Yuri Nikitin of Ukraine takes Olympic men's trampoline title

Yuri Nikitin of Ukraine scored 41. 50 to take the Olympic men's trampoline title here on Saturday evening.

Medallists of men's trampoline stand on the podium at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 21, 2004. Yuri Nikitin of Ukraine took the gold, Russia's Alexander Moskalenko (L) took the silver and German Henrik Stehlik (R) the bronze.

The silver medal went to the Russia's defending champion Alexander Moskalenko in 41.20. German Henrik Stehlik was third in 40.80.

The 35-year-old Moskalenko was only fourth in qualifying, but he resurged in the final.

One of most decorated athletes at the moment and five times world champion, he was supposed back to defend his title.

His fellow Russian Alexander Rusakov performed a routine of the game-high difficulty 16.40, but only scored 23.80 for execution.

Rusakov leveled with Dinitri Polyarush of Belarus in 40.20. Polyarush, however, beat Rusakov to fifth by a higher execution score according to the tiebreak rule.

Current world champion Henrik Stehlik ranked the first in qualifying but lost due to a low difficulty 15.6 in the final.

All the eight finalists, except Stehlik and the eighth David Martin, presented their routines with a difficulty no less than 16. 0.

In the finals, the starting order is determined by rank, with the competitor having received the lowest score from the qualification rounds starts first.

Following are the results of the men's trampoline final at the Athens Olympic Games here on Saturday:

1. Yuri Nikitin, Ukraine, 41.50 points

2. Alexander Moskalenko, Russia, 41.20

3. Henrik Stehlik, Germany, 40.80

4. Dimitri Polyarush, Belarus, 40.20

5. Alexander Rusakov, Russia, 40.20

6. Nuno Merino, Portugal, 40.10

7. Gary Smith, Britain, 40.00

8. David Martin, France, 39.90

Source: Xinhua

Source: Xinhua