Shewfelt, Haibin shine on apparatus

All-round champion Paul Hamm's Olympic fortunes took a downward turn on Sunday when he was outdone by the mastery of Kyle Shewfelt and Teng Haibin in the men's apparatus finals.

Russian Svetlana Khorkina also had a miserable day, losing her title as the 'queen of the asymmetric bars' for the first time in eight years. She was dethroned by Emilie Lepennec, the first French woman gymnast to win Olympic gold.

On a night of firsts, Shewfelt edging out Marian Dragulescu on a tiebreak in the men's floor exercise to give Canada their first ever Olympic gold in the sport, while Teng won China's first title at the Athens Indoor Hall on the pommel horse.

American Hamm, who was awarded the all-round gold after a judging error denied South Korea's Yang Tae-young the title, had been expected to increase his medal haul on the apparatus.

But the row clearly affected his performance and he left the arena empty handed, still insisting he was a rightful champion.

Shewfelt executed his powerful tumbles to earn a score of 9.787 and was matched by Dragulescu. The Canadian was named champion once the tie-break rules were applied by the judges. Hamm finished fifth.

Teng mounted the pommel with his eyes locked on the apparatus, rotating with ease and then punching his fists up into the air as he nailed his solid dismount and earned 9.837.

Khorkina had entered the stage ready to create history as the first gymnast to win the apparatus title at three successive Olympics but her hopes ended abruptly when she simply fell off.

For a few moments it looked to a hushed crowd as if the 25-year-old would storm off without completing her routine. Stone-faced, she returned to go through the motions but finished last out of the eight competitors.

Lepennec was in a league of her own as she effortlessly glided between the bars to display her complex manoeuvres and triumphed with a score of 9.687.

"I got more and more relaxed throughout the week and I had my marks, I got used to the atmosphere and I felt really well today," said the 16-year-old.

"On the podium, I thought about all the training I'd done, about my family and the people watching in France."

Romanian teenager Monica Rosu, part of the Olympic title-winning Romania team, captured her second gold in the Greek capital in the vault.