Olympics gymnastics results: August 16
Recapping Mondayaur’s gymnastics action at the 2016 Rio Olympics, including a major shock in the finals of the women’s balance beam.
As dominant as Simone Biles has been in the 2016 Rio Olympics, the balance beam is a difficult enough apparatus to challenge the best of the best. The final of the women’s balance beam on Tuesday proved to be Biles’ first stumble of the Games in the biggest upset of the competition so far.
The American star went third and looked to be in line for her fourth gold medal until a slip about halfway through her routine, earning a 14.733. Still, Biles did well to not fall off the beam and her very high degree of difficulty gave her a chance at the podium.
Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands was up next and completed a flawless routine with a score of 15.466, ensuring Biles wouldn’t win an unprecedented five gold medals in Rio. That score held up, as Team USA’s Laurie Hernandez tuned in a strong routine of her own, but a lower starting degree of difficulty brought her score down to 15.333, earning her a silver.
Biles managed to hang on to bronze position, while Wevers’ effort earned her the first medal of any kind for the Netherlands in women’s gymnastics.
Monday’s schedule began with the finals of the men’s rings. Reigning world champion Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece set the early pace with a terrific routine and scored a 16.000, the highest mark on rings of the entire Olympics.
Petrounias’ huge score would hold up through the remaining six gymnasts. Defending Olympic champion Arthur Zanetti of Brazil, the last gymnast of the competition, thrilled the hometown fans with a 15.766, earning him silver. Russia’ Denis Ablyazin matched his team all-around score of 15.700 on the apparatus to win bronze.
The action continued with the finals of the men’s vault up, which proved to be one of the most entertaining and hard-fought events of the competition.. Japan’s Kenzo Shirai bounced back from a poor showing in the floor final with two huge vaults, earning an average of 15.499.
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That score proved only good enough for bronze, as top qualifier Ri Se-gwang of North Korea perfectly stuck a very difficult landing on his second vault to move into first with a 15.691. Ablayzin continued his strong day with great execution on a high degree of difficulty vault to earn a silver with a mark of 15.516. Olympic veteran Marian Drăgulescu matched Shirai’s score, but lost the tiebreaker on overall execution score.