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| Event type

Horse Vault, Women

Date10 – 17 August 2008
StatusOlympic
LocationGuojia Tiyuguan, Beijing Aolinpike Gongyuan, Beijing
Participants15 from 15 countries

The format was the same as it had been from 1984-2004, with eight gymnasts advancing from the team all-around, but no more than two per nation. The favorite was China’s Cheng Fei who had won the 2005-07 World Championships on vault. She led the qualifying and her first vault scored 16.075 which led American Alicia Sacramone, who had won medals at those three Worlds, silver in 2006 and bronze in 2005/07, by 0.325 points. However, Cheng lost her balance on her second vault and fell to her knees, dropping down to a bronze medal eventually. The gold went to North Korean Hong Un-Jong who posted the highest score in the second round, with 15.750. Sacramone had two steady vaults, but neither spectacular, and missed the podium in fourth place.

Hong led Germany’s Oksana Chusovitina, who at 33-years-old, was easily the oldest gymnast in Beijing. Chusovitina set a record in 2008 by becoming the first female gymnast to compete at five Olympics, but this was her first for Germany. She had first competed in 1992 as a member of the Unified Team, and then represented her native Uzbekistan from 1996-2004. Chusovitina later settled in Germany while seeking medical treatment for her son Alisher, who had leukemia. She would also compete in 2012, in a record sixth Olympics.

PosCompetitor(s)NOC
1Hong Un-JongPRKGold
2Oksana ChusovitinaGERSilver
3Cheng FeiCHNBronze
4Alicia SacramoneUSA
5Ariella KaeslinSUI
6Carlotta GiovanniniITA
7Jade BarbosaBRA
8Anna PavlovaRUS
9 r1/2Nastassia MarachkouskayaBLR
10 r1/2Nansy DamianovaCAN
11 r1/2Maricela CantúMEX
12 r1/2Dorina BöczögőHUN
13 r1/2Jelena ZanevskajaLTU
14 r1/2Tina ErcegCRO
AC r1/2Đỗ Thị Ngân ThươngVIE1

Qualification (10 August 2008 — 10:00-21:22)

Top eight (maximum two per nation) qualified for the final. Mean score of two final jumps determined placement.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCPointsJump 1Jump 2
1Cheng FeiCHN15,91216,15015,675Q
2Hong Un-JongPRK15,72515,65015,800Q
3Alicia SacramoneUSA15,62515,85015,400Q
4Oksana ChusovitinaGER15,52515,80015,250Q
5Anna PavlovaRUS15,27515,35015,200Q
6Carlotta GiovanniniITA15,13715,10015,175Q
7Jade BarbosaBRA15,05015,10015,000Q
8Ariella KaeslinSUI14,97515,22514,725Q
9Nastassia MarachkouskayaBLR14,78715,27514,300
10Nansy DamianovaCAN14,06214,70013,425
11Maricela CantúMEX13,92514,17513,675
12Dorina BöczögőHUN13,91213,37514,450
13Jelena ZanevskajaLTU13,68713,87513,500
14Tina ErcegCRO13,58713,65013,525
ACĐỗ Thị Ngân ThươngVIE13.26213.12513.4002

Final (17 August 2008 — 18:46-19:14)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCPointsJump 1Jump 2
1Hong Un-JongPRK15,65015,55015,750
2Oksana ChusovitinaGER15,57515,72515,425
3Cheng FeiCHN15,56216,07515,050
4Alicia SacramoneUSA15,53715,75015,325
5Ariella KaeslinSUI15,05015,40014,700
6Carlotta GiovanniniITA14,55014,92514,175
7Jade BarbosaBRA14,48714,72514,250
8Anna PavlovaRUS7,81215,6250,000