Zou wins his third Beijing gold in Horizontal Bar

(BEIJING, August 19) -- China's Zou Kai took the gold medal in the Horizontal Bar with a score of 16.200. Zou had already won two gold medals at Beijing 2008 in the Men's Team and Floor Exercise events.

Jonathan Horton of the United States claimed the silver medal with 16.175, and the bronze medal went to Fabian Hambuechen of Germany with 15.875.

If somebody asked Zou at the start of the Games whether he was expecting to win three gold medals, it is doubtful whether the fresh-faced gymnast would have said yes. However, Zou has been the beneficiary of his own surefire technique and the mistakes of the favorites in the Floor Exercise and the Horizontal Bar.

Tonight in the Horizontal Bar, Zou received the highest A Score out of the eight gymnasts. The A Score is the measure of how difficult a gymnast's routine is. With 7.200 for the A Score, Zou needed to make as little mistakes as possible, which he achieved by scoring 9.000 for his B Score, which is an assessment of the gymnast's execution.

Favorite for the gold medal Fabian Hambuechen of Germany performed first, but his performance was lackluster and he could only win the bronze medal. The result must be bitterly disappointing for Hambuechen, who has not been able to perform at his best throughout the entire Olympics. He leaves Beijing with the bronze medal and three fourth-place finishes, including the Team final.

Horton can consider himself unlucky not to win the gold, missing out by only 0.025 of a point. The performance tonight by the pint-sized American was spectacular and he received the highest B Score of all eight gymnasts. Horton is by far the United States' most successful male gymnast at Beijing 2008.

Dark Horse Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands set himself up for a tilt at the gold medal with a spectacular opening routine. Unfortunately the 22-year-old Dutchman fell from the bar, which destroyed his gold medal hopes in one foul blow.