Season of Sharing in Individual Events

There is the strength of bulging muscles, as Bulgaria’s Jordan Jovtchev showed Saturday by winning a gold medal on the still rings and tying all-around champion Paul Hamm of the U.S. for gold on floor exercise. And there is the no-less-potent strength of mind, as Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan displayed in temporarily banishing concerns for her leukemia-stricken son to win a gold medal on the vault.

Who’s to say which is greater?

The power of Hamm and Jovtchev, or the mental resolve of Chusovitina and U.S. teenagers Hollie Vise and Chellsie Memmel, who rebounded from gaffes on the uneven bars earlier in the World Gymnastics Championships to tie for gold in Saturday’s uneven bars final at the Arrowhead Pond?

In the spirit of the day, which saw ties for gold in all three men’s events and a tie for bronze on still rings, as well as a tie for gold on the women’s uneven bars and a tie for silver on vault, both types of fortitude should be declared equally remarkable.

“This has helped our country a lot,” Vise said after she and Memmel increased the U.S. medal haul to seven, with two chances today to surpass the high of eight won in 1979 at Fort Worth. “We’ve come a long ways in the past few years and we’re ready for the Olympics.”

Hamm raised his total to three medals, including a team silver and gold in the all-around. Memmel, originally an alternate but pressed into duty when three teammates became injured or ill, had already won a team gold and has a chance for a hat trick in today’s balance beam final. Blaine Wilson of the U.S., sixth in the still ring final, will compete on parallel bars today.

“I’m tired but I had just one event today and I could concentrate on bars,” said Memmel, who was the last performer on the bars and ended her routine with a small forward hop but earned a 9.612. “It’s really cool to share this with Hollie because we both hit our routines. [Friday, in the all-around] I was letting some things get to me and I didn’t want to make the same mistake.”

Vise, who replaced the injured Courtney Kupets in the uneven bars final, bettered her shaky effort from Wednesday’s team finals. They both outdid the 9.512 posted by Britain’s Beth Tweddle, who won bronze and became the first female medalist for her country.

“Winning two gold medals on bars is amazing,” Vise said.

But it didn’t match the courage of Chusovitina, 28, a multiple world vault medalist. She hadn’t trained much because she spends most of her time with her 3 1/2-year-old son Alisher, who’s being treated at a hospital in Cologne, Germany. She withdrew from the all-around final because of a sore foot but stayed in the vault final and won with a two-vault average of 9.481, ahead of the 9.443 averaged by runners-up Yun Mi Kang of the People’s Republic of Korea and Olympic gold medalist Elena Zamolodchikova of Russia.

“I’m doing this for my son,” Chusovitina, who was teary-eyed on the medal stand, said through a translator. “I can help him here and by earning money for his treatment. I am very excited because I proved I can be 28 and still successful. Gymnastics is a women’s sport, not just for kids.”

She speaks to her son daily by phone. “He says, ‘Mom, I love you so much and I am waiting for you,’ ” she said.

By comparison, Jovtchev’s aches are minor: a sore chest from a fall on the parallel bars that forced him to drop out of the all-around event Thursday. He had a small hop on the double-layout dismount on his floor routine Saturday and Hamm had a small hop on his double twist-double layout mount, but each averaged 9.762 from the judges. Kyle Shewfelt of Canada was third at 9.737.

Jovtchev, a bronze medalist on floor and rings at the Sydney Olympics, later scored 9.787 on the rings, surprisingly was matched by Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece. Matteo Morandi and Andrea Coppolino of Italy tied for third at 9.70. Jason Gatson of the U.S. was seventh, at 9.662.

“I’m in pain, but when you have all the adrenaline going, you don’t feel it,” said Jovtchev, who trains in Houston. “It’s very hard, gymnastics. Some judge likes you, some judge doesn’t. But I am very happy.”

So was Hamm, although he showed little emotion. “I would have felt a little better if it was just me but it feels good to have another gold medal around my neck,” the Waukesha, Wis., resident said. “I’m not really disappointed with my performance here, but it would have been nice to make the high bar final. In the future, I’ll be shooting for that.”

The U.S. had no finalists on the pommel horse, where Teng Haibin of China and Takehiro Kashima of Japan tied for gold at 9.762. Nikolai Kryukov of Russia was third at 9.725.