Chinese He Kexin wins uneven bars gold

updated: 2008-08-19

Chinese gymnast He kexin claimed the women's uneven bars title with 16.725 points at the Beijing Olympics on Monday.

Nastia Liukin from the United States, who also collected 16.725 points, had to stand second according to a tiebreak rule.

Yang Yilin from China got the bronze with 16.650 points.

It's host China's seventh gymnastics gold medal at the Beijing Games.

He, who almost failed to make the final when she fell from the bar in qualifications, did not let her second chance slip.

The 16-year-old, who took to the floor first, impressed the judges with difficult connections and dazzling tumbling, on difficulty of 7.7 points.

Nastia Liukin, 18, the all-around Olympic gold medallist at the Beijing Games, picked her third silver medal at the Games, following one for floor exercise and one for team event.

Yang, who entered the final in first place, won the bronze with the same difficulty score as He and Liukin, but lower execution mark.

"It's He Kexin's first Olympics. She did a wonderful job as she had the best composition of maneuvers, a very high difficulty score," said Lu Shanzhen, coach of the Chinese women's team.