U.S. Teen Gymnast Is Surprise Medalist

She’s only 13, yet she has been on the U.S. national gymnastics team for three years and already has two medals at the Goodwill Games.

“I wasn’t expecting to place in the top three,” Hollie Vise said Friday night after winning a bronze medal on the balance beam, an event in which she originally wasn’t supposed to compete.

She was added to the field after Andreea Ulmeanu of Romania was injured earlier in the week.

While Vise was a surprise medalist in her first international meet, the U.S. men’s swimming team was stunningly knocked out of the gold-medal round, losing to the World team, 80.5-68.5.

Vise, a straight-A student last semester in the seventh grade in Dallas, won the bronze medal in the uneven bars--her favorite event--Thursday night.

Friday, Vise finished with 8.887 points, behind Sun Xiaojian of China, the winner with 9.662, and Anna Pavlova of Russia, with 9.002.

In the swimming pool, the World team handed the Americans their second loss of the dual-meet competition and relegated them to the bronze-medal final against Europe.

Australia, which beat Europe, 113-35, earlier Friday, and the World, now each 2-0, will race for gold Monday regardless of Sunday’s final round-robin matches.

With one race left--the 400 freestyle relay--the United States trailed, 73.5-68.5, and needed a victory to clinch the round-robin matchup. But the World team never trailed, handing the U.S. a surprising double loss in the relays.

Weightlifter Sergo Chakhoyan of Australia set the first world record at the Goodwill Games.

Chakhoyan, an Armenian-born Aussie competing in the 187-pound class, improved the mark in the snatch by one pound.

He lifted a record 400 pounds with his second attempt in the snatch before returning to win the clean-and-jerk and the overall gold.