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Nguyen takes second silver

August 7, 2012

Germany's Marcel Nguyen won silver Tuesday in the men's parallel bars, his second of the London games. Earlier a former Chinese hurdles world champion once again had his hopes dramatically crushed in the Olympic heats.

https://p.dw.com/p/15lL1
Marcel Nguyen of Germany competes on the parrallel bars during the Artistic Gymnastics Men's Parallel Bars final on Day 11 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena on August 7, 2012 in London, England.
Image: Getty Images

German gymnast Marcel Nguyen won his second medal of the London Games Tuesday with a silver in the men's parallel bars. The medal follows his surprise silver in the men's all around competition six days ago.

China's Feng Zhe won the competition, besting Nguyen by 0.166 points to finish with a score of 15.966. Hamilton Sabot of France finished third with 15.566 points.

Feng, the 2010 world champion, gave the Chinese men's gymnastics team its third medal of the London games.

Nguyen was the fourth gymnast to perform, meaning he had to anxiously sit through the duration of the competition before finding out whether he would win a medal.

The 24-year-old has been one of his Germany's bright spots in what has otherwise been a poor Olympics. He is the only German to win multiple medals in individual competition so far this summer in London.

Gymnast Fabian Hambuchen followed his German teammate's success with a silver of his own in the men's horizontal bar competition. It was the second career Olympic medal for the 24-year-old. He won bronze in the same event four years ago in Beijing.

Disaster for Liu Xiang

China's Liu Xiang experienced Olympic disaster again earlier in the day. The hurdler crashed out of a heat race for the 110 meters in a dramatic echo of his injury-prompted withdrawal from the event at the same stage in Beijing four years ago.

China's Liu Xiang kisses his hurdle after falling in a men's 110-meter hurdles heat during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012.
Image: dapd

The former world record holder and 2004 Olympic Champion hit the first hurdle with his lead leg and fell to the ground before hobbling off the track and being helped into a wheelchair.

Although Liu Xiang once made history as China's first male athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field, he famously pulled out of the heats at the 2008 Olympics with an injured Achilles tendon, much to the shock of his Chinese fans who were looking forward to seeing him compete in the Bird's Nest stadium.

He seemed to make a comeback after he flew to the United States for surgery and altered his start technique, winning silver at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, Korea. But his dramatic exit from this year's Olympic event may be an indication that the 29-year-old is still haunted by the injury.

Dayron Robles of Cuba, who set the world record for the 110-meter hurdles in Beijing - which Liu matched earlier this year - meanwhile breezed into the semi-finals. He joins American world champion Jason Richardson and his teammate Aries Merritt, who won his Olympic heat in the fastest first-round time ever recorded - 13.07 seconds.

Later on Tuesday, Olympic 100-meter champion Usain of Jamaica Bolt started his bid for the 200-meter title by winning his first round heat. Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba won her opening heat in the women's 5,000 meters, sending her into the finals. She is a favorite for gold after winning the 10,000 meter event.

sej,dr/mz (dpa, AFP, Reuters)