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Roundup: Laura Zeng turns Golden Girl, Canada wins basketball gold at Pan Am Games

Xinhua, July 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chinese-American Laura Zeng proved to be the "Golden Girl" of Toronto 2015 Pan American Games and a rising star for Team USA on Monday as she swept away all the rhythmic gymnastics individual event titles, totalling her gold medals to five.

The 15-year-old snagged her fourth and fifth gold medals in both the clubs and ribbon apparatus finals with style and authority. In addition to winning every event she entered, the talented young girl has, to date, won more gold medals than any other athlete competing at the Toronto games.

Zeng, a high school sophomore who translated a love of Chinese dance into success in her sport, earned her first podium-topping finish of the games when she bested silver medalist Jazzy Kerber and the rest of the field to take the all-around title on July 18. A day later, Zeng again struck gold in both the hoop and ball finals, and in both cases, her teammate once again nabbed the silver medals.

Zeng is the first woman to earn all five rhythmic gymnastics gold medals available at the Pan Am Games since American Mary Sanders did it in 2003.

The teenager gymnast appeared on the world's radar after scoring the all-around bronze medal at the 2014 Youth Olympics. With her focus fixed on the Rio Olympics in 2016, she's doing all she can to learn and grow as much as possible, and with Russia's record of dominance in the sport, Zeng travels to Moscow every few months to train with the national team.

"Russians are the best in the world and I have learned so much and gotten so much feedback," said Zeng, whose interests turned from Chinese folk dance to gymnastics at the age of seven. "I love the sport so much. Chinese dancing has given me some of my style."

Added to the Olympic program in 1984, the sport has been dominated by Eastern Europe nations. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have won every gold, silver and bronze in the all-around competition since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Canada's Lori Fung remains the only North American to have stood atop the all-around podium, taking gold at the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Training at the North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center outside of Chicago, Zeng works with Belarusian and Bulgarian coaches Natalia Klimouk and Angelina Yovcheva while her routines are choreographed by Russians and some of her costumes are designed by her sister.

"Rio Olympics is such a huge dream of mine and it is always going to be there in the back of my mind," said Zeng, "I hope next year I can make it there but right now it is one step at a time and (I am) focusing on my next competition."

Meanwhile for the host nation, Monday has been quite quiet until the late-night win. Canada got its first-ever taste of Pan Am basketball gold as the hosts defeated the No. 1-ranked American squad in the women's final, one day after the men's baseball gold.

The 81-73 win capped off a perfect 5-0 run for the Canadians at the 2015 Pan Am Games tournament in Toronto, marking this country's first major international basketball tournament win.

Canada's Kia Nurse paced her team with 33 points, Natalie Achonwa added 13 and Tamara Tatham was a perfect six-for-six from the foul line on the way to 10 points.

The Canadians led by as many as 17 points in front of a delirious sell-out crowd of about 3,300 flag-waving fans at Ryerson University's Mattamy Athletic Centre.

The Americans would pull within five points twice in the fourth quarter, and trailed just 78-73 with 18 seconds to play. A free throw by Achonwa and then two by Nurse with seven seconds left sealed Canada's victory.

The U.S. women had dominated international competition over the past two decades, racking up five Olympic gold medal finishes and four world titles.

Next up for the Canadian team is a chance to qualify for Rio Olympics. They'll start that journey when they begin play at the FIBA Americas Championship in Edmonton in August.

While that may have been the only gold medal captured by Canada on Day 10, there were still plenty of medal-winning performances by Canadian athletes to help push the country's medal total to 148 including 55 golds.

The United States still sits atop at the medal ranking with 65 golds and 169 overall.

Brazil is third with 30 golds and 102 in total, followed by Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Argentina. Endi