Gold in Olaru’s vault

Romanian Andreea Raducan, whose 9.837 points in floor exercise was the outstanding performance of the day, finished fifth, ahead of China’s Dong Fangxiao and Huang Mandan, and American Elise Ray.

Olaru and Karpenko went into their last of the four events, the vault, with Karpenko leading 29.212 points to 29.149.

After Karpenko scored 9.493 points, the 17-year-old Olaru topped that with 9.625 — the second-best vault of the day — and took the gold 38.774 points to 38.705. Olaru also had the second-best floor exercise — 9.825 — plus 9.737 on the balance beam and 9.587 points on the uneven bars.

“I don’t believe it,” Olaru said. “Are you sure I amthe world champion.” She won, she said, because, “I was simply more stable”.

Newcomers Olaru and the 16-year-old Raducan had been the top two scorers in qualifying and the team finals, where Romania won its fourth consecutive world team title.