Errors cost gymnastics team a medal

Constantinos Aristotelous of Cyprus in action on the high bar as he competes in the Men's Artistic Gymnastics Qualification. Photo / Getty Images

A poor start on the pommel horse and some crucial slips on the high bar proved the difference between another fourth and a first bronze for the New Zealand men's artistic gymnastics team at a Commonwealth Games.

The team took fourth overall but rated sixth in those two disciplines.

They missed bronze to Canada by less than five points. Australia took gold and England silver in front of 15000-seat stadium that was 90 per cent empty.

New Zealand rose to third midway through the event after the pommel horse, ring and vault. The vault was their best event where they ranked third.

Coach David Phillips - New Zealand's one male medallist in the history of the Games with a floor routine bronze at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 - said it wasn't so much the small issues he had a problem with.

"No, it was the big bloody falls. It was gut-wrenching, the guys don't train as they performed today. As much as we tried to replicate this type of atmosphere in New Zealand, it is tough to do. Maybe the nerves got to them. We didn't perform, but a lot of the teams were crashing too.

"We were surprised to be third at the halfway point. That gave the guys a boost after a nightmare start on the pommel horse.

"As a team it is encouraging that we've fallen and still come fourth, it equals the best we've ever had and it is testament to the calibre of athletes on our team."

Kiwi teams have come fourth twice before - in 1990 at Auckland and 1978 at Edmonton.

"New Zealand gymnastics is rarely in a position where they can win a medal," Phillips said. "It does change the dynamic because it puts more pressure on the athletes. The guys still functioned well as a team but if you don't stay on and you don't stand up, you don't win."

The team was saved from worse scores from major errors in almost all events because only the three best of the four scores were taken.
Patrick Peng was the best of the New Zealanders. He finished ninth overall with Misha Koudinov 10th - it is the second Games for both. The pair qualified for tomorrow's all-around competition.

"Fourth place is gutting," Peng said. "The high bar has always been our Achilles heel at home, and so it was today. A couple of silly mistakes cost us."

Peng (vault), Koudinov (floor) and Mark Holyoake (parallel bars) also qualified for the top eight individual apparatus competition on Thursday and Friday.