Artistic Gymnastics at Tokyo Olympics: Simone Biles Leads Individual Standings; ROC Finishes First Over USA as Team Leaders in Qualification

The qualifications for artistic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics took place over the whole of day 3. The qualifications for all individual events as well as the all around event and team all around event took place over 5 sub divisions. The top 8 women from all divisions at the end of the day qualify for the individual events, while 24 women qualify for the individual all around. The top 8 teams will make their way to the team all around finals, which will be held on Tuesday. It should be noted that no more then 2 women qualify per NOC for the finals of any of the events.

In the women’s team, it was the exceptional effort of the ROC women’s team lead by Angelina Melnikova, that allowed them to secure first place going into the women’s team finals. The USA women’s team had an uncharacteristic day according to their standards, with Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles falling short of their usual standards. They finished second, with a score of 170.562, 1.103 points behind ROC who recorded a score of 171.629.

China took a comfortable third place with strong performances from Tang Xijing and Jin Zhang allowed them to finish with a score of 166.863. France had a very strong performance qualifying in fourth position, while Belgium took fifth and Great Britain took 6th. Italy managed to hang on to the 7th spot, and Japan rounded off the top 8 teams who qualified for the finals.

Artistic Gymnastics at Tokyo Olympics: Simone Biles finishes first in Individual all Around qualification; Rebeca Andrade steals the show, finishes second

Needless to say, Simone Biles dominated the field, and finished first at the end of the four rotations with 57.731. It was Rebeca Andrade however who stole the show as she stormed on to the scene and finished second after a spectacular performance, nipping at Biles’ heels with a score of 57.399. USA’s Sunisa Lee finished third, after a wonderful uneven bars performance, recording a total of 57.166. Angelina Melnikova was not far behind at all, with 57.132, just 0.34 points separating the two.

ROC’s Vladislava Urazova finished 5th and Belgium’s Nina Derwael who took 6th, rounded off what will be the first rotation in the individual all around finals. Here is a list of all 24 gymnasts who qualified for the individual all around finals:

1. BILES Simone USA
2. ANDRADE Rebeca BRA
3. LEE Sunisa USA
4. MELNIKOVA Angelina ROC
5. URAZOVA Vladislava ROC
6. DERWAEL Nina BEL
7. TANG Xijing CHN
8. de JESUS dos SANTOS Melanie FRA
9. GADIROVA Jessica GBR
10. LU Yufei CHN
11. KOVACS Zsofia HUN
12. GADIROVA Jennifer GBR
13. HEDUIT Carolann FRA
14. SEITZ Elisabeth GER
15. D’AMATO Alice ITA
16. POPA Roxana ESP
17. MOORS Brooklyn CAN
18. MURAKAMI Mai JPN
19. BLACK Elsabeth CAN
20. VERKEST Jutta BEL
21. MAGGIO Martina ITA
22. LEE Yunseo KOR
23. STEINGRUBER Giulia SUI
24. BUI Kim GER

Artistic Gymnastics at Tokyo Olympics: Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Angelina Melnikova and Tang Xijing ones to look out for in the Event Finals

While Simone Biles did not debut her much anticipated vault in the qualification rounds, she did enough to qualify in first place for the vault finals. USA’s Jade Carey took second, while Rebeca Andrade made the finals in third position. Here is a list of the vault finalists:

BILES Simone USA

CAREY Jade USA

ANDRADE Rebeca BRA

YEO Seojeong KOR

OLSEN Shallon CAN

AKHAIMOVA Liliia ROC

MORENO Alexa MEX

MELNIKOVA Angelina ROC

The uneven bars saw Belgium’s Nina Darwael comfortably finish in first with a score of 15.366, 0.166 points ahead of Suni Lee. ROC’s Anastasiia Iliankova took 3rd place while Melnikova took 4th. Biles managed to hang on to the last qualification spot, a feat she had not achieved in the 2016 Olympics. Here is a list of the uneven bars finalists:

DERWAEL Nina BEL

LEE Sunisa USA

ILIANKOVA Anastasiia ROC

MELNIKOVA Angelina ROC

LU Yufei CHN

SEITZ Elisabeth GER

FAN Yilin CHN

BILES Simone USA

It was Venessa Ferrari of Italy who qualified first in floor exercise, with a score of 14.166. The women’s floor exercise event was not a good one for Simone Biles, as she stepped out of bounds in one of her passes, incurring a penalty of 0.300. She eventually finished second, scoring 14.133. Jade Carey, one of USA’s event specialists took the third spot at the end of qualification. Here is a list of the floor exercise finalists:

FERRARI Vanessa ITA

BILES Simone USA

CAREY Jade USA

ANDRADE Rebeca BRA

GADIROVA Jessica GBR

LISTUNOVA Viktoriia ROC

MELNIKOVA Angelina ROC

MURAKAMI Mai JPN

Lastly was the balance beam, where China dominated. Chenchen Guan took first place with an impressive score of 14.933, 0.600 points ahead of her compatriot Tang Xijing, who scored 14.333. Sunisa Lee claimed third position, while a stumble from Simone Biles meant that she would only qualify in 6th position. 2016 Rio Olympic champion Sanne Weivers of Netherland’s failed to qualify, and will be a reserve for the finals. Here is a list of the balance beam finalists:

GUAN Chenchen CHN

TANG Xijing CHN

LEE Sunisa USA

IORDACHE Larisa Andreea ROU

BLACK Elsabeth CAN

BILES Simone USA

URAZOVA Vladislava ROC

SARAIVA Flavia BRA

The finals of the women’s artistic gymnastics at Tokyo Olympics will take place from 27th July to 3rd August, with various events on different days.

Also read: 2020 Tokyo Olympics Gymnastics Schedule, Preview, Venue, Timing, and More