BEIJING — From the minute that she stuck her dismount, Nastia Liukin sensed that her performance may not have been golden.
But she didn't really lose the Olympics' uneven bars gold medal on the floor Monday. She lost it in the rule book.
After Liukin and China's He Kexin both were awarded the event's highest scores, 16.725, He was given the gold medal because of a seldom-used tiebreaker rule.
According to the rules established by the world governing body of gymnastics, FIG, there are six tiebreakers for settling ties. The China gymnast edged Liukin on the second listed tiebreaker - average of the three lowest of the four counting B-jury deductions.
There are two groups of judges in gymnastics. The "A" panel calculates a score based upon the value of a gymnast's actual routine. The "B" panel looks for deductions based on the execution of the routine.
Using that to determine the outcome, He had a .933 score in deductions. Liukin lost .966, giving the advantage to He.
Not unexpectedly, Liukin and her father and coach, Valeri, weren't familiar with the tiebreaking rules, nor were many in the National Indoor Stadium.
He was the first competitor of the evening, and the partisan Chinese audience cheered wildly when her 16.725 score was posted on the scoreboard. Liukin was next, but when her score was flashed as also being 16.725, the scoreboard listed her second.
There were murmurs throughout the audience. Nobody really knew what was going on.
"Both of us were hoping that that was just the way they put it up there," Valeri Liukin said.
He heard the judges' explanation, he said.
"I just hope they know what they're doing, that's all," he said.
Liukin's bars routine, she admitted, wasn't perfect. But with her start value of 7.7 and her artistry in this, her favorite event, it had all the looks of a possible gold medal performance.
He was sensational as well, but unlike Liukin, who nailed her landing, the Chinese gymnast - who looks no older than 13 - took an extra crossover step on her dismount.
"I guess this is just a human being judging is what it is," Valeri Liukin said with a shrug.
In winning her second silver medal and fourth overall of these Games, Nastia tied her father in the suddenly "important" Liukin family Olympic medal standings. She will go for her own tiebreaker, of sorts, Tuesday when she competes on the balance beam.
China's Yang Yilin took the bronze medal in Monday's event.