China’s Yang Wei finally gets gold in men’s gymnastics

Yang had finished second to Alexei Nemov in 2000, and fell apart at the Athens Olympics. But this one was never in doubt.

With every day bringing another gold medal, gymnastics is fast becoming China’s domain at the Beijing Olympics. And no one is a bigger star than Yang.

After eight years of waiting, he’s certainly earned it.

He didn’t even bother waiting for his marks on high bar, his final event, before taking a curtain call, leaping onto the podium and thrusting his fists in the air while the crowd went crazy.

His coach gave him a Chinese flag, and he held it out with pride. Judges took what seemed like forever to post his marks, but that only gave Yang more time to soak it all in.