Getty Images
Louis Smith produced a score of 15.8 on the pommel horse Saturday, helping the Great Britain men's gymnastics team finish ahead of defending Olympic champion China in their qualifying group.
Ronald Martinez, Getty Images
Louis Smith produced a score of 15.8 on the pommel horse Saturday, helping the Great Britain men's gymnastics team finish ahead of defending Olympic champion China in their qualifying group.
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The host country, which was good enough to send only two gymnasts to the Beijing Games four years ago, upset Olympic champion China and took the early lead in qualifying Saturday. A spectacular pommel horse routine by Louis Smith capped the day for the British, who finished 2.435 points ahead of China with at a total of 272.420.
China scored 269.985, followed by France (265.759) and South Korea (255.327).
Japan, the silver medalist in Beijing, and the United States compete later Saturday, as do Germany and Russia.
Team finals will be Monday, when everyone will get a clean slate score-wise. Still, this was a stunning result for the Chinese, who have won the past five world titles and were so dominant four years ago in Beijing that they left with all but one of the men's gold medals. When the standings flashed before the final rotation, showing Britain ahead of China, gymnast Feng Zhe looked into the camera and gave a little shrug, as if to say, "Oh well."
The British, meanwhile, could hardly contain their happiness â€" and Smith shed a few tears.
Britain doesn't have an impressive tradition in gymnastics. Smith's bronze on pommel horse four years ago was the country's first Olympic medal in 80 years, and this is the first time Britain qualified full men's and women's teams to the Olympics since the boycotted 1984 Games.
But Smith and three-time world champion Beth Tweddle have sparked a resurgence in the sport in the country, and the British now are a team to be reckoned with. The British may not have the style of the Japanese or the flash of the Americans, but they are steady and solid, with dashes of brilliance thrown in â€" like Smith's pommel horse routine.
Most gymnasts appear to be trying to wrestle the horse to the ground as they work their way around the apparatus. But Smith is so smooth he's almost hypnotic, swinging slowly and in perfect circles. He had the consistency of a metronome as he worked on one pommel, and he picked up speed as he moved around the horse.
He finished with a flourish, his legs hitting the mat without moving an inch. As his teammates whooped and clapped, Smith gave a big smile and exchanged a hand slap with Kristian Thomas. When his score â€" a monstrous 15.8 â€" was announced, Smith began crying as the crowd roared. That was enough to ensure Britain would finish ahead of China.
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