Gymnastics : Daggett, Mar Each Win Pair

Tim Daggett and Sabrina Mar are considered America’s top hopes for Olympic gold in Seoul, South Korea. And, in the individual-event finals at the McDonald’s Challenge, they raised fans’ hopes even higher for 1988.

Daggett and Mar each won two gold medals before a crowd of 4,189 Sunday at the Forum. This was after the Chinese had won the women’s and men’s team titles on Friday and Saturday night.

Daggett, the only returning Olympian along with Scott Johnson on the current U.S. national team, sat out Friday night’s team competition with a sore ankle. He returned to action Sunday and won gold medals in the pommel horse and parallel bars.

It was one of the few competitions since the 1984 Olympics for Daggett, who had contemplated leaving gymnastics. He had placed third at the national championships in Jacksonville, Fla., which he said was a disappointment after being a member of the 1984 gold medal team.

“That was really bad. My performance in Jacksonville. But, people have to realize that I had never taken more than three days off in my life until after the Olympics,” Daggett said.

“After the Olympics there was so much going on. There were cruises, trips. It was hard to keep my mind on training, and I took three months off. But, now I’m back, I hope for a while.”

“It would be really nice to compete in 1988. But, I’m just setting my mind to keep training. There are a lot of distractions out there.”

A bronze medal winner at the 1984 Games in the pommel horse, Daggett received some of the first perfect 10s awarded in Sunday’s meet. Only four 10s were awarded in the meet as the International Gymnastics Federation has made its standards stricter since the Olympics.

In winning the pommel horse, Daggett received 10s from two judges. He also won the parallel bars with the second-highest score of the day in any event (9.875).

Guo Linsheng, the Chinese national champion, prevented Daggett from winning gold in every event he entered. Guo, with a 9.95 on the high bar, the top score of the day, left Daggett tied with China’s Song Wen and Tang Zhigang for the silver at 9.75.

Mar, the current national champion who has been billed as the next Mary Lou Retton, lived up to the pre-meet hype. She won the uneven bars, an event that cost her the all-around title Saturday night when she fell. She also placed first in the floor exercise. A second place in the vault further enhanced her credentials as the top American woman gymnast.

“I was really happy with my performance, even though I faltered at some events. It was important for me to do well in the uneven bars after my mistake last night,” said Mar, who fell off the balance beam in Sunday’s competition.”

Mar’s floor exercise to the theme from “Rocky” seems up to Olympic standards already. She dazzled the crowd and, more importantly, the judges as she scored a 9.85.

“I did really well in that event, but the best thing out of this is the fact that I know what I have to work on when I go back to the gym tomorrow.”

It was Mar’s second 9.85 in the floor exercise. She won the event in the all-around title Saturday night.

Surprising Jennifer Sey of Haddonfield, N.J., placed second in the floor exercise with a 9.750. She had finished eighth with a 9.40 score in the team competition.

“We had too many mistakes in the team competition, but the girls came through nicely today,” U.S. Coach Don Peters said. “Sabrina fared well, and Jennifer Sey’s performance was exceptional.”

This the first international competition for most of the members of the U.S. women’s team, and Peters said it was great experience for the girls, especially with the team format.

“Competing with a team does something special to a gymnast. It brings them up a notch,” he said.

Yolande Mavity of Eugene, Ore., won the vault with a 9.725 composite score. It was the only event she was entered in by the coaches.

Xu Wenhong was the only Chinese woman to win a gold medal. Xu had finished second in the all-around competition on Saturday night and won the balance beam with a score of 9.65.

The Chinese men also had some bright spots, Song Wen, the all-around champion of Friday night, won two golds in the vault and floor exercise Sunday.

He had finished ninth in the Chinese nationals, but he attributes his success to proper training.

“There wasn’t as much preparation for the nationals as there is for this meet. I really got things together for this meet,” Song said through an interpreter. “One of the things that you have to understand about Chinese gymnastics is that we have so many gymnasts. Also, the difference between the top performer and the tenth performer is not much. The rankings can change at any time.”

Johnson placed second in the floor exercise and tied for the gold with China’s Xie Tiehua in the still rings at 9.85.