Canada's Cockburn takes trampoline silver

By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - Karen Cockburn of Canada bounced her way to silver in the women's trampolining final on Monday in Beijing.

Cockburn, who took the silver in Athens four years ago, had to settle again for second best to gold medalist He Wenna of China, who gave the host country its first Olympic champion in the event. Ekaterina Khilko of Uzbekistan took the bronze.

Nineteen-year-old He knew she had it from the moment she landed her last rotation, waving to the crowd from the trampoline before jumping off and into her coach's arms.

Her victory takes some of the sting out of the upset for team mate Huang Shanshan, the Athens bronze medalist, who fell in the qualifying round and failed to make the final.

He was also helped by stumbles from the winners at Athens and Sydney.

Germany's Anna Dogonadze lost her rhythm, landing a tumble on her knees and dashing her hopes of a repeat of her gold medal performance.

Russian Irina Karavaeva, who won the inaugural trampolining event at Sydney in 2000 and is the reigning world champion, also stumbled on her last movement, tripping backward before regaining her balance.

(Editing by Ralph Gowling)