By Nancy Armour
The Associated Press

ATHENS - U.S. gymnasts Mohini Bhardwaj and Annia Hatch are getting a chance to redeem themselves on the vault.

And no pressure or anything, but a gold medal's on the line this time.

Bhardwaj, a Cincinnati native, and Hatch will be two of three Americans to compete on vault in tonight's team finals, in which only three gymnasts do each event and all three scores count. That means a mistake like Bhardwaj or Hatch had in qualifying, and the United States pretty much can kiss its medal hopes goodbye.

"I'm sure they're capable of doing better," team coordinator Martha Karolyi said after Sunday's preliminaries. "During three-up, three-count vaults, I'm sure they'll give us the scores we're expecting."

Bhardwaj and Hatch are on the team specifically because they are vault specialists, routinely able to put up scores of 9.5 or above on the Americans' weakest event. But both faltered in qualifying, contributing to a dismal finish that left the reigning world champions more than a half-point behind Romania, the gold medal winners in Sydney.

Bhardwaj needed a big step to steady herself on her landing. Hatch didn't get her usual height or distance on her vault, and she also took a step after her landing. Both scored below 9.4, and Bhardwaj's mark of 9.337 was so low, the Americans dropped it.

"I wanted to do it so bad, but I didn't," said Hatch, a 26-year-old Cuban native who came out of a five-year retirement in hopes of competing in the Olympics for her adopted country. "I know I can do better, and that's what counts."

The Americans will know quickly if Bhardwaj and Hatch's mistakes were a one-day glitch, with vault their first event in team finals. The Americans follow with their strongest event, uneven bars, and finish with balance beam and floor exercise.

Carly Patterson, who finished with the top individual score in preliminaries, is the only American competing on all four events in team finals. Courtney Kupets, who shares the national title with Patterson, is competing on three events and is the alternate for vault.

Courtney McCool's shakiness in preliminaries hurt her, and she's only an alternate in one event, the uneven bars. McCool was expected to be one of the U.S. team's anchors after winning a test event at the Olympic Indoor Hall in the spring. But she was surprisingly jittery Sunday, wobbling on the balance beam and tumbling out of bounds on floor.

Despite their slow start, the Americans are still favorites to win a medal. They haven't lost an international team competition in 2002, and they won the gold medal at last summer's worlds even after losing half of their team to injury and illness.

Romania and China are expected to be their biggest competition.

Their qualifying woes might even help them, Karolyi said.

"Most gymnasts are extra ambitious," she said. "So if they have a few mistakes, they want to be able to prove themselves."

The lineup

Today's U.S. lineup for the women's gymnastics team finals:

• Vault: Carly Patterson, Mohini Bhardwaj, Annia Hatch. Alternate, Courtney Kupets.

• Uneven bars: Patterson, Terin Humphrey, Kupets. Alternate, Courtney McCool.

• Balance beam: Humphrey, Kupets, Patterson. Alternate, Bhardwaj.

• Floor exercise: Kupets, Bhardwaj, Patterson. Alternate, Humphrey.