Something had gone wrong.

Stepping off the mat at National Indoor Stadium, Nastia Liukin was convinced her routine was only second best in the women's uneven bars final Monday night.

It said so on the scoreboard. China's He Kexin was first, and she was second.

Several minutes later, though, Liukin took a second look at the scoreboard - and then another.

"I said, 'Am I that tired? I know it's been a long week,' " said the 19-year-old all-around champion from Parker, Texas. "(But) we have the same score."

If you guessed it was just another night of Olympic gymnastics, you're right.

In a sport known for complexity and controversy, fans were left scratching their heads over a scoring system too convoluted for even veteran officials to explain clearly.

He and Liukin scored 9.025 for execution and 7.7 for difficulty, to give each a final score of 16.725.

But instead of sharing gold, officials turned to a count-back system where the highest and lowest of the five judges' marks progressively were removed until a winner emerged. And that was He, with a winning margin of 0.033. China's Yang Yilin took bronze with 16.650.

"I just hope they know what they're doing," said Liukin's coach/father, Valeri Liukin, who as a Soviet gymnast in 1988 tied and shared an Olympic gold medal on the high bar.

After the 1996 Atlanta Games, the International Olympic Committee urged the International Federation of Gymnastics to implement tiebreakers for the Olympics, said Bruno Grandi, the federation's president, noting dual medals still are awarded in case of ties at the world championships.

"For me, it's not correct. . . . I believe it is correct to have the two girls as champions and two gold medals," he said. "But the competition does not belong to us. It belongs to the IOC."

An identical situation arose in the men's vault final with Poland's Leszek Blanik beating

second-place Thomas Bouhail of France on the tiebreak rule.

During the presentation of medals and flowers, an international gymnastics official told Liukin, who now has won a gold, two silvers and a bronze, "Sorry, it's too bad about the rules."

Liukin accepted the ruling without rancor.

"I still don't know how they broke the tie. I guess one judge liked her better," she said. "But like my dad said, at the end of the day, I have the most important medal. That's the most important thing."

Women's uneven bars: 1. He Kexin, China, 16.725. 2. Nastia Liukin, Parker, Texas, 16.725. 3. Yang Yilin, China, 16.650. 4. Beth Tweddle, Britain, 16.625. 5. Anastasiia Koval, Ukraine, 16.375. 6. Ksenia Semenova, Russia, 16.325. 7. Steliana Nistor, Romania, 15.575. 8. Dariya Zgoba, Ukraine, 14.875.

Men's ring: 1. Chen Yibing, China, 16.600. 2. Yang Wei, China, 16.425. 3. Oleksandr Vorobiov, Ukraine, 16.325. 4. Andrea Coppolino, Italy, 16.225. 5. Danny Pinheiro Rodrigues, France, 16.225. 6. Matteo Morandi, Italy, 16.200. 7. Robert Stanescu, Romania, 15.825. 8. Iordan Iovtchev, Bulgaria, 15.525.

Men's vault: 1. Leszek Blanik, Poland (16.600, 16.475), 16.537. 2. Thomas Bouhail, France (16.575, 16.500), 16.537. 3. Anton Golotsutskov, Russia (16.500, 16.450), 16.475. 4. Marian Dragulescu, Romania (16.800, 15.650), 16.225. 5. Benoit Caranobe, France (16.275, 15.850), 16.062. 6. Dmitry Kasperovich, Belarus (16.300, 15.800), 16.050. 7. Flavius Koczi, Romania (15.500, 16.350), 15.925. 8. Isaac Botella, Spain (16.075, 15.400), 15.737.