Controversy clouds Romania haul

Andreea Raducan on her way to gymnastic gold

Romania achieved a clean sweep in the women's all-round gymnastics competition to go with their team gold after an event strewn with errors and controversy.

Andreea Raducan stole in to clinch gold on the floor - the first Romanian to take the all-around gold since Nadia Comaneci in 1976.

She kept her composure as many of her rivals floundered.

However the final is more likely to be remembered for a major error by organisers.

The horse used in the vault event was incorrectly set 5 cms lower than it should have been for certain competitors, a mistake that may have contributed to a string of bewildering mistakes and an injury to a British gymnast.

Withdrawn

Britain's Annika Reeder was withdrawn from the competition after being carried from the floor in tears when she injured herself on the vault.

She appeared to twist her leg on take off and crashed to the ground in agony.

The affected gymnasts were told that they could retake the their vault when the mistake was brought to the organisers attention though it had no effect on the final standings.

Amid all the confusion, Raducan quietly crept into the gold medal position with her team-mates Simone Amanar and Maria Olaru claimed silver and bronze respectively.

Crumble

The competition bore striking resemblance to the team event, which saw the talented Russian team crumble under pressure to allow the Romanians to step in and claim the medals.

World and European champion Svetlana Khorkina of Russia, the favourite of the crowds and pundits alike, blew her chance when she made an error on the uneven bars and fell to the floor during her routine.

Last-minute entry Elena Zamolodtchikova, also of Russia, then took the lead but during her floor routine she took a tumble and saw her chances ruined.

The lead then passed to Viktoriya Karpenko of the Ukraine who made a similar mistake to Zamolodtchikova on the same piece of apparatus and fell out of contention.

The highest placed Briton was Lisa Mason who finished 23rd while Emma Williams was 33rd.