Romania’s Marian Dragulescu has done what Brett Favre probably won’t be able to do, which is to retire, unretire and win a title.  Dragulescu not only won a title, he won two!  He was the surprise winner on floor, easily overcoming the heavily favored Kohei Uchimura.  He then topped things off by hitting two outstanding vaults to capture yet another world championship.  The 28-year-old Romanian was the only gymnast to win two gold medals at the 2009 World Men’s Gymnastics championships.  He now has six world titles.

The Chinese dominated the event finals, winning an astounding four out of six.  Zhang Hongtao is now the undisputed king of the pommel horse (16.20).  Zhang and Hungary’s Krisztian Berki (16.075) made the other competitors’ routines look relatively pedestrian by comparison.  Their precision, difficulty, single leg work and amplitude clearly separated them from the rest of the field.  Australia’s diminutive Prashanth Sellathurai really went after it and collected the bronze.  The USA’s Tim McNeill performed a nice difficult routine and finished in fifth place.  Overall, McNeill had a very successful meet.

China’s Yan Mingyong won his world championship’s debut on rings (15.675) over 36-year-old Bulgarian Jordan Jovtchev (15.575).  On parallel bars, China prevailed again as Wang Guanyin (15.975) and Feng Zhe (15.775) grabbed gold and silver.

In the grand finale, China’s Zou Kai showed why he is the Olympic champion on high bar, posting a 16.15.  The Netherlands’ Epke Zonderland (15.825) and Italy’s Igor Cassina (15.625) took the silver and bronze.  USA’s teen phenom Danell Leyva was impressive in his world’s debut, and just missed out on a medal (15.60).  Leyva clearly demonstrated he will be a fixture on the world stage for years to come.  His routine was a definite crowd pleasure, especially when he stuck his triple-twisting double dismount.  Jonathan Horton’s miseries continued as he fell doing a Kolman as well as missing his landing.

Here are the medal winners:

FX

1. Marian Dragulescu (ROM) – 15.70
2. Zou Kai (CHN) – 15.675
3. Alexander Shatilov (ISR) – 15.575

PH

1. Zhang Hongtao (CHN) – 16.20
2. Krisztian Berki (HUN) – 16.075
3. Prashanth Sellathurai (AUS) – 15.40

SR

1. Yan Mingyong (CHN) – 15.675
2. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) – 15.575
3. Oleksandr Vorobiov (UKR) – 15.55
   

VT

1. Marian Dragulescu (ROU) – 16.575
2. Flavius Koczi (ROU) – 16.337
3. Anton Golotsutskov (RUS) – 16.287

PB

1. Wang Guanyin (CHN) – 15.975
2. Feng Zhe (CHN) – 15.775
3. Kazuhito Tanaka (JPN) – 15.50

HB

1. Zou Kai (CHN) – 16.15
2. Epke Zonderland (NED) – 15.825
3. Igor Cassina (ITA) – 15.625

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