REPORT: Qualification MEN
- Source: Philippe Silacci, FIG

Superb competition, a number of tiebreaks, and the smallest margins ever seen!

Seven hours gymnastics marathon abounding with great performances, surprises and incredibly small margins between the leaders and the last one of the 16 gymnasts, who qualified for the Semi- Finals on Friday.

Subdivision 1
Asian domination broken solely by the 27-years old American chemist Jeffrey Johnson, who took the first position on Rings with a score of 9.575
First on Floor- Liang Fuliang (CHN)- 9.637 ; Pommels- Teng Haibin (CHN)- 9.762 ; Vault- Yang Wei (CHN)-9.562 ; P.Bars- Ogawa Yasuhiro (JPN)- 9.387 ; High Bar- Isao Yoneda (JPN)- 9.600

Subdivision 2
Hot, hotter, hottest!
None of all the top scorers in Subdivision 1, stayed in his position until the end of the Qualifications.
Positions rarely stayed as they were with every next rotation.

Floor: 
Best for the day- the current World Champion (in a tie with Jordan Jovtchev in Ghent 2001)- the Romanian Marian Dragulescu (9.712) . The score margin between 1^st and 16^th position- 0.347 . Some very clean work seen by Dragulescu, Kyle Shewfelt (CAN), Yang Wie (CHN) and Jordan Jovtchev (BUL)

Pommels:     
1^st- Xiao Qin (CHN)- 9.775 . The score margin between 1^st and 16^th position- 0.300 . Very high standard of performance! Big clash between the Chinese Xiao Qin and Teng Haibin and the Olympic hero from Sydney 2000, Marius Urzika (ROM), 3^rd, expected in the Semi Finals and the Final.

Rings:                        
On the top of the list- Current World and European Champion Jordan Jovtchev from Bulgaria- 9.700 . Score margin for the day- a mere 0.213! Unseen in the gymnastics world so far… . 9.500 were hardly enough to secure a place in the Semi- Finals. Jovtchev, or Csollany- this seems to be the dilemma for the tile.

Vault:
Highest scorer: Li Xiaopeng (CHN)- 9.631 . The score margin between 1^st and 16^th position - 0.319 .
A number of inconsistent landings. The majority of the participants on this apparatus tried very difficult Vaults. Current World Champion Marian Dragulescu (ROM) and European Bronze medallist Kanukai Jackson, both went for Handspring- 2 ½ front somie in touch position with a half turn. Dragulescu- successful, 9.556 and 3^rd position; Jackson- with a scruffy landing- out of the Semi-Finals.
The most original Vault to remember: Yang Wei (CHN)- Round off –half on- handspring straight somie forward with 2 ½ .

P.Bars:
Leader in the Qualifications-Mitja Petkovsek (SLO)- 9.700 . The score margin between 1^st and 16^th position- 0.450 . The change of the positions here was the most frequent. Also some stunning routines, presented by a variety of nations were seen during the competition. The most original P.Bar routine to remember:
Marius Urzica (ROM)- New combination- Stud to one bare, straight into Heally- Urzika 

High Bar:
Number one on Thursday- Cedric Guille (FRA)- 9.637 . A record score margin - 0.212! In gymnastics terms it means just a slight wobble or a step. The number of tiebreaks for this apparatus only was 8. This says enough about the challenge. Too many falls, though! Was it because everybody was acting according to the principle “Make it or break it?” In fact, all candidates for glory didn’t have any other chance but going to risk. Some burned out- the great Alexei Nemov was between them. His floor performance (9.550- 10^th place), in the closing moments of the competition came as a consolation after his bitter experience (falls) on both the P.Bars and High Bar.