Men's Team Final
(Tuesday, August 19, 2003)

In the new format of the competition, we started on floor.  In this competition, three of six gymnasts perform, and all three scores are counted. We have to hit all routines for a medal, but this was our first experience of this format because we had not sent our team to the Ghent World Championships.  We did not know what would happen to our team...but our start was not good.  All three of our gymasts  went out of bounds, but the deduction was not as much as expected. We could score more than 27.000 in total for this event.

On pommel horse, Tomita looked tight, especially on the part he wobbled on in the qualification. Kashima also looked tight, but scored 9.637. In this rotation, the teams on floor made a lot of mistakes and we stayed easily in the top 4, together with China, the USA and Russia.

On rings, we sent three strong gymnasts, and Tomita and Yamada both scored more than 9.6.  However, our total was not so outstanding (6th among the 8 teams), but enough to stay within the top 4.

We had to be very careful on vault, where Tomita missed his landing in the previous meet: but Tomita vaulted well this time.  We could score the second best total on this event.

We could see our potential on parallel bars.  Kashima hit his routine as the leadoff and scored 9.725.  Tomita hit all his elements until the landing, especially his peach half; however, he sat down on his dismount.  He scored only 9.175, but it still kept us in good position.  Tsukahara truly hit his routine well, sticking his dismount.  For the most perfect performance up to that moment, the judges awarded him 9.800. After this rotation, we drew close to the USA for a silver medal.  The 0.363 margin was very small.

Before our performance, China clinched their victory with solid routines on horizontal bar.  We started from Kashima, and he hit his routine again. He scored 9.712,  enough for a leadoff. However, Tsukahara had a little wobble. He tried to connect Rybalko after Kolman (SE+D), but he struggled on his Rybalko, and had a break. He scored 9.362, however.  Tomita made his routine safer, without his stalder one and a half twist.  His score was 9.562 with an SV of 9.9.  We could not get a high total score before the USA's performance, but we beat Russia at that time, and earned at least a bronze medal.

Finally, the USA team beat us and they got the silver medal, but we were proud of our bronze medal finish.  Our great performances had appeal for the audience and the judges!

Men's All-Around Final
(Thursday, August 21, 2003)

Since Tsukahara got the top all-around score in the qualification and the final, he was considered to have the best chance to win the title. Tomita needed to recover from his bad mood in the team final, in which he missed on some events.

Tsukahara and Tomita were in the same group, and started from floor.  Tsukahara was very solid today, but his score was not so high. Tomita missed his second pass (he could not do rudi after his one and a half twisting back to front with full twist).

Tomita regained his power on pommel horse, and hit his routine to score 9.737.  Tsukahara hit, too, and scored 9.675.  Both of them were strong, and solid on this event!

They were solid on rings, too. Tomita scored 9.662, with a very stable Maltese and cross combination. 

Vault was going to be critical for Tomita, who missed his Kasamatsu with 1 1/2 twist in the qualification.  He slightly underrotated but landed somehow.  His 9.462  score could help him to climb up to a medal position in a later rotation.  Tsukahara cleanly hit his Yurchenko double full.

On parallel bars, Tsukahara and Tomita scored exactly the same 9.687, but both of them had a little mistake (Tsukahara was short of a handstand after his peach with half, and Tomita had a big step backward in his dismount).  However, their scores were high enough to move them to 4th and 5th respectively, and they could aim at a medal.

In the last rotation, horizontal bar, their order was changed.  Until this rotation, Tsukahara went first, but here, Tomita was the leadoff.  Tomita hit his routine except for the landing (a slight hop), and scored 9.687.  He beat out Yerimbetov of Kazakhstan, who was third after the fifth rotation, and waited for the rest of the medal contenders.  After the head-to-head fight for the gold medal between Yang Wei of China and Paul Hamm of USA, and in the midst of the enthusiastic "USA!, USA!" cheering, Tsukahara had to perform as the top qualifier. Then he missed his Kolman, a super E. He tried it again and hit the rest of his routine, but he could score only 8.612.  He dropped from 4th to 7th, missing a medal that was supposed to be his first consecutive all-around medal since the  '97 World Championships (not counting the  '01 World Championships, which Japan did not take part in).

As a result, Tomita won his first individual medal in the World Championships. He was surprised that he could win the bronze even though he did not perform well. However, he should be proud of it!

Japanese men's team, wearing the bronze medal!!