World Gymnastics Championships : Soviets Hold Off China, Win Men’s Team Title

The Soviet Union, led by excellent optional routines from Yuri Korolev and Vladimir Artemov, won the men’s team title Wednesday night at the World Gymnastics Championships.

China was second, with East Germany third and Japan fourth.

Newcomers to international gymnastics competition, the Chinese men’s team stunned the sport by upsetting the Soviets--who reigned as world and Olympic team champions since 1979--at the 1983 World Championships in Hungary.

The Chinese were then upset themselves the following year, losing the team gold medal to the United States at the 1984 Olympics while the Soviets and other Eastern Bloc nations stayed home because of a political boycott.

Ranked fourth after the first half of the competition, the compulsory exercises, the Chinese used brilliant and innovative optional routines to move into second place.

But the string of 9.9s and 9.8s and the only 10 of the men’s competition--by Tong Fei on the high bar--were insufficient to erase the nearly four-point lead the Soviets built during the compulsories Monday night.

China outscored the Soviet Union, 293.15 to 292.50, Wednesday night but lost the gold medal by 3.05 points.

Despite the absence of injured defending world champion Dimitri Belozertchev, the Soviets finished the two rounds of team competition with 585.65 of a possible 600 points.

Artemov of the Soviet Union and Sylvio Kroll of East Germany were the leading individual scorers, tying with 117.80 of a possible 120 points each.