VITALY SCHWERBO, who won six Olympic gymnastics gold medals in Barcelona, launched a bitter attack on the judges when he bowed out of the Atlanta Games on Monday night.

"It's a joke with the judges. It's obvious, everybody can see what's happening," he said after finishing with three bronze medals. "It's total bias, unbelievable, and I'm glad to be getting out of it," he added.

Perhaps even more frustrating for the 24-year-old from Belarus, who now lives in the United States, was that he finished second-best to a man who was not fully fit.

Russia's Alexei Nemov, who had just recovered from a serious shoulder injury when he came to Atlanta, won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

He competed in every final, but was struggling after winning the vault. "It's still sore," said the Russian, who won a team gold but lost out to China's world champion Li Xiaoshuang in the all-round competition.

Nemov secured his first individual Olympic triumph with a sensational second vault. "It made things more complicated, but the Olympics happen only once every four years," he said of dealing with the injury. "You don't feel anything when you're performing."

All-round women's champion Lilia Podkopayeva of the Ukraine won her second gold medal in the floor exercises.

Shannon Miller, the 1994 world champion who won the team title with the United States, denied Podkopayeva another gold on the balance beam.

Miller wrote herself a storybook ending by winning the one prize that had eluded her an individual Olympic gold. Twice world all-round champion and winner of six previous Games medals, she captured Olympic gold in her last chance with a graceful beam routine, culminating with a spectacular dismount.

"It's a great note to end things on, said the 19-year-old Miller, who is leaving the amateur ranks to tour professionally.

But there was no fairy-tale finish for Kerri Strug. Strug, who helped the USA to the women's team gold last week despite a sprained left ankle, had to withdraw from the apparatus finals.