TOKYO 2020 - WOMEN's ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

♦♦ WOMEN's TEAM FINAL   (Tuesday, July 27)

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"The impossible is possoble, now ...!"
Russias "ROC"-Team  won its first Women's Olympic team title in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Tuesday in Tokyo (JPN), seizing the moment as the USA faltered to claim Olympic gold in a triumph for a team that in recent years has often had to settle for second place. The early withdrawal of Simone Biles (USA) threw open the women’s team final, showing ROC a path to victory on a night when little went as expected. Angelina Melnikova, Lilia Akhaimova, Viktoriia Listunova and Vladislava Urazova combined for 169.528 points overall, edging the USA by more than three full points. With bronze, Great Britain earned its first Olympic team medal since 1928. Italy, Japan, France, the People’s Republic of China, and Belgium rounded out the standings.

Russian gymnasts tears of joy after winning the gold medal
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Imperial ROC!
With excellent performances on Vault and Uneven Bars, ROC staked their claim for gold early, building a lead of 2.5 points over the USA halfway through the competition and proving that the team’s first place finish in women’s qualification was not a fluke. The margin turned out to be impenetrable. Even falls from Urazova and Melnikova on Balance Beam did little to shake ROC’s confidence. The team closed out on Floor Exercise, where they demonstrated difficulty and grace that harked back to the powerful Soviet women’s teams that won eight consecutive Olympic titles between 1952 and 1980. "We worked extremely hard; we were basically in a closed training camp for a year and a half, working for this moment,” Melnikova commented afterward. Second to the USA at the 2016 Olympics and the past two World Championships, “it was the first time that we were competing for gold, not for silver,” she added. “The impossible is possible now.”
The great silver awakening for U.S. Gymnastics
Widely considered the greatest gymnast in history, Biles came to Tokyo laden with expectations that she would lead the U.S. women to a third consecutive Olympic team title and claim multiple individual titles, just as she did five years ago in Rio. Even a rocky by her standards performance in Sunday’s preliminary round, in which Biles nevertheless topped the All-Around standings and qualified for all four apparatus finals, did nothing to dissuade this belief. But when the 24-year-old balked on her Vault as the U.S. began the team final, gold was for the first time cast into doubt. Realising that she was not mentally prepared to continue, Biles made the decision not to continue the competition, leaving the U.S. team devoid of the woman who has been their guiding light for the past eight years. Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles stepped up to take the 24-year-old’s place on the remaining apparatus, and Grace McCallum was solid and steady over all four events. Still, without the scoring cushion usually provided by Biles, early and late errors left no doubt that at this Olympic Games, gold was not to be. "I'm proud of how the girls stepped up and did what they had to do,” said Simone Biles, whose silver is her sixth Olympic medal after four golds and a bronze from 2016. “I said: 'you have done all the training, you can do this without me, and it will be just fine.”
The improbable case of British bronze
With bronze, Great Britain’s Jessica Gadirova, Jennifer Gadirova, Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan accomplished something not seen in British Gymnastics circles in close to a century: the first women’s team medal since 1928. After a slow start on Balance Beam, Britain got stronger with every subsequent apparatus. Needing to pick up more than two points on Italy and Japan heading into the final rotation, Britain got on with it on Uneven Bars, tallying the third highest team score of the day on the apparatus to clinch the bronze. Many had written Britain off before the competition began, but team members kept faith all the way through. “Floor, we smashed it. Vault, we smashed it. Then I kind of looked at the screen and was like, 'OK, we might have a chance to get a medal,” Kinsella said. "We were going in just to enjoy it and get the experience of an Olympic team final. Obviously we did enjoy it a lot, and to come away with a medal feels absolutely magic."

♦ R E S U L T S

  RUSSIA  (Team ROC)   - 169,528
 U S A                           - 166,096
  GREAT BRITAIN          - 166,096
       4. ITALY                         - 163,638
       5. JAPAN                       - 163,280
       6. FRANCE                     - 163,264
       7. CHINA                        - 161,196
       8. BELGIUM                    - 159,695
          ►► Detailed Results
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♦ WOMEN's QUALIFICATIONS,  Sunday, July 25

♦  The Preliminary Rounds
⇒ Subdivision 1, with ITA, JPN,     ⇒ Subdivision 2, with CHN, GBR, ROC
⇒ Subdivision 3, with NED, USA   ⇒ Subdivision 4, with CAN, FRA, ESP
⇒ Subdivision 5, with GER, BEL

♦  Biles, ROC lead after qualifications
Even not at the height of her powers, Simone Biles (USA) is the woman to beat in Tokyo. Despite some uncharacteristic mistakes, the 24-year-old superstar led the All-Around standings and qualified to all four apparatus finals as Women’s Artistic Gymnastics got underway Sunday at the Games.

ROC aces its first Tokyo test
The reigning Olympic and World champions were unable to match the strength of  RUSSIAN's ROC-Team with Angelina Melnikova, Vladislava Urazova, Viktoria Listunova, and Lilia Akhaimova, who were on point in their subdivision, amassing 171.629 points.
The USA finished second with 170.562, ahead of China, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, the eight teams qualified for Tuesday’s team final. ROC, with 2016 Olympian Melnikova at the helm, was formidable from start to finish, tallying the highest team scores on Uneven Bars and Floor Exercise. Melnikova, 2019 World junior champions Urazova and Listunova and powerful Akhaimova left little for the judges to deduct.

Not by miles, but Biles is still in front
Shouldering the expectations of an adoring public and the pressure of attempting to claim a third consecutive Olympic team title, the U.S. women were unusually jittery in their opening performance at the Games. Even Biles, the only returning Olympian and a normally stalwart competitor, was not immune. On Floor Exercise, she bounded off the floor mat on her penultimate tumbling pass and took big steps backward on her Balance Beam dismount. Nevertheless, she will contend for gold in all four apparatus finals in Tokyo.
* Biles ranked first on Vault, second on Floor Exercise, sixth on Balance Beam, and eighth on Uneven Bars among competitors eligible to advance to the two-per-country final. Second was Rebeca Andrade (BRA), whose 57.399 total, bolstered by exceptional performances on Vault and Floor Exercise, was just 0.032 shy of Biles.

Belgium, China, Italy first on Bars, Beam, and Floor
Two-time World Uneven Bars champion Nina Derwael (BEL) answered the challenge posed by Sunisa Lee (USA) on Uneven Bars with her own formidable routine, qualifying in first place with 15.336 to Lee’s 15.2. Sixteen-year-old Guan Chenchen (CHN), an individual competing as a Beam specialist, was first on Balance Beam. In her fourth Olympic Games, 30-year-old Vanessa Ferrari proved the class of the field on Floor Exercise, a personal triumph for a gymnast who has twice finished fourth in an Olympic Floor final.

A legend takes a final bow on the Olympic stage
In her eighth and final Olympic appearance, Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) did what she has always done: she vaulted well. The 46-year-old, a presence at every Olympic Games since 1992, did not hold back in Tokyo Sunday, ranking 11th on Vault. One of the most beloved figures on the international circuit, Chusovitina has announced that Tokyo 2020 will be her last Games. Her final performance on the Olympic stage prompted a standing ovation from even the judges, yet another unforgettable Olympic moment from a woman who has already provided so many.
♦ R E S U L T S:
   ► TEAMS, Qualification     ► ALL-AROUND, Qualification

* APPARATUS Events, Qualification:
► VAULT;         ► VAULT, qualifiers
► UNEVEN BAR  ► BALANCE BEAM;  ► FLOOR EXERCISES
* Source: f i g

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