GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS : After Grace in Performance Comes Lack of Social Grace in Ceremony

In a successful showing for both the American men and women at the World Gymnastics Championships, the women, as usual, stole the show, if nothing more than because of the popularity of women’s gymnastics.

The U.S. women won a team silver medal, had the gold medalist in all-around competition and won a silver on the uneven bars.

In Sunday’s closing apparatus finals, all-around champion Kim Zmeskal added a bronze medal in floor exercise and Betty Okino a bronze on beam. It is the most success the women have had in this meet.

But if there was still a question of whether the American women had cracked the inner circle of this sport, traditionally dominated by Eastern Bloc countries, the answer was reinforced in the medal ceremonies Sunday.

The Soviet Union’s Svetlana Boguinskaia, the reigning world champion until Zmeskal beat her for the all-around title, snubbed Zmeskal, refusing to shake her hand but shaking those of the other gymnasts involved in the ceremony. A crowd of 12,790 at the Hoosier Dome booed loudly.

“She doesn’t have to (shake my hand) if she doesn’t want to,” Zmeskal said, adding, “I really don’t care if she does or not.”

It could be a payback to Zmeskal, who some say did not shake Boguinskaia’s hand the night before.

“I remember doing so,” Zmeskal said.

Boguinskaia, who won a gold medal on the beam Sunday, walked off the arena floor to boos. She brushed by reporters, packed flowers in her sports bag and did not participate in closing ceremonies.

Two nights before, the Romanians snubbed the Americans, shaking their hands but kissing the Soviets in the all-around medal ceremonies.

“It is a sad and sorrowful way for (Boguinskaia) to retire,” said Bela Karolyi, coach of the women’s team. “She better quit now. She has lost the respect of the gymnastics community forever.”

A key factor in the emergence of the U.S. women has been young, superior talent. Zmeskal, Okino and Shannon Miller were stars.

The American men also have shown improvement, but they still have a way to go. The men improved to a fifth-place finish in this meet after placing no higher than eighth at the three previous World Championships. They performed more solidly than in recent years but are still inconsistent. They did not win a medal in this meet.

“I’m disappointed,” said Robert Cowan, director of the men’s program for the U.S. Gymnastics Federation. “We came so close to a medal both days (in the individual apparatus finals). Just a step away.”

For UCLA’s Scott Keswick, three small steps on his landing off the high bar kept him out of the medal bracket. He finished fourth Sunday, scoring 9.725 and losing a bronze medal by 0.05 of a point. He had finished sixth on the rings.

But what the men wanted to accomplish here, they did, if ever so slightly. They enhanced their reputation in the international judging community, which can weigh as heavily in a score as a performance itself.

The Soviets continue to be the standard by which teams are judged, even if the margin is shrinking. The Soviet women beat the Americans in team competition by nearly 1.939 points and the Romanians by 2.214 points. In 1989, the Soviet women beat the Romanians by nearly two points in team competition, but beat the Americans by 7.6 points.

Of note was the fall of the German women, who won no medals and finished 10th in team competition. From 1970 to 1987, the East German women’s team won a medal in every world championship, earning two silvers and six bronzes. In 1989 the East Germans were fifth behind the Americans. This year, they finished 10th.

Their decline began after the 1988 Olympics, when the East Germans edged the Americans for the bronze, in part, because of a controversial ruling. After Seoul, the majority of the team retired, and there were few developed gymnasts to replace them before East Germany and West Germany merged teams in 1990.

The German men, however, retained their nucleus of talented East German gymnasts and won the team bronze medal here.

In other individual apparatus finals, Cristina Bontas of Romania and Oksana Tchusovitina tied for the gold in the floor exercise; China’s Li Jing won the gold in the parallel bars and Chunyang Li the gold on high bar; and South Korea’s You Ok Youl won the gold in vault.