BEIJING — Perhaps no one in this Olympics carried more pressure than gymnast Yang Wei, the stone-faced star of the Chinese team, but his billion-person burden didn’t seem to faze him a bit.
The biggest Chinese star in one of the Olympic glamour sports won the gold medal in the individual all-around today, two days after leading his team to a gold medal in the team competition.
A two-time world champion in all-around who finished a disappointing seventh four years ago in Athens, Yang dominated the competition with 94.575 points. Kohei Uchimura of Japan took the silver medal (91.975) and Benoit Caranobe of France claimed the bronze (91.925).
Alexander “Sasha” Artemev of Highlands Ranch had the second-best score of the evening on pommel horse (15.525), his signature event, and finished 12th. Teammate Jonathan Horton was ninth.
Artemev’s performance marked him as a medal favorite in Sunday’s pommel horse final.
“With that routine, I think I can medal,” he said of today’s performance. “Nothing to lose now. Just go big.”
