NEW YORK – Ivan Ivankov of Belarus won his second gold and fourth medal of the 1998 Goodwill Games with his victory in high bar, China claimed its first gold medal of the Games and Russia’s Alina Kabayeva took the all-around gold in rhythmic gymnastics in competition held at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Thursday evening.

China’s Huang Xu scored his country’s first gold of these Games by winning parallel bars with a score of 9.725, edging out Ivankov, who scored 9.700. Taking the bronze was Aleksei Bondarenko of Russia, whose bid to become the first Goodwill Games gymnast to claim medals in all six individual events ended with a fall from high bar, the men’s final event. Bondarenko leaves the Goodwill Games with two silver and three bronze medals. American Trent Wells (Keizer, Ore.) scored 9.600, good for fourth, while Sean Townsend (Houston, Texas) was eighth with an 8.800.
On high bar, Ivankov swung to a score of 9.725, well ahead of Aleksei Nemov’s 9.650 for second. Third was Kazakhstan’s Sergei Fedorchenko with a 9.525. American Chris Young (Winston-Salem, N.C.) was sixth with a 9.025.
As rhythmic gymnastics opened with individual event finals, Kabayeva scored a 39.781 to topple reigning world champion Yelena Vitrichenko of Ukraine, who finished the four events with 39.657 points. The bronze all-around went to Yevgeniya Pavlina of Belarus. The USA’s lone entrant, Kate Jeffress (Rockville, Md.), was eighth with a 38.782.
Gymnastics continues Friday evening with the women’s rhythmic individual event finals. The artistic athletes return to Nassau Coliseum for mixed pairs competition on Saturday and Sunday, leading up to the closing gymnastics gala on Sunday evening.

Individual Event Finals

Women’s Rhythmic Gymnastics All-Around
1, Alina Kabayeva, Russia, 39.781. 2, Yelena Vitrichenko, Ukraine, 39.657. 3, Yevgeniya Pavlina, BLR, 39.640. 4, Teodora Alexandrova, BUL, 39.433. 5, Asel Mustafina, Russia, 39.241. 6, Tamara Yerofeyeva, Ukraine, 39.199. 7, Edita Schaufler, Germany, 39.161. 8, Kate Jeffress, Rockville, Md., 38.782


Men’s Parallel Bars

1, Xu Huang, China, 9.725. 2, Ivan Ivankov, BLR, 9.700. 3, Aleksei Bondarenko, Russia, 9.650. 4, Trent Wells, Keizer, Ore., 9.600. 5, Naoya Tsukahara, Japan, 9.550. 6, Maxim Alyoshin, Russia, 9.400. 7, Lu Yufu, China, 9.200. 8, Sean Townsend, Houston, Texas, 8.800.

Men’s High Bar

1, Ivan Ivankov, BLR, 9.725. 2, Aleksei Nemov, Russia, 9.650. 3, Sergei Fedorchenko, KAZ, 9.525. 4, Lu Yufu, China, 9.475. 5, Yoshiaki Hatakeda, JPN, 9.450. 6, Chris Young, Winston-Salem, N.C., 9.025. 7, Aleksei Bondarenko, Russia, 8.900. 8, Jani Tanskanen, Finland, 8.425.