Dong scored 9.612 points to win the event after she displayed both depth and grace in her performance. The daring flips and square landing impressed the judges well enough to award her the winning mark.

Nothing is better than the championship for the 18-year-old Dong to smooth her frustration in her all-around event, vault and balance beam events, all of which she finished the fourth.

She failed her vault routine in yesterday's all-around competition and repeated the error on the vault today before falling off the beam.

"I am so happy to win the gold." said Dong, "I made mistakes in the previous two individual apparatus. To be lucky enough, I readjusted myself timely in the floor and brought my ability to a full play."

Chinese team coach Wang Qunce, however, remained calm after the victory, "A win on the floor does not mean that China has left other countries and regions behind in this event. Romania, China's most competitive rival did not attend the women's competition while Russia sent a second-string team here. We are yet to catch up with the world-class teams."

The silver medal in the floor was grabbed by an unknown Brazilian girl Dos Santos Daiane who scored 9.350 points. Another Chinese girl Liu Wei finished third at 9.187 points.

Following are the results of women's gymnastics floor event on Sunday in the 21st World University Games:

1. Dong Fangxiao, China, 9.612

2. Dos Santos Daiane, Brazil, 9.350

3. Liu Wei, China, 9.187

4. Ekaterina Privlova, Russia, 9.025

5. Comin Camila, Brazil, 8.825

6. Nakase Naoko, Japan, 8.787

7. Olga Ugarova, Russia, 8.750

(People's Daily 08/27/2001)